A 2,500-year-old burial was found in a Mexican cave (3 photos)

Archaeologists have discovered in a cave in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon the remains of ancient people buried approximately 2,500 years ago. In addition, man-made fibers and tools were found.





In a cave in northeastern Mexico, the burials of three people were discovered, buried along with various grave goods.

Analysis of the skeletal remains showed that two of them were teenagers and one was an infant, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said in a statement. Remains of wickerwork, textiles and fibers were found along with the human remains, suggesting that the deceased may have been buried in bundles of these materials.



The remains were found in parts, and it is possible that they were ritually dismembered; however, detailed osteological analysis was not performed.



The dead were also buried with freshwater shell beads, some of which were made 300 kilometers east of the Gulf of Mexico, said Moises Valadez Moreno, an INAH archaeologist who excavated the remains. He noted that remains of seeds, spearheads and plants were also found.

The human remains date back to between 3,000 and 2,500 years ago, the statement said. This period is sometimes referred to by archaeologists as the "Preclassic" period in Mexico. At this time, the peoples living in northern Mexico engaged in long-distance trade. Their way of life included hunting, gathering and growing crops, write historians Alfredo Lopez Austin and Leonardo Lopez Luján in their book Mexico's Indigenous Past (University of Oklahoma Press, 2001).

According to Valadez Moreno, the connection between the three people found in the cave is still unclear; To determine it, it is necessary to conduct osteological studies and DNA analysis. The proximity of their remains and location in the same layer of soil suggests that the three people may have died around the same time, he said. It is also unclear exactly how they died, although future tests may shed light on this question.

Excavations at the cave began in 2003 and since then, some 30,000 artifacts and ecofacts (biological remains that may have been used by humans) have been discovered, INAH said in a statement.