17MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies
17MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies 17MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies
LOWERENTRANC.EPROI="ILEuppeR£NTRANc..("200 ~T.ICORN IFinD JI,"I,-----------------r LOWER [NTRA.NC.E~ r UPPER I::NTRANC.E"""--- ~--==-~~-"c:::I "::::: 91-· @ ~:::::~- - STK£AMf1JII-' j Q ~ 0 ~ _ ()/0 ~ ~.:::::: ::::::: 0•?CUEVA DE AGUA CARL ATAMUNICIPALITY HUAUTLA m: JIMENE7OA'XACA. MEX\COBY BILL RUS5ELL -t J a~-\N n51--\JUNE. 1966AMeS? •PLAN
ARCHEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS IN CUEVA DE SAN AGUSTINby Bill RussellThe trips to the HU8utla area have been more of a reconnaissancethan an intensive exploration, and as a result fewarcheological finds have been made. Of the caves investigatedonly one, Cueva de San Agustin, is of archeological interest.This cave is visible from the new road southeast of Huautla,and is located just east of the small town of San Agustin onthe ridge that separates the San Agustin dolina from the RioIglesia dolina. The entrance to the cave is a large shelter,with a fissure leading steeply downward from the right side ofthe entrance. After a short distance a 40 foot drop is encountered,the top of which can be reached without the aid of artificiallight. Parts of several skulls were found scatteredamong small breakdown at the bottom of this drop. The skullswere not numerous, with parts of perhaps eight or nine found.A small jade hatchet (1) blade was discovered among rocks atthe top of the 40 foot drop. This blade just fits what appearsto be an artificial hole in the top of one of the skulls. Thisblade is made from jade containing numerous parallel imperfectionsand is about one and one-half inches long and one inchwide. (See diagram.) The breakdown slope at the base of thefirst drop leads to another drop, and at the base of this seconddrop are several large (3 inches in diameter) vertebrae imbeddedin cave fill. These bones are of animals larger than any nowliVing in the area and warrant further investigation.It is quite possible that this cave is the same as the onenoted on a crude 1763 map of Huautla. This pictorial map entitled'Mapa de Huautla' was photographed by Frederick Starr in1900. The map shows a cave entrance in a hill that looks muchlike the hill above Cueva de San Agustin, and on the map thecave entrance is surrounded by skulls. The map is not preciseenough to determine with certainty if the cave is the one shownon the map. The cave-located on the map is called Cueva deOxtiupam, and on the next trip to the Huautla are cavers shouldinquire about that name, as well as more thoroughly investigatethe cave.One of the few archeological reports on the area, HowardF. Cline's "Colonial Mazatec Lienzos and Communities", publishedin the excellent book, Ancient Oaxaca, interprets the cave shownon the Mapa de Huautla as a picture of a cave showing remains o~the 'kings'. Caves of this kind are described by the local compilersof data for the Cuadros sin6pticos (i883) as cemeteriesof "'kings and nobles or the Mazatec nation', from which thecompilers extracted skeletal materials and pottery from a centralcrypt". (Ancient Oaxaca, pages 285-286.) If this interpretationis correct, there should be other skull caves, and AMCS memberswill be in a unique position to add to the archeological knowledgeof the area.68DRAWN TO SCAlfEDGE VIEW
- Page 20 and 21: The Deep Caves or the Western Hemis
- Page 22 and 23: THE ASSOCIATION FORMEXICAN CAVE STU
- Page 24 and 25: Persons: Ed Alexander, Bob Burnett,
- Page 26 and 27: go north of Galeana to Ranchero Sou
- Page 28 and 29: 26Persons: Chip Carney and Don Eric
- Page 30 and 31: =::::::?------------I.r-L6-\. MUD S
- Page 32 and 33: Sandy-floored passage in S6tano de
- Page 34 and 35: slopes, made difficult by the thin
- Page 36 and 37: Persons: Faye Chapman I Jonathan Da
- Page 38 and 39: a rutted road. On the other side of
- Page 41 and 42: Entrance to S6tano de San Antonio.
- Page 43 and 44: totENTRANCEo 30FEET60 90iCUEVA DETL
- Page 45 and 46: contained a long, steep talus slope
- Page 47 and 48: Entrance to Cueva del Salitre.Photo
- Page 49 and 50: On July 12 I had an hour's intervie
- Page 51 and 52: THE ASSOCIATION FORMEXICAN CAVE STU
- Page 53 and 54: One of the many Santa Fe dirt sinks
- Page 55 and 56: 330 feet. At the bottom along one s
- Page 57 and 58: species of milliped of a group not
- Page 59 and 60: secondary opening one-third of the
- Page 61 and 62: After a perusal of our topo maps th
- Page 64 and 65: HUAUTLA DE JIMENEZ, OAXACAAREA SKET
- Page 66 and 67: 11. Pit just down hill from pit 10.
- Page 68 and 69: 21. SOTANO DE SAN AGUSTIN - This s6
- Page 72 and 73: RECENT PAPERS ON MEXICAN CAVE BIOLO
- Page 74 and 75: here from Gruta del Palmito, Nuevo
- Page 76 and 77: THE ASSOCIATION FOR MEXICAN CAVE ST
- Page 78 and 79: View north along valley of the Inte
- Page 80 and 81: Typical fissure passages in S6tano
- Page 82 and 83: valley below the resurgences were d
- Page 84 and 85: point on, green mosses cover the wa
- Page 86 and 87: Persons: John Fish, David McKenzie,
- Page 88 and 89: Buena la dozen eager guides led us
- Page 90 and 91: los Riscos (see sketch map on page
- Page 92 and 93: Persons: Jim and Barbara Hershberge
- Page 94 and 95: 20' PITENTRANCE L-l. ", ...,\ '-'-~
- Page 96 and 97: Editor's Note: The following propos
- Page 98 and 99: permanent river in the area is the
- Page 100 and 101: Develop the cavern and an access to
- Page 102 and 103: OF THEPROPOSEDPARQUE NACIONAL DE LA
- Page 104 and 105: 100area, was rather surprising, sin
- Page 106 and 107: 1.2.3.4.5.6.MEXICAN CAVE BIOLOGY:AN
- Page 108 and 109: 15.16.17.18.19.Reddell" James R. 19
- Page 110 and 111: THE ASSOCIATION FORMEXICAN CAVE STU
- Page 112 and 113: 107NEWSNOTESTABLE OF CONTENTSTRIP R
- Page 114 and 115: 109CAVEMAPSDuring the past six year
- Page 116 and 117: 111CAVES OF GUERRERO AND MORELOSJOH
- Page 118 and 119: 113in the volcanic detrital deposit
LOWERENTRANC.EPROI="ILEuppeR£NTRANc..("200 ~T.ICORN IFinD JI,"I,-----------------r LOWER [NTRA.NC.E~ r UPPER I::NTRANC.E"""--- ~--==-~~-"c:::I "::::: 91-· @ ~:::::~- - STK£AMf1JII-' j Q ~ 0 ~ _ ()/0 ~ ~.:::::: ::::::: 0•?CUEVA DE AGUA CARL ATAMUNICIPALITY HUAUTLA m: JIMENE7OA'XACA. MEX\COBY BILL RUS5ELL -t J a~-\N n51--\JUNE. 1966AMeS? •PLAN