Finally found the Cataviņa paintings today. Magical place.
BajaBlanca - 12-16-2013 at 09:36 PM
Looking back towards the main highway
BajaBlanca - 12-16-2013 at 09:38 PM
The detail is impressive, wish I understood the meaning
BajaBlanca - 12-16-2013 at 09:42 PM
woody with a view - 12-17-2013 at 05:47 AM
makes you wonder how many more are out there in that area. same at Pedregoso. it is pretty impressive!David K - 12-18-2013 at 03:38 AM
That food was abundant enough that they had the leisure time to paint them says something about this desert in Baja.
I think the last time we went up there was in 2006, with Baja Angel, Josh, and The Squarecircle:
They are at the top of this boulder hill, looking over where two arroyos meet just north of the Hwy. 1 (sometimes wet) arroyo crossing, 2 miles north
of Cataviņa.
[Edited on 12-21-2013 by David K]woody with a view - 12-18-2013 at 03:39 AM
on a hot summer day it is amazing how much cooler those caves are.RnR - 12-18-2013 at 06:34 AM
Very interesting. The paintings are very different than other cave paintings we've seen in Baja. No hand prints, no animals, no larger than life
figures.
Quote:
Originally posted by BajaBlanca
The detail is impressive, wish I understood the meaning
Perhaps only meaningful to the artist. Or, perhaps, representative of the old culture as a whole. We'll never know.
Just a thought to be considered ---
What will future populations think of the current Catavina "graffiti" a couple thousand years from now?
Just saying ......David K - 12-18-2013 at 09:12 AM
Montevideo is much like Cataviņa... except no climbing, just drive right to them... signed road, 2 miles south of L.A. Bay highway off road to San
Borja, about 6-7 miles in. Fantastic boojum and desert forest along the way.
I saw the Cataviņa cave painting!
BajaBlanca - 12-18-2013 at 09:44 PM
M
It took me while to find it, but we did it! The hike up was beautiful and the paintings really well preserved.BajaBlanca - 12-18-2013 at 09:52 PM
Ken Cooke - 12-18-2013 at 10:33 PM
Great photos!!Bubba - 12-19-2013 at 07:35 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by BajaBlanca
Any idea on the age of these?BajaBlanca - 12-19-2013 at 10:09 AM
I have the Crosby book at home and will check up on this....how old must they be .......David K - 12-21-2013 at 11:53 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by BajaBlanca
I have the Crosby book at home and will check up on this....how old must they be .......
In the 1997 edition of Crosby, he goes no further north than Montevideo in describing cave art sites.
The estimated age of the paintings in Central Baja range from 500 to 1000 years, depending on the site.
A wooden peg at Cueva Pintada (Sierra de San Francisco) was radiocarbon dated to be 530 years old +/- 80 years. Dr. Bill Massey had similar dating for
cave art near Comondú. A super nova was painted (Crab Nebula) in Arroyo del Parral of the Sierra de San Francisco, and that occurred almost 1000 years
ago (July, 1054 A.D.).Osprey - 12-21-2013 at 01:44 PM
Indians? Amerindians? Maybe, but some paint pigments come in about 7300 years before present. Not many Indians around then. The rock overhang
(shelter) near Lake Chapala has age dated travelers/visitors off and on for the last 10,000 years. A whole lot of early people came here by boat --
don't say we'll never know because science is sneaking up closer to the answer every day.David K - 12-21-2013 at 04:03 PM
The Pericú tribes of the cape region are sometimes considered to be more polynesian, than Native American. Then there is a thought that the more
'European' look of some Pericú had to do with English pirates 'seeing' the local population 200 years before the Jesuits were occupying the
peninsula...?
[Edited on 12-21-2013 by David K]CaboDreamer - 12-22-2013 at 12:11 PM
Love post about the "Pinturas" of Baja. Thanks for sharing!acadist - 12-22-2013 at 04:19 PM
Very cool!BajaBlanca - 12-22-2013 at 06:59 PM
I never heard of Montevideo, guess that is the next destination!basautter - 12-23-2013 at 12:12 PM
Is a guide required for the tour?David K - 12-23-2013 at 02:02 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by BajaBlanca
I never heard of Montevideo, guess that is the next destination!
My first time there was about 12 years ago... very beautiful area... biggest boojum trees in Baja seem to be in there... One was about 90 feet high
when it crashed. I think Neal Johns measured it?
It is important that anyone desiring to see this site do so before an act on Nature or Man takes it from us. The site at Montevideo has been published
in Baja guides since the 1960's, so nothing new or sacred being exposed here on Nomad. The directions to the site have even been made by signs posted
by the Mexican government.
The side road is 6 miles long and goes right to the face of the cliff with the art. The side road begins 2 miles south of the Bahia de los Angeles
highway, on the road to Mission San Borja. 4WD was not needed, but it is a desert road and best traveled in a truck or SUV.
Note the small dashed line road ending in the bottom, center area of the close-up map below. That is the cliff art site... Valley mis-spelled on topo
map as Montevido
