Mexico City: Mexican archaeologists have discovered in the western state of Nayarit a series of petroglyphs estimated to have been carved between 850 and 1350 A.D., the National Anthropology and History Institute, or INAH, said.
The bas relief carvings have a symbolic character and are attributed to ancient groups from the Aztatlan cultural complex, and they were found at a site called "Cantil de las animas" (Cliff of the souls), in the mountainous portion of Nayarit`s southern high plateau, an area where archaeological finds have been practically unknown.
The carvings appear along a horizontal band almost 4 meters long by 2 meters wide, arranged on volcanic rocks that form a cliff approximately 10 meters high, the INAH said in a statement.
The iconography of the petroglyphs is linked to the pictorial tradition of the Aztatlan culture, which from about 850-900 through 1350 A.D. inhabited mainly the low coastal lands in northern Nayarit and southern Sinaloa state, INAH archaeologist Mauricio Garduno said.
IANS