Ancient rock art along US-Mexico border persisted for more than 4,000 years — and it depicts Indigenous views of the universe
For more than 4,000 years, Native Americans painted cave paintings depicting their conception of the universe in what is now southwest Texas and northern Mexico, according to a new study.
Innovative dating techniques have revealed that the rock art, known as the Pecos River Style tradition, likely first appeared nearly 6,000 years ago and persisted until approximately 1,400 to 1,000 years ago, spanning approximately 175 generations.
“Frankly, we were stunned to discover that wall paintings remained in production for more than 4,000 years and that the rule-based painting sequence also persisted throughout this period,” study co-author. Caroline Boydprofessor of anthropology at Texas State University, told Live Science in an email.
She compared the canyonlands to an “ancient library containing hundreds of books written by 175 generations of painters,” adding that “the stories they tell are still told today.”
Ancient murals found on the limestone rock walls of the canyons consist of elaborate, multi-colored paintings depicting animal and human figures, as well as more enigmatic symbols. The artists who made them created visual narratives that tell myths and prescribe rituals, according to Boyd.
“Most of the area’s more than 200 murals are huge; some span more than 100 feet [30 meters] long and 20 feet [6 m] large and contains hundreds of skillfully painted images,” Boyd said.
The painters were nomadic hunter-gatherers, but their identity remains unknown, according to Boyd.
“They were highly skilled problem solvers with a sophisticated cosmology and a robust iconographic system to communicate that cosmology,” Boyd said.
Dating rock art poses significant challenges. But for their study, the authors used two independent methods radiocarbon methods which had not typically been used together to date paintings at 12 mural sites in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands. This ensured that researchers could be confident that their dating results were consistent, study co-author Karen Steelmanchemist and scientific director of the Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center in Texas, told Live Science.
The researchers also analyzed the iconography and composition of the sites’ wall paintings and found that, in many cases, the artists appeared to have adhered to a strict set of technical rules and established stylistic conventions, even though they were created over a period of 4,000 years. For example, the authors determined that creators generally followed the same sequence when applying colorful paints to artwork – a practice passed down over several generations.
The consistency these complex wall paintings exhibit over several millennia, despite major environmental and technological changes – for example in stone tools and fiber crafts – indicates the persistence of an enduring cosmovision that must have been extremely significant to hunter-gatherers, according to Boyd. This sophisticated cosmovision encompasses creation stories, the concept of time being cyclical and complex calendar systems, among other elements.
Researchers have identified elements of this belief system in later Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Aztecsas well as among modern Native American communities, like the Huichol of Mexico, she said.
“These paintings may be the oldest surviving visual record of the same fundamental cosmology that later shaped Mesoamerican civilizations and is evident throughout Native America today,” Boyd said in a statement.
“Murals today are viewed by indigenous peoples as living, breathing, sentient ancestral deities who are still engaged in the creation and maintenance of the cosmos,” Boyd told Live Science.
