FRESNILLO.- Archaeologists have discovered eight previously undocumented rock art sites in the Sierra de Valdecañas in Zacatecas, revealing new evidence of the ritual life and artistic traditions of the ancient hunter-gatherer communities that once moved through the region.
The paintings are believed to be between 600 and 1,200 years old. Together with the previously known Cañada de Linares site, the discoveries bring the number of identified rock art locations in the mountain range to nine.
Researchers from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, known as INAH, found the sites during systematic surveys conducted in 2026. The work forms part of a collaboration between the INAH Zacatecas Center and the mining company Fresnillo plc, which owns land in the region.
The newly documented locations are spread across an area of approximately five kilometers. Some contain painted panels measuring as much as 20 meters across, with images covering both walls and ceilings. Others feature smaller groupings of eight to ten motifs on exposed sections of hillsides.
One site, located in the middle of a streambed, appears to have served as a ritual gallery associated with fertility and hunting ceremonies.
Mexico’s secretary of culture, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, said the discoveries show that the country’s archaeological heritage continues to offer important clues about its past.
“This discovery confirms that Mexico’s archaeological heritage continues to provide new keys for understanding our history,” she said. Curiel de Icaza added that cooperation between researchers, heritage authorities and other organizations can produce new knowledge while strengthening conservation and public access.
The rock art consists largely of geometric designs, including straight, zigzagging, intersecting, wavy and clustered lines, as well as arrangements of dots, triangles and circles. A smaller number of images depict animals, while human figures are even less common.
Red is the dominant color. The artists used outlined forms and areas of solid pigment, creating a visual pattern that appears repeatedly across all nine sites.
Archaeologist Carlos Alberto Torreblanca Padilla, who leads the project, said the consistency of the paintings suggests the existence of a significant artistic tradition connected to a long period of pre-Hispanic occupation.
The investigation builds on reports from local residents who had long indicated that other rock paintings existed beyond Cañada de Linares. That site contains more than 1,500 pictorial elements distributed across 17 panels and eight isolated groups.
INAH carried out initial survey and conservation work at Cañada de Linares in 2024. In 2026, Torreblanca Padilla and archaeologists Paola Moulinie Córdova and Jorge Rafael Quiroz Martínez expanded the project and began systematically exploring the surrounding mountain landscape.
Rock art research in Zacatecas remains at an early stage. Since 2021, the project Images on Rocks: Rock Art Expressions in the State of Zacatecas has examined historical sources, published studies and archival material in an effort to map the region’s sites and identify different artistic styles.
Researchers currently believe there may be at least two distinct traditions. The Valdecañas style is characterized primarily by geometric forms, while the Dominguejo style, documented at the El Capulín site in the Sierra de Chapultepec, includes images of animals such as goats and a small number of human figures.
“Our hypothesis is that there are at least two styles, Valdecañas and Dominguejo, but the research is only beginning, and much more study is needed to confirm this,” Torreblanca Padilla said.
The ethnic identity of the people who created the paintings remains unknown. Archaeologists have also found circular residential structures outside Cañada de Linares, although it is not yet clear whether the communities that lived in those settlements were responsible for the rock art.
“There are many questions still to be answered before we can understand the pre-Hispanic past of Fresnillo,” Torreblanca Padilla said.
INAH and Fresnillo plc are now working to establish protective zones around each of the newly discovered sites. The immediate concern is damage caused by climbing, a popular activity in the area. Researchers have found footprints, metal climbing bolts and other signs of human activity near some of the paintings.
School groups generally visit only Cañada de Linares, but climbers have reached several of the more isolated locations, increasing the risk of accidental damage.
Each new site has been given a temporary name using the abbreviation CDL, for Cañada de Linares, followed by a number from one to eight.
Of the approximately 480 archaeological sites currently registered in Zacatecas, only 61 contain rock paintings or engravings. Most previous studies have focused on documenting and identifying the images rather than interpreting their meaning. The ongoing Images on Rocks project is the first in the state to undertake a broader investigation of their cultural significance.
