Frightful Cave
Cueva Espantosa | |
  location in Mexico | |
| Location | Sierra Madre Oriental,Coahuila |
|---|---|
| Region | Mexico |
| Coordinates | 27°26′13″N101°42′21″W/ 27.43694°N 101.70583°W |
| History | |
| Associated with | hunter-gatherergroups |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 1950s and 1960s |
| Archaeologists | Walter W. Taylor |
Frightful Cave(Spanish:Cueva Espantosa) is apre-Columbianarchaeological site located in the state ofCoahuilain northernMexico.It was occupied on several occasions during the Archaic period by what seem to be nomadichunter-gatherergroups and is an important source of archaeological evidence concerning the ancient desert tradition of the Central Mexican highlands.[1]
Overview
[edit]Located in theSierra Madre Orientalin the NorthernAridZone ofMexico,Frightful Cave is surrounded by desert. The area is “largely too arid and rainfall is too undependable for cultivation,"[2]although edible plants can befoundand the mountain ranges are covered in pine and oak forest.[3]Many groups seem to have lived in theCoahuilaregion despite thisarid climate,but they did not practiceagriculture.The earlydesert culturestarted here in theArchaic periodhas been identified as one of the roots of laterMesoamerican cultures,and lasted through to the 19th century amongIndigenous peoples of the Great Basin(such as thePaiuteand theShoshone) and among some native peoples of the Mexican Northern Arid Zone (such as theSeri).[4]
Discovery and excavation
[edit]The archaeologistWalter W. Taylorexcavated many sites in NorthernMexicoand the SouthernUnited States,focusing onCoahuilain the 1950s and 1960s.[5]Radio-carbon datingplaces the Frightful Cave artifacts between approximately 7,500 yearsBCEand 185CE.[6]
List of objects and artifacts
[edit]- Over 950 fibresandals,fibre ties[7]
- Oneleathersandal,fibre ties[7]
- One complete twined fibreapron,leatherties[7]
- Various scraps of textiles, fibre,leather,furs,feathers[8]
- Several caches ofmesquite beansin plaited-matting bags[9]
- Over 22,000maguey‘quids’[9]
- Two items, classified byTayloras musical rasps[10]
- “A number ofprickly pearpads, split open and with the ‘open edge’ sewn together to make a passable container”[11]
- Several bags ofTexas buckeyeseeds, andmescal beans,both havingnarcoticqualities[11]
- 1,195 pieces of twisted cordage[11]
- Various balls of human hair[12]
- Remains of an aged woman, dressed in aloinclothandsandals,wrapped in a mat[13]
All items were found within threestrata,[14]with certain items unique to each. For example, whilesandalswere found in each level, the hair was found only in the earlieststratum.[12]Prepared floors were discovered in the earliest two levels of thecave,which were created by “bringing in earth that was then consolidated by water and probably tamped.”[7]Although thin, they served the function of smoothing thecavefloor. Fireplaces seem to have been distributed at random.[15]Although they were found in many other caves in the area,Taylorreports that there were noarrowparts found in Frightful Cave, “whose occupation was probably too early.”[10]
Anthropological analysis
[edit]Inside Frightful Cave, comparisons of the differentstrataallowed for temporal analysis of thecave’sinhabitants, while comparisons to othercavesin the area allowed for spatial analysis. Spatially, it has been found that there was likelyculturalexchange between variousnomadic groupsboth within theCoahuilacomplex and across nearby regions.[16]
Chronological trends have also been observed, indicating the repeated occupation byculturallysimilar groups with evolvingculturalpractices.[16]In particular, changes in the use of the space within thecavesuggest a changing way of life.Taylornotes that while the bottom twostratahad tamped floors, relatively low levels of bat guano and displayed “a strong tendency to deposit sandals in the farthest recesses of the cave,” in the later stratum no floor had been prepared, there was relatively more batguano,andsandalswere deposited in the center of thecave.[17]These trends are thought to indicate groups’ changing duration of stay, from “more or less constant in the lower levels” to “increasingly intermittent in the upper levels,” since it appears that less effort was put in to keep a clean living space.[17]Changes of this nature would make sense if groups no longer spent such long periods in thecave.This development has been linked to a knownincrease in aridityin the region[17]which may have resulted in a new distribution offood sources. The argument for changingmigrationbased on new patterns of subsistence is a strong one, as groups in thedesert traditionare widely believed to have beennomadswho would have settled in various areas as local wild foodstuffs became available. Shafer has theorized that Frightful Cave may have been part of a seasonal round made by thesehunter-gatherer groups,which, along with othercavesin the area, would have been inhabited fromspringthrough earlysummer,“when foods such as flowers, bulbs, fruits and plums were available.”[18]Similarly,Taylorposits water accessibility to be the determining factor of such groups’migratorypatterns,[17]meaning shifts thereof may also be accounted for by increasing aridity. Changes in the style and construction of theradiocarbon-datedsandalsalso suggest a certain cultural discontinuity in the later occupation of Frightful Cave.[19]
There is almost no evidence concerning thereligiousorartisticcultural lives of Frightful Cave’s inhabitants, with the exception being the human hair found deposited at the back of thecavein the firststratum.[12]The hairs appear to have “been cut at regular intervals of about one month” based on their cut ends and lengths.[12]Archivalevidence suggests this may have been amourning practice,but the purpose of suchritualhandling of hair has not been concretely determined.[12]
References
[edit]- ^Evans, Susan Toby (2008).Ancient Mexico & Central America: Archaeology and Culture History, College Edition.London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 74–75.
- ^Evans, Susan Toby (2008).Ancient Mexico & Central America: Archaeology and Culture History, College Edition.London: Thames & Hudson. p. 552.
- ^"Coahuila Geography".Explorando Mexico.
- ^Evans, Susan Toby (2008).Ancient Mexico & Central America: Archaeology and Culture History, College Edition.London: Thames & Hudson. p. 78.
- ^Euler, Robert C. (September 1997)."Walter Willard Taylor, Jr. 1913–1997".SAA Bulletin.15(4).Society for American Archaeology.Retrieved2011-09-30.
- ^Taylor, Walter W.(1972)."The Hunter-Gatherer Nomads of Northern Mexico: A Comparison of the Archival and Records"(PDF).World Archaeology.4(2): 170.doi:10.1080/00438243.1972.9979530.RetrievedOctober 1,2011.
- ^abcdTaylor, Walter W.(1972)."The Hunter-Gatherer Nomads of Northern Mexico: A Comparison of the Archival and Records"(PDF).World Archaeology.4(2): 171.doi:10.1080/00438243.1972.9979530.RetrievedOctober 1,2011.
- ^Taylor, Walter W.(1972)."The Hunter-Gatherer Nomads of Northern Mexico: A Comparison of the Archival and Records"(PDF).World Archaeology.4(2): 171, 175.doi:10.1080/00438243.1972.9979530.RetrievedOctober 1,2011.
- ^abTaylor, Walter W.(1972)."The Hunter-Gatherer Nomads of Northern Mexico: A Comparison of the Archival and Records"(PDF).World Archaeology.4(2): 173.doi:10.1080/00438243.1972.9979530.RetrievedOctober 1,2011.
- ^abTaylor, Walter W.(1972)."The Hunter-Gatherer Nomads of Northern Mexico: A Comparison of the Archival and Records"(PDF).World Archaeology.4(2): 174.doi:10.1080/00438243.1972.9979530.RetrievedOctober 1,2011.
- ^abcTaylor, Walter W.(1972)."The Hunter-Gatherer Nomads of Northern Mexico: A Comparison of the Archival and Records"(PDF).World Archaeology.4(2): 175.doi:10.1080/00438243.1972.9979530.RetrievedOctober 1,2011.
- ^abcdeTaylor, Walter W.(1972)."The Hunter-Gatherer Nomads of Northern Mexico: A Comparison of the Archival and Records"(PDF).World Archaeology.4(2): 176.doi:10.1080/00438243.1972.9979530.RetrievedOctober 1,2011.
- ^Peter N. PeregrineandMelvin Ember,ed. (2001).Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Vol. 5: Middle America.New York: Springer. p. 82.
- ^Peter N. PeregrineandMelvin Ember,ed. (2001).Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Vol. 5: Middle America.New York: Springer. p. 84.
- ^Taylor, Walter W.(1972)."The Hunter-Gatherer Nomads of Northern Mexico: A Comparison of the Archival and Records"(PDF).World Archaeology.4(2): 172.doi:10.1080/00438243.1972.9979530.RetrievedOctober 1,2011.
- ^abRichard E.W. Adams and Murdo J. Macleod, ed. (2000).The Cambridge History of the Peoples of the Americas, Vol. II, Mesoamerica Part I.UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 73.
- ^abcdHudson, Corey M. (2008). "Walter Taylor and the History of American Archaeology".Journal of Anthropological Archaeology.27(2): 192–200.doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2008.02.001.
- ^Sobolik, Kristin D. (2003).Archaeologist's Toolkit 5: Archaeobiology.Walnut Creek: Altamira Press. p. 101.
- ^Turpin, Solveig A."Walking the line: A Preliminary Sandal Chronology from Coahuila and Southwestern Texas"(PDF).Journal of Big Bend Studies(15): 27–33.Retrieved2011-09-30.