Boca de Potrerillos
Encyclopedia
Boca de Potrerillos is an archeological site located some 14 km from the municipal head of Mina
, Nuevo León
, México
. About 60 km north east from Monterrey
within the inter-sierra valleys of the Sierra Madre Oriental
is the “mouth” or entrance to the Potrerillos Canyon between the Zorra and Antrisco hills. The site covers an area of about 6 km².
The main feature of this site is containing one of the largest concentrations of rock art in Mexico. Although there are some paintings, the vast majority of works are petroglyph
s. Approximately 3,000 in the área.
a) An extensive alluvial range to the east with hundreds of known pre-hispanic ovens and thousands of carving stone tools and grinding artifacts scattered on the surface;
b) A second range to the west of the area, containing (though on a smaller scale), the same elements of the eastern range, and
c) The eastern flank of the Antrisco and Zorra hills, where thousands of engraved rocks were found with carvings in one or more of their sides, that makes it one of the most extensive and most important petroglyphs sites in the country.
The Boca de Potrerillos archaeological site is located in a quite inhospitable region today. It dominates a desert landscape with very little or no water sources with the typical vegetation of the area: cactus. However the amount of art embodied in the rocks and studies on the technique, style, etc., in which they were made, suggest a prolonged occupation of human groups at different intervals. Carbon-14 dating testing made on the ovens found in the area as well as oxidation studies of the graphical work and patina indicate that the first human settlement could have been installed here as early as 8900 BC and some of the engravings would be from this period. 1 Archaeologists work has achieved differentiating over 25 plant species in the region, now extinct, evidence that the zone was different and friendlier to humans. The site had some importance at the end of the XVIII century from Sugarcane production, it also had some relevance during the 1910 Mexican Revolution, but after cattle introduction to the zone and government efforts to send water from state water wells to the city of Monterrey, the site is more arid than ever before.
The enormous size of the site, the depth of their deposits and the lack of financial resources hampered extensive excavations. However, because of the sedimentation type and climatic conditions in the area, the archaeological ovens, retained coal content inside up till today.
From excavations 20 oven samples were obtained at various depths, which were carbon 14 dated from 6,960 BC., up to 1,760 AD; this long chronology is an extended sequence of 8,000 years of native cultural development in the northeast region of Mexico.
Samples were taken adjacent to each furnace and milling stones washed to recognize possible vegetal remains through pollen and phytoliths strata identification. It was possible to distinguish over 25 species, indicating the existence of a more humid habitat different to the current desert conditions. Among the vegetal discoveries, some edible items were found such as Typha
, Pecan
, walnut, tuna
, Nopal
and mesquite pods
. Also discovered other plants requiring a more humid area such as Juncus
, aquatic plants
, Nettle
s, and reeds
. Other detected species corresponding to trees are Acacia
, Willow
, holm oak and pine
that are no longer found on the site or nearby communities.
Within the ample inventory of stone artifacts rescued and analyzed, the following is an example:
1. A large variety of arrow heads with various shapes, such as wide stalk with round base, triangular simple body, elongated and fin shaped;
2. Scrapers in crescent moon shape, circular and spike, others large of the Clear Fork type, characteristic of 3000 BC;
3. Small plates with incisions as amulets with portable representations of petroglyphs;
4. Grinding stones including grinds and hands, and
5. Unique objects as some ceramic pots locally produced and shell items from the Gulf.
More than 4 thousand engraved rocks are known, with an estimated 8 to 10 thousand images.
places in northeastern México is the lack of ethnic-historical references. Spanish colonial authors wrote many details about the art and work of Mesoamerican native groups, but there were few detailed descriptions for native groups of northeastern New Spain
a large sparsely populated area before european settlements, also they are very frugal in describing the lives and ways of the region inhabitants. Captain Alonso de León
, was the first colonial author who made a complete description about the native american groups in the region, their lives and customs, Alonso depicted them as barbaric semi-nomad groups divided in numerous subgroups with no dominant culture. It makes it difficult to determine which group or groups took part in the implementation of the Boca de Potrerillos petroglyphs. However recent archaeological work by authors such as William B. Murray, Solveig A. Turpin, Herbert H. Eling Jr., and others have provided understanding of the cave art and artists at Boca de Potrerillos.
For the Nahuatl
speaking Aztec
society the groups living in what is now northern Mexico and Southwestern United States were called Chichimec’s (an insult in Nahuatl) in referring to them as savages. Upon contact with spaniards in the region towards the end of the XVI century, initial sources identified over 200 native groups dedicated primarily to hunting and fruit recollection. Within their nomad life these groups had a more or less regular itinerary throughout the year and went back to centers such as Boca de Potrerillos when the weather and times favor these activities.
Both, by its untamed nature, as well as for references to them as Chichimec by the Nahuatl dominant group, the native groups, in colonial sources, are described as barbarians and uncultivated, diametrically different to the cultivated groups of Mesoamerica. It is not known, even once of cave art work references in colonial sources. By the end of the eighteenth century any native trace had already disappeared.
up to the southwest Texas
in the lower Pecos River
. Without excluding other groups, related or not, that might have taken part in making the petroglyphs.
As shown in the following petroglyphs styles categorization, the question of authorship of many of them is a matter being analyzed and remains unresolved.
testing indicate that the site has intermittently been occupied for at least 7,800 years or more.
Stones from Loma de San Pedro. Show intersecting incisions, generally triangular or wedge-shaped stones. The antiquity of these pieces is estimated between 230 and 950 years.
, Puberty
or fertility amulets or a healing Talisman
”. It is difficult to establish the meaning and purposes of these portable pieces as are the first found in the Nuevo León State, but can be analogy compared with portable art found in the lower Pecos River (Texas) and the North American Great Basin.
The nature of portable art is personal as opposed to parietal art that is public. For this reason the first type hints at a private use. The motifs, although in some cases appear in both types of art, vary and themes interpreted as "Butterfly" in representation a Vulva
, do not appear in public art.
Boca de Potrerillos, we very ancient settlements. The level of engravings offers a significant knowledge level of the skies and studies that have been made on the handling time for hunting which was related to the stars or for many everyday things of life.
Mina, Nuevo León
Mina is town and municipality located at northwestern part of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. The population was 4,309 at the 2005 census. The municipality is part of a historical region called Valle de Salinas which was an administrative area of the New Kingdom of León during the...
, Nuevo León
Nuevo León
Nuevo León It is located in Northeastern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Tamaulipas to the north and east, San Luis Potosí to the south, and Coahuila to the west. To the north, Nuevo León has a 15 kilometer stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to the U.S...
, México
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. About 60 km north east from Monterrey
Monterrey
Monterrey , is the capital city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León in the country of Mexico. The city is anchor to the third-largest metropolitan area in Mexico and is ranked as the ninth-largest city in the nation. Monterrey serves as a commercial center in the north of the country and is the...
within the inter-sierra valleys of the Sierra Madre Oriental
Sierra Madre Oriental
The Sierra Madre Oriental is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico.-Setting:Spanning the Sierra Madre Oriental runs from Coahuila south through Nuevo León, southwest Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, and Hidalgo to northern Puebla, where it joins with the east-west running Eje Volcánico...
is the “mouth” or entrance to the Potrerillos Canyon between the Zorra and Antrisco hills. The site covers an area of about 6 km².
The main feature of this site is containing one of the largest concentrations of rock art in Mexico. Although there are some paintings, the vast majority of works are petroglyph
Petroglyph
Petroglyphs are pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images...
s. Approximately 3,000 in the área.
The site
The site is known as Boca Potrerillos since the 19th century because of its location between the El Antrisco and the Zorra Hills, forming the entrance to the Potrerillos Canyon. The archaeological vestiges are distributed among three main topographical forms:a) An extensive alluvial range to the east with hundreds of known pre-hispanic ovens and thousands of carving stone tools and grinding artifacts scattered on the surface;
b) A second range to the west of the area, containing (though on a smaller scale), the same elements of the eastern range, and
c) The eastern flank of the Antrisco and Zorra hills, where thousands of engraved rocks were found with carvings in one or more of their sides, that makes it one of the most extensive and most important petroglyphs sites in the country.
The Boca de Potrerillos archaeological site is located in a quite inhospitable region today. It dominates a desert landscape with very little or no water sources with the typical vegetation of the area: cactus. However the amount of art embodied in the rocks and studies on the technique, style, etc., in which they were made, suggest a prolonged occupation of human groups at different intervals. Carbon-14 dating testing made on the ovens found in the area as well as oxidation studies of the graphical work and patina indicate that the first human settlement could have been installed here as early as 8900 BC and some of the engravings would be from this period. 1 Archaeologists work has achieved differentiating over 25 plant species in the region, now extinct, evidence that the zone was different and friendlier to humans. The site had some importance at the end of the XVIII century from Sugarcane production, it also had some relevance during the 1910 Mexican Revolution, but after cattle introduction to the zone and government efforts to send water from state water wells to the city of Monterrey, the site is more arid than ever before.
Site Characteristics
The presence of hundreds of pre-Hispanic ovens or furnace stoves, the infinity of stone tools and thousands of rock engraved images commonly known as petroglyphs, evidence the lengthy and important socio economical and ritual development of native groups that exploited and maintained an environmental equilibrium in the region up to the spaniards arrival.The enormous size of the site, the depth of their deposits and the lack of financial resources hampered extensive excavations. However, because of the sedimentation type and climatic conditions in the area, the archaeological ovens, retained coal content inside up till today.
From excavations 20 oven samples were obtained at various depths, which were carbon 14 dated from 6,960 BC., up to 1,760 AD; this long chronology is an extended sequence of 8,000 years of native cultural development in the northeast region of Mexico.
Samples were taken adjacent to each furnace and milling stones washed to recognize possible vegetal remains through pollen and phytoliths strata identification. It was possible to distinguish over 25 species, indicating the existence of a more humid habitat different to the current desert conditions. Among the vegetal discoveries, some edible items were found such as Typha
Typha
Typha is a genus of about eleven species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. The genus has a largely Northern Hemisphere distribution, but is essentially cosmopolitan, being found in a variety of wetland habitats...
, Pecan
Pecan
The pecan , Carya illinoinensis, is a species of hickory, native to south-central North America, in Mexico from Coahuila south to Jalisco and Veracruz, in the United States from southern Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana east to western Kentucky, southwestern Ohio, North Carolina, South...
, walnut, tuna
Opuntia ficus-indica
Opuntia ficus-indica is a species of cactus that has long been a domesticated crop plant important in agricultural economies throughout arid and semiarid parts of the world. It is thought to possibly be native to Mexico...
, Nopal
Nopal
Nopales are a vegetable made from the young cladode segments of prickly pear, carefully peeled to remove the spines. These fleshy pads are flat and about hand-sized. They can be purple or green...
and mesquite pods
Prosopis alba
Prosopis alba is a South American tree species that inhabits the center part of Argentina, the Gran Chaco ecoregion and part of the Argentine Mesopotamia. It is known as Algarrobo Blanco in Spanish, which means "white carob tree"...
. Also discovered other plants requiring a more humid area such as Juncus
Juncus
Juncus is a genus in the plant family Juncaceae. It consists of some 200 to 300 or more species of grassy plants commonly called rushes...
, aquatic plants
Ceratophyllum demersum
Ceratophyllum demersum is a species of Ceratophyllum. It is a submerged, free-floating aquatic plant, native to North America but nowadays having a cosmopolitan distribution in temperate and tropical regions...
, Nettle
Nettle
Nettles constitute between 24 and 39 species of flowering plants of the genus Urtica in the family Urticaceae, with a cosmopolitan though mainly temperate distribution. They are mostly herbaceous perennial plants, but some are annual and a few are shrubby...
s, and reeds
Reed (plant)
Reed is a generic polyphyletic botanical term used to describe numerous tall, grass-like plants of wet places, which are the namesake vegetation of reed beds...
. Other detected species corresponding to trees are Acacia
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
, Willow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
, holm oak and pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
that are no longer found on the site or nearby communities.
Within the ample inventory of stone artifacts rescued and analyzed, the following is an example:
1. A large variety of arrow heads with various shapes, such as wide stalk with round base, triangular simple body, elongated and fin shaped;
2. Scrapers in crescent moon shape, circular and spike, others large of the Clear Fork type, characteristic of 3000 BC;
3. Small plates with incisions as amulets with portable representations of petroglyphs;
4. Grinding stones including grinds and hands, and
5. Unique objects as some ceramic pots locally produced and shell items from the Gulf.
More than 4 thousand engraved rocks are known, with an estimated 8 to 10 thousand images.
Hunters and semi-nomad collectors
A characteristic of this and other cave paintingCave painting
Cave paintings are paintings on cave walls and ceilings, and the term is used especially for those dating to prehistoric times. The earliest European cave paintings date to the Aurignacian, some 32,000 years ago. The purpose of the paleolithic cave paintings is not known...
places in northeastern México is the lack of ethnic-historical references. Spanish colonial authors wrote many details about the art and work of Mesoamerican native groups, but there were few detailed descriptions for native groups of northeastern New Spain
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
a large sparsely populated area before european settlements, also they are very frugal in describing the lives and ways of the region inhabitants. Captain Alonso de León
Alonso De León
Alonso de León wasexplorer and governor, who led several expeditions into the area that is now northeastern Mexico and southern Texas.-Early life:...
, was the first colonial author who made a complete description about the native american groups in the region, their lives and customs, Alonso depicted them as barbaric semi-nomad groups divided in numerous subgroups with no dominant culture. It makes it difficult to determine which group or groups took part in the implementation of the Boca de Potrerillos petroglyphs. However recent archaeological work by authors such as William B. Murray, Solveig A. Turpin, Herbert H. Eling Jr., and others have provided understanding of the cave art and artists at Boca de Potrerillos.
For the Nahuatl
Nahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
speaking Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
society the groups living in what is now northern Mexico and Southwestern United States were called Chichimec’s (an insult in Nahuatl) in referring to them as savages. Upon contact with spaniards in the region towards the end of the XVI century, initial sources identified over 200 native groups dedicated primarily to hunting and fruit recollection. Within their nomad life these groups had a more or less regular itinerary throughout the year and went back to centers such as Boca de Potrerillos when the weather and times favor these activities.
Both, by its untamed nature, as well as for references to them as Chichimec by the Nahuatl dominant group, the native groups, in colonial sources, are described as barbarians and uncultivated, diametrically different to the cultivated groups of Mesoamerica. It is not known, even once of cave art work references in colonial sources. By the end of the eighteenth century any native trace had already disappeared.
The artists
It is believed that the groups occupying the zone were a branch of a larger group known by archeologists as Coahuilteco that inhabited the slopes of the Sierra Madre OrientalSierra Madre Oriental
The Sierra Madre Oriental is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico.-Setting:Spanning the Sierra Madre Oriental runs from Coahuila south through Nuevo León, southwest Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, and Hidalgo to northern Puebla, where it joins with the east-west running Eje Volcánico...
up to the southwest Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
in the lower Pecos River
Pecos River
The headwaters of the Pecos River are located north of Pecos, New Mexico, United States, at an elevation of over 12,000 feet on the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County. The river flows for through the eastern portion of that state and neighboring Texas before it...
. Without excluding other groups, related or not, that might have taken part in making the petroglyphs.
As shown in the following petroglyphs styles categorization, the question of authorship of many of them is a matter being analyzed and remains unresolved.
The Art Work
The artistic work of Boca de Potrerillos could split in two: the parietal work and portable art work. Art embodied in the walls or rocky shelters are overwhelmingly abundant compared with physical art of Boca de Potrerillos, however its study and analysis complements the style interpretation and purpose of the work in general.Parietal Art
For the art study imprinted in the large rocks, anthropologists have divided the Boca de Potrerillos into four sections: North Slope, southern slope, the promontory and hidden Valley hidden on a slit of the North Slope. These four sections contain approximately three thousand petroglyphs with different execution and style techniques. The largest amount of these prints is on the northern slopes and facing east, which hints at a purpose of astronomical observation.Style
Designs outlined in these rocks are generally abstract. Anthropologist William B. Murray classifies the engravings in 5 categories:- 1. The most recent: angular geometric that resembles cattle stamps. Could have been made by Europeans emulating native traditions by the ApacheApacheApache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
s and ComancheComancheThe Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
’s that attacked Mina (Nuevo León) between 1830 and 1850.
- 2. The engravings of this style appear fresh and recent. Intermediate age symbols similar to those associated with puberty ceremonies in California y Nevada tribes: diamonds, net shaped artifacts (rattle snake), etc. The Fierce ThornappleDatura feroxDatura ferox, commonly known as Long Spined Thorn Apple or Fierce Thornapple, is a species of Datura. Like all such species, every part of the plant contains deadly toxins that can kill animals or humans that ingest it. Its fruit, red-brown when ripe, has unusually long thorns or spikes.The species...
ceremony for boys and girls is mentioned in colonial sources corroborating the meaning possibility of these figures. These are Coahuilteco symbols similar to other regions, but are limited to a Boca certain area and are not the most common.
- 3. The majority are classical abstract geometrical tradition of the Great BasinGreat BasinThe Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America and is noted for its arid conditions and Basin and Range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than away at the...
. Identified with the Desert Archaic Culture. The technique used is chopping and shaping by circular/undulated incisions. Styles can be of different ages. The authorship of the symbols is not resolved.
- 4. Solid figure style. Rare at Boca, but abundant in other places of the region. Sometimes representing projectile pointProjectile pointIn archaeological terms, a projectile point is an object that was hafted to a projectile, such as a spear, dart, or arrow, or perhaps used as a knife....
s. One of them, Shumla, is associated with the mid to late Archaic Period.
- 5. Hole and Groove Style, similar to the one found in Diegueño, California with wavy lines that follow the contours of the rock and the other with dots rows arranged in complex grids
Purpose
Archaeologists are discerning about the purpose of cave art in Boca de Potrerillos. Following their reflection the meaning and purpose of the cave designs is in sight. Some of these are as follows:- a. The parietal art discovers an educational and public intention with regard to engravings on the slopes and areas exposed for all to see.
- b. A ritual sense is expressed by topic repetition.
- c. Murray considers and prepares the possibility that some of the Boca engravings have an astronomical purpose. The arrangement of some of them leads him to consider a calendar intention that seeks to be a temporary guidance to determine suitable times of the year for hunter gathererHunter-gathererA hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
(activities common to these groups). He proposes the following hypothesis: the area called promontory functioned as solar and celestial observatory from which sunrise’s positions over the hillside could be contemplated, perhaps using the remote peaks as additional indicators. From the promontory is a good line of sight in all directions.
- d. Other authors such as Moisés Valadez, Solveig A. Turpin and Herbert H. Eling, supported on recent theories that figures resulting in rock art have a physiological origin derived generally from trance experiences often caused by consumption of hallucinogens such as PeyotePeyoteLophophora williamsii , better known by its common name Peyote , is a small, spineless cactus with psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline.It is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico...
, link Boca de Potrerillos art with ShamanismShamanismShamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
activities.
Portable Art
The density of prehistoric domestic waste confirms that the area was able to sustain a relatively large population. Research that started in 1990 has discovered even early prehistoric pottery, the first architectural relics and portable art. The analyzed furnaces and Carbon-14Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
testing indicate that the site has intermittently been occupied for at least 7,800 years or more.
Style
Archaeologists Moisés Valadez, Solveig A. Turpin and Herbert H. Eling propose for the Boca de Potrerillos portable art two styles, designating them by the name of the place they were found.- 1. Stones from “Cóconos Ranch”, with designs identified as “rain”, “flower”, “butterfly”, “eye lock” and “hook”. From testing applied to furnaces remains and tools found next to these rocks, even though an absolute date cannot be assigned, it is considered to be some five thousand years old.
Stones from Loma de San Pedro. Show intersecting incisions, generally triangular or wedge-shaped stones. The antiquity of these pieces is estimated between 230 and 950 years.
Purposes
Portable art found in prehistoric surroundings has its own digression ways. Some interpret objects markings (stones, bones, etc.) as counting systems. The possibility has been considered that these objects are ornamental or are "toys, hunting game, mortuary offerings, divination instruments, Mnemotechnics artifacts, menstruation fetishisFetishism
A fetish is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a man-made object that has power over others...
, Puberty
Puberty
Puberty is the process of physical changes by which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of reproduction, as initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads; the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy...
or fertility amulets or a healing Talisman
Talisman
Talisman have several meanings:*TalismanBooks and novels* The Talisman , a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott* The Talisman , a novel by Stephen King and Peter Straub...
”. It is difficult to establish the meaning and purposes of these portable pieces as are the first found in the Nuevo León State, but can be analogy compared with portable art found in the lower Pecos River (Texas) and the North American Great Basin.
The nature of portable art is personal as opposed to parietal art that is public. For this reason the first type hints at a private use. The motifs, although in some cases appear in both types of art, vary and themes interpreted as "Butterfly" in representation a Vulva
Vulva
The vulva consists of the external genital organs of the female mammal. This article deals with the vulva of the human being, although the structures are similar for other mammals....
, do not appear in public art.
Boca de Potrerillos, celestial observatory 7 thousand years ago.
Archaeologist Denise Carpinteyro Espinosa, from National Institute of anthropology and history, Center INAH, reports that petroglyphs (engraved stone) in the site, some are related to astronomy while others are more closely related to everyday life of these hunter-gatherers human groups who inhabited this site 7 thousand years ago. The site is crossed by a river and it is inferred that this site was of great importance for diverse human occupations during over seven thousand years.Boca de Potrerillos, we very ancient settlements. The level of engravings offers a significant knowledge level of the skies and studies that have been made on the handling time for hunting which was related to the stars or for many everyday things of life.