A painting made inside a cave in Mexico, which houses art made centuries ago, has been carved from the wall by looters with an electric saw, archaeologists said.
The cave, known as La Cueva Pinta, is located in the state of Coahuila in northern Mexico. A concerned citizen who notified the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), a federal government agency, discovered it had been looted “in recent days.”
“Those who perpetrated this lack of respect towards the ancient inhabitants of the desert are to be punished with the full weight of the law,” the INAH said in in a news release. Such sites are protected by federal law in Mexico.
Damage to the cave wall where a panel of ancient art sits is pictured. Photo courtesy of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History.
Yuri de la Rosa Gutiérrez, an INAH archeologist, was sent to the site to investigate and confirmed that the unknown looters caused irreparable damage by using a saw to remove a figure of a painted hand, the agency said.
The looters also allegedly tried to steal at least two other figures and fragments of painted rock were found on the floor of the cave, which archaeologists said is evidence that the stolen cave painting itself suffered damage.
Damage to the cave wall where a panel of ancient art sits is pictured. Photo courtesy of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History.
The identities of the looters remain unknown, but the archaeologists have filed a complaint with federal prosecutors in the office of Mexico’s Attorney General for criminal prosecution. The suspects are accused of being “responsible for the destruction of archaeological heritage caused by the extraction of a cave painting.”
The INAH noted that the hand painting was part of a rock painting panel more than 16 feet wide and nearly 10 feet tall. More than 150 figures in total are painted on the walls, in red, yellow, white, black and orange colors.
Damage to the cave wall where a panel of ancient art sits is pictured. Photo courtesy of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History.
“Many of the figures are superimposed, suggesting that they were made at different times over generations, between 5,000 and 500 years before the present,” according to the INAH.
The archaeologists condemned the “regrettable actions” and called on authorities “to take the necessary measures to guarantee the protection of this and other archaeological sites, as well as to punish those responsible for this act.”
“The damage caused to La Cueva Pinta constitutes a serious impact on the national archaeological heritage with irreversible consequences, both in its conservation and in its historical and cultural value,” the INAH said.