2,000 Year-Old Cave Paintings Found in Guanajuato
Mexican archaeologists found some 3,000 cave paintings, some almost 2,000 years old, in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, the National Anthropology and History Institute, or INAH, said.
Sources at the institute said that the discoveries were made between August and October 2011, but were not announced until specialists confirmed their antiquity and completed their analyses.
The relics came to light through the Rupestral Art Project of the Victoria River Basin – which includes semi-desert regions in the states of Queretaro and Guanajuato – developed by INAH experts and directed by archaeologist Carlos Viramontes.
INAH said in a communique Friday that the pictographs were found at 40 rock sites in an arid northeastern area of Guanajuato.
It added that the oldest images refer to rites of passage, healing, prayers for rain and mountain worship, and were created by ancient hunter-gatherer societies that occupied the area during the first centuries A.D.
These paintings, with yellow, red and black the predominating colors, generally represent human figures with headdresses, robes and shields, as well as some as yet unidentified instruments. Often in hunting and battle scenes they carry bows and arrows.
Read More at LAHT
Photo: INAH
