Juxtlahuaca is a cave and archaeological site

Archaeological site

An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved , and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record.Beyond this, the definition and geographical extent of a 'site' can vary widely,...

 in the Mexican state of Guerrero

Guerrero

Guerrero officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guerrero is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo....

 containing mural

Mural

A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...

s linked to the Olmec

Olmec

The Olmec were the first major Pre-Columbian civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco....

 motifs and iconography. Along with the nearby Oxtotitlán

Oxtotitlán

Oxtotitlán is the name of a natural rock shelter and archaeological site in Chilapa de Álvarez, Mexican state of Guerrero that contains murals linked to the Olmec motifs and iconography. Along with the nearby Juxtlahuaca cave, the Oxtotitlán rock paintings represent the "earliest sophisticated...

 cave, Juxtlahuaca walls contain the earliest sophisticated painted art known in Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...

, and only known example of non-Maya

Maya civilization

The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...

 deep cave art

Cave 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...

 in Mesoamerica.

The cave

The Juxtlahuaca site is located some 45 km southeast of state capital Chilpancingo

Chilpancingo

Chilpancingo de los Bravo is the capital and second-largest city of the state of Guerrero, Mexico. It is located at . In the 2005 census the population of the city was 166,796. Its surrounding municipality, of which it is municipal seat, had a population of 214,219 persons...

 in what is now a National Park. The entire cave system is slightly over 5 kilometres. The caves, also called Grutas de Juxtlahuaca ("Grottos of Juxtlahuaca"), are a favorite destination of spelunkers. The caves are open to the public, but a local guide is required.

The site's paintings have been estimated to be over a kilometre down a long cavern: descent times are roughly two hours and some passages are partially filled with water.

The paintings

The most well-known of the cave art is Painting 1, which features a large bearded man with a black cloak, a striped tunic, and an elaborate headpiece. The arms and legs are covered with jaguar

Jaguar

The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...

 fur, and a small jaguar tail is even visible dangling down. The man is brandishing a trident

Trident

A trident , also called a trishul or leister or gig, is a three-pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and was also a military weapon. Tridents are featured widely in mythical, historical and modern culture. The major Hindu god, Shiva the Destroyer and the sea god Poseidon or Neptune are...

 at a much smaller figure crouched to his side and is carrying a long snake or snakelike object. This 2 meter (6 foot) tall painting is one of the rare Olmec-style portrayals of human-on-human dominance, which some researchers interpret as a scene of human sacrifice.

Also of note in Juxtlahuaca is a painting of a red Feathered Serpent

Olmec mythology

The religion of the Olmec people significantly influenced the social development and mythological world view of Mesoamerica. Scholars have seen echoes of Olmec supernaturals in the subsequent religions and mythologies of nearly all later pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures.The first Mesoamerican...

 with green plumes, near a red jaguar whose large ears and eyes give it a youthful cast. A design that has provisionally been interpreted as a temple was found on a stalagmite.

The cave paintings have been known since at least the 1920s, but were first professionally documented in the early 1960s by Gillett Griffin of Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 and Carlo T. E. Gay, an Italian businessman. Archaeologist Michael D. Coe

Michael D. Coe

Michael D. Coe is an American archaeologist, anthropologist, epigrapher and author. Primarily known for his research in the field of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican studies , Coe has also made extensive investigations across a variety...

 has estimated that the paintings "might probably be Early Preclassic

Mesoamerican chronology

Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian , the Archaic , the Preclassic , the Classic , and the Postclassic...

 (1200-900 BC, uncalibrated)" in date. Juxtalhuaca is, so far as is known, unassociated with any large town of that period. It is also not known how Olmec-influenced art came to be painted hundreds of kilometres (or miles) from the Olmec heartland

Olmec heartland

The Olmec heartland is the southern portion of Mexico's Gulf Coast region between the Tuxtla mountains and the Olmec archaeological site of La Venta, extending roughly 80 km inland from the Gulf of Mexico coastline at its deepest...

. Caves are prominent on many Olmec-style monuments: several Olmec "altars" depict shamans or rulers emerging from caves, and monuments and reliefs at the archaeological site of Chalcatzingo

Chalcatzingo

Chalcatzingo is a Mesoamerican archaeological site in the Valley of Morelos dating from the Formative Period of Mesoamerican chronology. The site is well-known for its extensive array of Olmec-style monumental art and iconography. Located in the southern portion of the Central Highlands of Mexico,...

, to the north of Juxtlahuaca, also feature cave motifs.

Other artifacts

A dozen skeletons have been found in the so-called Hall of the Dead, located midway between the entrance and the paintings. From their positions, some extended and some in a fetal position, and their condition, covered with a stalactite crust, the skeletons are assumed to be ancient burials. Some have been partially buried as a result of a cave-in.

Just before the paintings, an 250-foot (80 m) artificial canal has been cut into the red clay floor of the cave. The purpose of this canal is not known.