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Pre-Historic Caves of Yagul and Mitla in Oaxaca's Central Valleys

	Mexico (Latin America and the Caribbean)
Date of Submission:	20/11/2001
Category:	Mixed
Submitted by:	INAH/CONALMEX Puebla 95, Colonia Roma06700 Mexico E-mail: direccion.pmundial@inah.gob.mx
Coordinates:	N 16°57'38"-16°55'27.5"W 96°26'8,5"-96°23'2,5"
Ref.:	1591

Themes

• Cultural landscapes

Description

This property is made up of a series of caves and rocky shelters used since Pre-Historic times by small tribes of nomadic hunters-gatherers. Dry weather conditions, a relatively undisturbed and isolated setting enabled the preservation of evidence regarding the use of a large number of plants. This evidence includes remains of seeds, fibres from certain plants, burnt com and animal bones, along with stone utensils and tools made thousands of years ago. Likewise, various examples of rock paintings have survived, indicating the magic religious, as well as pragmatic, ideology of the cave dwellers. Kent Flannery's excavations in these caves (1968) have established a long sequence of human occupation going back to 8000 B.C. Social groups at that time were small and large hunter-gatherer nomadic tribes that lived off animals such as deer, rabbits, pigeons and turtles. This diet was complemented with plants, seeds, plentiful wild nuts and fiuks. These nomadic groups inhabited seasonal camps and set up temporary refuge in caves and rock shelters, leaving behind on the cave floors and surrounding areas a large amount of physical evidence, creating an extremely rich archaeological deposit. The transition from a nomadic to a sedentary life-style is. documented in Guild Naquitza Cave, Martinez Rock Shelter and White Cave, where man turned from hunter-gatherer to food producer. What processes triggered this transition is not quite clear yet. However, it is evident that such transition represented a crucial moment in the history of mankind. Evidence found in Guilá Naquitza Cave indicates that Pre-Historic peoples experimented continuously with plants that are ancestors of modem staples in Mesoamerican diet, like corn and squash. These caves are located in a small sierra of biotite andesitic tuff of igneous pyroclastic origins and are part of a series of more than 60 interconnected sites, only three of which have been excavated. These sites are also part of a hydrological basin crossed by rivers and creeks originating in the northern sierra, and by a section of low deciduous forest with well preserved native flora that spreads into the Valley of Mitla. All these elements are part of a large cultural and natural landscape that fostered the development of a cultural stage that was of utmost importance for civilisation.