Cave paintings will attract visitors

Mexico already has quite a few reasons to attract visitors. Now it may well have another and in an area where tourists, at least from the UK, don’t tend to go. Archaeologists have discovered 4,926 hitherto unknown cave paintings.
Yesterday an archaeologist, Martha García Sánchez, explained to a conference what had been found was in 11 different locations in Tamaulipas which is a state in the north east of the country on the Gulf of Mexico coast abutting Texas in the US. In any area usually associated with oil exploration and agriculture, Tamaulipas or at least Burgos (where the caves are in the San Carlos mountain range) must be eying up the tourism possibilities. Traditionally, human occupation in this are goes back about 6,000 years BC. when these paintings are dated it could oush that figure back further.
To find one cave painting is not that common. To find this number is astonishing. To find over 1,100 in one cave alone must have made the archaeolgists delirious with delight. And that may be how visitors feel as well if they get to see them. Much work will be needed in the meantime to preserve them so it will be years before visitors may get the chance to visit the caves

For more information, click here. At present this website seems to have an error if you opt for the English language version

Images © M. García y G. Ramírez and INAH