Frightful Cave

Frightful Cave (Spanish: Cueva Espantosa) is a pre-Columbian archaeological site located in the state of Coahuila in northern Mexico. It was occupied on several occasions during the Archaic period by what seem to be nomadic hunter-gatherer groups and is an important source of archaeological evidence concerning the ancient desert tradition of the Central Mexican highlands.^[1]

Overview

Located in the

• Over 950 fibre sandals, fibre ties^[7]
• One leather sandal, fibre ties^[7]
• One complete twined fibre apron, leather ties^[7]
• Various scraps of textiles, fibre, leather, furs, feathers^[8]
• Several caches of mesquite beans in plaited-matting bags^[9]
• Over 22,000 maguey ‘quids’^[9]
• Two items, classified by
  Taylor as musical rasps^[10]
• “A number of prickly pear pads, split open and with the ‘open edge’ sewn together to make a passable container”^[11]
• Several bags of Texas buckeye seeds, and mescal beans, both having narcotic qualities^[11]
• 1,195 pieces of twisted cordage^[11]
• Various balls of human hair^[12]
• Remains of an aged woman, dressed in a loincloth and sandals, wrapped in a mat^[13]

All items were found within three

Inside Frightful Cave, comparisons of the different strata allowed for temporal analysis of the cave’s inhabitants, while comparisons to other caves in the area allowed for spatial analysis. Spatially, it has been found that there was likely cultural exchange between various nomadic groups both within the Coahuila complex and across nearby regions.^[16]

Chronological trends have also been observed, indicating the repeated occupation by

There is almost no evidence concerning the religious or artistic cultural lives of Frightful Cave’s inhabitants, with the exception being the human hair found deposited at the back of the cave in the first stratum.^[12] The hairs appear to have “been cut at regular intervals of about one month” based on their cut ends and lengths.^[12] Archival evidence suggests this may have been a mourning practice, but the purpose of such ritual handling of hair has not been concretely determined.^[12]

References