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Who created Las Labradas petroglyphs?

Article created on Mon day, December 31, 2012 Fifty miles n orth of Mazatlan in Sin aloa State, n orth west Mexico, th ere is a beach kn own as Las Labradas wh ere th e rocks are covered in over 600 petrog lyph s. Now Mexican in vestig ators h ave un covered arch aeolog ical sites in th e vicin ity datin g to th e Arch aic period (2500-1000 beg in _of_th e_skype_h ig h lig h tin g BEZPATNIE 25001000en d_of_th e_skype_h ig h lig h tin g BCE) alon g with an oth er later site th at may provide clues to th e creators of th e Las Labradas petrog lyph s.

Las Labradas ro c k art. Image: Wikimedia Co mmo ns

V filed teeth and cranial deformation

To date th ere are 22 location s aroun d th e rocky outcrop with eviden ce of h uman activity, of wh ich , between 2010 an d 2012, four were studied: Th e Flower of th e Ocean , Th e Sprig , Lomas del Mar an d Arroyo La Lomita. Joel San tos Ramirez, from th e Nation al In stitute of An th ropolog y an d History (INAH) an d h is team discovered an Aztatln (750-1250 CE) site, con sistin g of ceramics an d a multiple burial of five in dividuals: two adult males, two adolescen ts (on e male an d on e female) an d a possible female in fan t.

All except th e ch ild h ave den tal mutilation with V filed teeth an d two h ad cran ial deformation , cultural practices th at were common amon g th e peoples of Sin aloa. Th e ph ysical ch aracteristics of th e burial allowed Joel San tos to attribute th e site to a local culture fittin g in to th e ch ron olog y of th e western Aztatln , correspon din g to between 1250 an d 750 years ag o, con temporary with th e Postclassic Mesoamerican Chicayota.

Relating rock art to settlement

Amon g th e pottery discovered was on e piece, decorated with con cen tric circles wh ich is on e of th e symbolic elemen ts presen t in man y of th e Las Labradas petrog lyph s, th oug h it is still difficult to relate to th e rock en g ravin g s to th e settlemen ts un der in vestig ation an d wh eth er th ey belon g to th e earliest in h abitan ts of Sin aloa or th e later Ch icayota culture. Ramirez sug g ests th at it may even be both cultures as people wh o created rock art may h ave been followin g older tradition s. At th e Lomas del Mar site, more pottery an d sh ell debris from th e Aztatln period was discovered an d also at Arroyo La Lomita, located 3 kilometres in lan d, th oug h th is time th e ceramics an d artefacts were associated with petrog lyph s.

Las Labradas ro c k art. Image: Is rael Hino jo s a Balio (Flic kr, us ed under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)

Oldest known occupation in northwest Mexico

In addition to th ese later sites, Ramirez h as foun d an oth er wh ich will change the

timeline on the antiquity of human occupation in the northwest of the country. It was at th e Flower of th e Ocean site -located in wh at was th e mouth of th e creek wh ere th ey foun d 60 projectile poin ts (20 complete an d 40 frag men tary), represen tin g th e oldest eviden ce of h uman presen ce in th e reg ion . Un til th ese discoveries, th e earliest site in n orth -western Mexico dated to circa 2000 BCE an d h ad been excavated by arch aeolog ist Joseph Moun tjoy in 1972. Ramirez reported th at in addition to projectile poin ts th ey foun d a h ost of oth er ston e artefacts in cludin g frag men ts of ston e tools an d cores, scrapers an d h ammers, flakes an d oth er debitag e, all con firmin g th e existen ce of temporary camps an d a lith ic man ufacturin g worksh op wh ere projectile poin ts were created. Th e projectile poin ts were worked in rh yolite an d an desite rocks.

Two o f the 60 pro jec tile po ints rec o vered fro m the s ite. Image: INAH

Joel San tos said th e Arch aic period, divided in to th ree main stag es: Early, Middle an d Late-h as been studied main ly from projectile poin ts foun d in rock sh elters or caves an d in th e wildern ess, but in excavated layers in archaeological excavations, it is rare like finding a needle in a haystack, however [the] material artefacts discovered at Ocean Flower are significant. San tos con cluded th at there have been many studies on national petroglyphs, that usually include aspects of art and technology, forgetting ancient human settlement patterns and sites that could add further understanding; Las Labradas is one of the first sites that offers the possibility of linking an area of rock carvings with settlement. Source: INAH

More Information
National Institute of Anthr opolog y and Histor y (INAH) Labradas Petrog lyph s - Trip Advisor Aztatln Culture

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