The initial idea of Adrián Beltrán and Yekaretina Katiya Pavlova, Mexican guide the first, Russian speleologist the second, had little to do with archeology. In September 2023, both professionals decided to throw their bártulos behind their backs and enter the Tlayócoc cave, located in the Sierra de Guerrero (Mexico), to map their galleries. Once there they discovered, however, something that made this goal happen to the background: after traveling 150 meters to the bottom of the cave and entering a submerged passage, the couple met an archaeological treasure hidden for several centuries.
The legacy of an already extinct ethnicity, the tlacotepehuas.
In a remote cave in Mexico … The Cave of Tlagoococ, in the Sierra de Guerrero, is well known in the area for its natural resources. It provides water. And a guano that farmers usually resort to pay their orchards. What was not known until Beltrán and Pavlova entered the cave in September 2023 is that he also hid a valuable archaeological treasure that will allow historians to expand their knowledge of pre -Hispanic cultures.
To get to him the guide and the speleologist entered 150 m in the cave, submerged to move towards the grotto and reached a camera.
What did they find there? Two bracelets made with shells arranged in stalagmites. The image was so shocking that, as Pavlova would report to the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico (INAH), the first thing that came to mind was that it was garbage. Maybe plastics. When he approached and looked at those more close pieces, he realized that he was facing something different. “It was very exciting! An experience similar to discovering a well of more than 300 m inside the cave. Here we were lucky,” recognizes the Russian cartographer.
Was that all? No. In the area there were more pieces, including another bracelet, a large shell and fragments of black discs, similar to pyrite mirrors. Pavlova took photos and raised some theories about the possible origin of all that, but decided to leave the discovery in the hands of experts. He notified the discovery and the ejido authorities and the Carrizal de Bravo Surveillance Committee were responsible for ensuring that the site was not looted. Recently the local authorities decided to go further they asked the INAH to register the cave again.
The area is not easily accessible, it is located at an altitude of 2,387 meters and to get to it you have to cross ravines, a river and a road where travelers risk finding snakes or pumas, but in March a team of experts registered the site. Thanks to this work today we have a more precise idea of the archaeological treasure of the Tlayócoc cave: 14 pre -Hispanic objects including bracelets and stone discs similar to pyrite mirrors.
Clearing unknowns. Archaeologists recorded in total three shell bracelets, a fragment of bracelet of also malacological origin, the shell of a giant snail (experts believe that of the species Strombus sp.) Perforated and with decorations, a fragment of carbonized wood and remains of stone discs, but also fixed in the environment. In the camera they observed, for example, the stalagmites had been retouched during rounding their shape.
When examining in detail the bracelets also verified that they were made from shells (Triproofusus giganteus) that someone had dedicated themselves to decorating with engravings of symbols and anthropomorphic figures, including faces, brands in the form of “s” and lines in Zigzag. The brands, the position of the bracelets and the shape of the stalagmites suggested a theory to the experts: the cave was a ritual place. “Possibly the symbols and representations of characters in the bracelets are related to the pre -Hispanic cosmogony regarding creation and fertility,” says Cuauhtémoc Reyes, of the INAH Guerrero center.
Why is it important? Clarified what and where was another pending question: when. Archaeologists concluded that the pieces are from the post -classic period and were probably placed in the cave between the years 950 and 1521 AD, which leads them to think that they are related to the Tlacotepehua culture, which inhabited that region several centuries ago.
“It was a branch of the Tepuztecas, an ancient group that lived in the mountains and was dedicated to working the metals, hence its name,” adds archaeologist Pérez Negrete in an INAH statement. There are also bracelets that remind other pieces located in guerrenses deposits and farthest areas.
“Find of great relevance.” The phrase is again from Pérez Negrete, who insists on the scope of the discovery. “With the study of the contextual relationship of the pieces of the cave, we can interpret symbolic notions, cultural aspects, manufacturing and even trade, to characterize pre -Hispanic societies settled in the Sierre de Guerrero,” he claims.
Experts also handle very little information about the Tlacotepehua culture, which ended up extinguishing at the beginning of the viceregal era. As if that was not enough, the INAH remembers that it is the first time that its experts go to the community of Carrizal de Bravo, which marks “the beginning of a campaign” to promote the awareness and preservation of heritage.
Imágens | CINAH Guerrero and INAH (Katiya Pavlova)
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