Baja’s Great Mural Rock Art Vastly Older Than Previously Believed

New Study Pushes Back Age of Mexico’s Cave Paintings 11,000 Years to End of Last Ice Age and Arrival of First Humans on Baja Peninsula

In what is likely one of Mexico’s most important archeological findings of recent years, the Great Mural cave paintings of Central Baja have been shown to be far older — by at least 10,000 years — than previously believed.

Red and black shamans, two of which are pierced with arrows, adorn the rock face at Cueva Las Flechas (the Arrows) in San Francisco de Sierra. The shamans are painted over a male deer, while a gato montes (bobcat) appears to be nipping at the leg of the arrow-filled shaman. (Photo by Craig K. Collins ©2022)

A team of geologists, archeologists and rock art experts have concluded a years-long study of the dramatic, larger-than-life murals, which can be found on rock wall overhangs throughout the remote, rugged mountains that run down the spine of the Baja Peninsula.

Using radiocarbon dating techniques, the scientists determined that the oldest of the paintings are up to 11,000 years in age, their creation stretching back to an epoch that marked the end of the last Ice Age and the arrival of the first humans on the Baja Peninsula.

For a more in-depth story about Baja’s Great Murals, please read my article The Time of the Painters in the Winter 2023 issue of Hidden Compass Magazine.

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