La Pintada (archaeological site)

La Pintada is an archaeological site located some 60 kilometers south of the city of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, within the "La Pintada" canyon, part of the "Sierra Libre", a small mountain massif of the coastal plains that extends throughout the Sonoran Desert. La Pintada, a forgotten archaeological treasure, is an important archaeological zone of its kind in the state of Sonora. It offers visitors a glimpse of the ancestral cultural legacy as well as an extraordinary natural view of its flora, fauna and its orography. The groups that lived here depended for survival on both; their knowledge of the territory and the availability of resources, and especially water. Their scarcity in a desert environment makes the places where water abounds in nodal points of territory. Hence, the "Sierra Libre"stands as an authentic oasis, it contains many natural water deposits, and the liquid abundance is reflected in the quantity and quality of available resources. Several containers in the La Pintada Canyon are filled during the summer rains and refilled with winter rains. It was a spot where, according to some experts, native groups, such as Seris, Pimas or Yaquis, during their last years would hide from the Spaniards conquering weapons. It is also known as "Macizo del Cerro Prieto", "Sierra Libre" or "Sierra Prieta". Caves, hollows and rocks from this area were used by ancient natives as dwellings, funerary events and sanctuaries. The site is located within regional areas defined as Aridoamerica and Oasisamerica. Both are defined as independent of Mesoamerica and in turn are apparently differentiated from one another by cultural traits. One group is said to be composed of hunter-gatherers and the other to be in possession of agricultural techniques. No information is available as to what the chronological periods are for each "region" was, as both cover about the same territories, nor their relation with other Mesoamerican native cultures in Mexico.