Sierra de San Francisco Cave Paintings

In the canyons of the Sierra de San Francisco, painted panels stretch across overhangs and cave walls for tens of metres: human figures two metres tall with raised arms, painted half red and half black, superimposed over deer, bighorn sheep, whales, rays, birds and arrows in ochre, black and white. Radiocarbon dates spread the tradition over several thousand years, from as early as 5500 BC to as late as European contact in the eighteenth century, and attribute it to hunter-gatherer peoples whose descendants the Spanish missionaries met - though the Cochimi told the Jesuits the paintings were made by a race of giants, which the scale makes easy to understand. UNESCO listed the complex in 1993, and access is properly controlled: visitors arrange permits through the national institute's office in San Ignacio, hire a licensed guide from the sierra community of San Francisco, and ride mules down into the canyons, camping overnight for the major sites like Cueva Pintada and Cueva de las Flechas. It is a demanding, expensive, unforgettable trip, and one of the most important rock-art concentrations anywhere in the Americas.

History

The paintings are probably the work of the Cochimi of the Baja California peninsula, a people who disappeared as a culture in the 19th century but are fairly well known from the writings of 18th-century Jesuit missionaries, and the Mexican Jesuit José Mariano Rotea was the first European to record them, in the 18th century. Native beliefs noted by the Jesuits said they were painted by a race of giants, perhaps because so many of the figures are larger than life, an idea dropped by scholars since the late 19th century, and their meaning, whether hunting magic, religion or ancestor worship, is still debated. Radiocarbon dates suggest ages from as early as 5500 BC to as late as European contact in the 18th century (Wikipedia, Rock Paintings of Sierra de San Francisco).

Highlights

• Cueva Pintada - the great painted overhang of human and animal figures.
• The two-tone humans - life-size figures in red and black.
• The canyon descent - mule trails into the sierra gorges.
• The community guides - families who hold the permits and knowledge.

When to go

October to April; summer is too hot for the canyon trails. Arrange permits and guides in San Ignacio a day or more ahead - there is no walk-in option.

Practical notes

Trips involve hours on mule back on steep trails and camping without facilities; the shortest options are day rides to nearer panels. Photography rules apply. Costs mount because everything - guide, mules, camp, permits - is priced separately.

Nearby

San Ignacio's oasis and mission are the staging point; the whale lagoon lies southwest.

Key facts