Cueva Ahumada facts for kids

Cueva Ahumada is an archaeological site in García Municipality, Nuevo León state, México. It is found in several canyons near La Rinconada village. This site is famous for its ancient rock art.

Rock art in northeastern Mexico includes two main types. One is rock engraving, also known as petroglyphs. The other type is pictographs, which are paintings on rocks. A third type, geoglyphs (large designs on the ground), has not been found here yet.

Cave painting is a global treasure. It is found on every continent where humans have lived. UNESCO calls it a world heritage. This art dates back to the very beginning of human history. Some of the oldest cave paintings are in France and Spain. They are about 30,000 years old.

Ancient Rock Art in Northeastern Mexico

Ancient rock art is found all over the American Continent. It shows us where the first people settled. In northeastern Mexico, people have lived for a very long time. We know this from findings dating back to the end of the last ice age. This was about 10,500 years ago.

Some sites show even older human activity. Cueva Ahumada in García is one such place. Evidence suggests people might have been there 6,000 years ago. This makes it a very important site for understanding early life.

Who Were the First Settlers?

We are still learning a lot about the first people in northern Mexico. Especially in Nuevo León, they left many marks on rocks. You can see these at places like Frontón Piedras Pintas in Parás. Other sites include Boca de Potrerillos and Chiquihuitillos in Mina. Cueva Ahumada, Nacataz, and Icamole are in García Municipality. There are hundreds more sites across Nuevo León.

These early settlers are sometimes called Chichimecas. Or they are called Aridoamerica ethnic groups from the north. This helps tell them apart from the large groups in Mesoamerica. But the term Chichimeca is often used incorrectly. Chichimeca refers to Nahua tribes. They lived in an area called La Gran Chichimeca.

The Coahuiltecan people were a different group. They had different languages and lived in a different area. Most experts now believe that the Coahuiltecan people spoke many different languages. They did not all speak one language or related languages.

These groups were nomads or semi-nomads. This means they did not stay in one place. But they did not just wander around. They followed "regular movement patterns" within their own areas. Experts call this "territorial nomadism." They did not build big cities like those in central Mexico. This is why their history was not studied as much for a long time.

Experts have found different language groups among these tribes. But it is hard to place them into language families. Some suggest Athabaskan languages, Coahuilteco language, or Hokan languages. The people who lived near what is now Monterrey were called Los Aguaceros and Malincheños.

They lived in caves and along rivers. They left behind paintings and rock carvings. They also left items like amulets for special ceremonies. You can find mortars (Molcajetes), carved stones, and spear points. Some spear points are thousands of years old. For example, some found in Los Ramones, Nuevo León, are over 11,000 years old. Others were used by Comanche tribes even in the 1800s.

A lot of old waste found in the area shows that many people lived there. At least, they lived there during certain seasons. Tests show that people lived at Boca de Potrerillos about 8,000 years ago.

Exploring Cueva Ahumada

From 1960 to 1967, a team of archaeologists studied the area. They were from the University of Texas in Austin. Jeremiah F. Epstein led this group. Their work began the discovery of Nuevo León's ancient history. These American archaeologists were the first trained experts in the area.

They worked at sites that showed the first cultural timelines for the state. But they did not find much about rock art. These sites were mostly in the center and south of the state. The project focused on stone tools. They almost ignored the cave paintings. For example, in their final report on La Calzada, Nuevo León, they did not even mention the paintings. These paintings were just a few meters from where they were digging.

Only one site with cave paintings, Cueva Ahumada, was dug up. John Clark wrote a short report about it. This was the only publication on cave painting from the Texas project. The report was based on a quick visit. It only showed a small part of the paintings and engravings. It also gave very few comments about how they related to other findings.

The Texas project at Cueva Ahumada gave the first radiocarbon dates for Nuevo León. But the rest of the results were never published. More recent digs by Moises Valadez have given us more complete information about this site. Clark's report, even though small, was the first scientific mention of Nuevo León's cave art. It was the starting point for all later studies.

Another archaeologist, Antonieta Espejo, visited Cueva Ahumada. She described the site before the first excavations. She was one of the first Mexican archaeologists trained in the 1940s. She worked mostly in other parts of Mexico. But her short time in Nuevo León in the 1960s led to the first records of several rock art sites in the state. She was the first to truly value the region's cave art. Her visit to Cueva Ahumada was just a quick look. But it greatly expanded our understanding of the site. She gathered important information from local people. She also recorded the site's perfect condition. Sadly, in later years, the site has been damaged.

Protecting the Site

A road was recently built near the archaeological site. In the coming months, work will be done to fix up the site. A wire fence will be put up to control who can visit.

Building the road did not harm the paintings directly. But they were temporarily covered by a lot of dust from the road work. Experts from INAH (Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History) said that rain would "naturally" wash the rocks. Then the paintings, which are over 5,000 years old, would be visible again.

Once the road is finished, INAH archaeologists will clean the area. They will also install the wire fence and pathways for visitors. The paintings are on a rock shelter. So, climbing to see them is difficult and risky.

See also

In Spanish: Cueva Ahumada para niños