Altavista Petroglyphs Pt. 1 - The Hike

How could we be in an area known for its petroglyphs and not visit a site filled with ancient engravings, that was only a 30 minute drive away?

We decided to hire a guide, Chuy, who also knows a lot about birds, to drive us to the area and explain what we were seeing. The area is well-known but not a very touristy site. In fact, we only saw one other little group when we were there. People who aren’t willing or able to scramble over big rocks shouldn’t go.

Chuy picked us up at 7 a.m., when it is cooler, and off we went. The road to the site from the highway is not marked so I am not sure we would have found it on our own. The road and trail to the stones was very picturesque so I made one footprint for the walk and one for the petroglyphs that we saw.

Now a little history, taken from signs posted along the way ...

The Tecoxquines, (Throat Cutters), who were the forefathers of the Aztecs, engraved images in volcanic stone over two thousand years ago. These petroglyphs may have been symbolic elements of everyday life, as far as health, fertility, rains, and crops. The rock carvings might have been meant as prayers or offerings to the gods responsible for these things.

After the Spanish conquest, the Tecoxquines were completely annihilated by epidemics and forced labor. Today native people of the region still talk about "white Indians," ghosts appearing from the mountains to honor their ancient gods.

The 200 acre archaeological site is located along the sides of a creek on the side of the Copo volcano. Chuy parked the car and we walked through fruit tree orchards on farm roads to the river. There were lots of birds to see and identify with Chuy’s help.

Once we got to the river, we had to negotiate the big boulders that were strewn along the sides of the river. Chuy would stop, point out the carvings and explain the meanings of the designs that were on the top and the sides of the big rocks.

Spirals, wavy lines, and other symbols carved in the rocks were probably a ritual prayer language for the gods. As an agricultural culture, the Tocoxquines would have been concerned with rain, fertility of the land and the timing of the seasons that they relied on.

While the exact meaning of symbols will never be known, spirals have been interpreted as the Sun, a storm, the wind, the spiral snake, or as a symbol of the natural cycle of rainy and dry days.
Chuy showed us a large rock filled with engravings, that was a possible map of the area.

So many petroglyphs. I think that there are over 2,000!

Eventually, we came to the Pila del Rey, or King’s Fountain, and what a beautiful place that was. But you can see the photos. An amazingly lovely grotto of basalt rocks. It is still used by the Huichol people during the solstices. We saw offerings and ribbons in the trees. No wonder the area was picked as a ceremonial centre. As our daughter said, it looks like a movie set.Read more