Expert opinion
A Few Conclusions

After nearly three decades of research involving meticulous analysis of the finds and monuments at Boca de Potrerillos, it has been possible to identify some of the region’s cultural patterns and features, and to draw some reliable conclusions on the social and economic organization of the indigenous population, which was based on fishing, hunting and gathering. This form of subsistence continued from the arrival of the first people some 12,000 years ago until the early nineteenth century.

Radiocarbon dating places the main period of occupation at about 5,000 years ago until the site was abandoned in the mid-eighteenth century. This long period of settlement, together with the extensive body of paleoenvironmental data, burials and classified artifacts, as well as the recording of more than 17,000 images, have helped to develop an understanding that sites situated between hill ranges, such as Boca de Potrerillos, were strategically important for seasonal living. The inhabitants made the most of abundant plant and animal resources and other primary materials over a prolonged period of time, as evidenced by the never-ending list of remains, including fireplaces, instruments and tools, movable pieces of art, ornaments made locally and in distant lands, hillsides with a variety of rock carvings, rock shelters with painted walls and burial sites. This points to an ordered structure of domestic spaces and rituals, which together formed part of a complex pre-historic landscape in the north of the present-day state of Nuevo León.

In summary, research has made it possible a) to determine the settlement pattern and chronology of the indigenous occupation; b) to reconstruct the prevailing natural environment in previous ages; c) to create an inventory including details of locations and typology of the archeological materials on the System for Unique Public Records of Archeological and Historical Monuments and Sites (SURPMZAH); d) to analyze the distribution and characteristics of the artifacts on the site and on a regional level; e) to understand the types of tools and their possible use in the exploitation of natural resources available in the past; f) the distribution and classification of rocks and images recorded by rock art, which are to a large extent found on the hillsides facing the sunrise, and particularly where the shape of the land forms entrances or mouths (“bocas”) at the entrance to canyons, or small valleys where rivers and streams meet.

Thanks to such extensive data and information, as well as its cultural significance, Boca de Potrerillos can be considered one of the best sites for studying the prehistoric period and rock art and carvings in Mexico.

Estudios_1
INAH-Zona Arqueológica de Boca de Potrerillos/Moisés Valadez
Estudios_5
INAH-Zona Arqueológica Boca de Potrerillos/S. Turpin; Moisés Valadez
Registro_3D_3
INAH-Zona Arqueológica Boca de Potrerillos
Registro_3D_5
INAH-Zona Arqueológica Boca de Potrerillos
Registro_3D_6
INAH-Zona Arqueológica Boca de Potrerillos


 
  • Tupin, Solveig A., Herbert H. Eling Jr. y Moisés Valadez Moreno, 1993, “From Marshland to Desert: The Late Prehistoric Environment of Boca de Potrerillos, Nuevo Leon, Mexico”, en Robert W. Moeller (ed.), North American Archaeologist, 4(4), Nueva York, Amityville, Baywood Publishing Company.
  • ___, 1994, “The Archaic Environment of Boca de Potrerillos, Nuevo Leon, Mexico”, en Robert W. Moeller (ed.), North American Archaeologist, 15(4), Nueva York, Amityville, Baywood Publishing Company.
  • ___, 1995, “Boca de Potrerillos, Nuevo León. Adaptación prehispánica a las zonas áridas del noreste de México”, en Eduardo Williams y Phil C. Weigand (eds.), Arqueología de occidente y norte de México, Zamora, Colmich.
  • ___, 1996, “The Mobiliary Art of Boca de Potrerillos, Mina, Nuevo Leon”, en Plains Anthropologist Society, vol. 41, Nebraska.
  • ___, 1998, “Boca de Potrerillos, evidencia arqueológica y paleoambiental del desarrollo indígena en Nuevo León”, en E. Lozano (ed.) y M. Vázquez (coord.), Boca de Potrerillos, San Nicolás de los Garza, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León.
  • Valadez Moreno, Moisés, 2005, “Los petroglifos de Boca de Potrerillos, Nuevo León”, en Joel Santos y Ramón Viñas (eds.), Los petrograbados del norte de México, México, Centro INAH Sinaloa, Actualidades Arqueológicas, Pasado en Presente.
  • ___, 1999, “El piloncillo, la caña de azúcar y los cambios ecológicos culturales en el Valle de Mina, Nuevo León”, en Revista de Humanidades, Monterrey, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, División de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades.
  • ___, 2001, “Expiración, luto y defunción. Evidencias sobre prácticas mortuorias entre los antiguos norestenses”, en Revista de Humanidades, Monterrey, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, División de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades.
  • ___, 2014, “Pobrezas y riquezas olvidadas: arqueología histórica rural de Nuevo León”, en Revista de Humanidades, Monterrey, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Escuela de Negocios, Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades.
  • ___, 2014, Zona de monumentos arqueológicos. Boca de Potrerillos, México. Registro tridimensional del arte rupestre, Saarbrücken-Berlín, Editorial Académica Española / OmniScriptum GmbH.
boca_potrerillos_opinion_portada

LEGAL NOTICE

The contents of this website belong to the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia de México, and may be downloaded and shared without alterations, provided that the author is acknowledged and if is not for commercial purposes.

Footer MediatecaINAH

Guardar
Lugares INAH

Idioma