Fresh research into the spectacular rock art of southwest Texas has revealed that ancient hunter-gatherers maintained a sophisticated belief system for more than four millennia, creating elaborate painted murals that later influenced the cosmologies of major Mesoamerican civilizations. The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, establish the Pecos River style pictographs as one of the oldest continuously practiced artistic and spiritual traditions in the Americas, dating back nearly 6,000 years and persisting until approximately 1,000 years ago.
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Top; A tributary canyon of the Devils River where pictographs at 41VV39 were radiocarbon dated to 1510 to 1380 cal B.P. Bottom; Located in Eagle Nest Canyon, 41VV167 excavation conducted by the Ancient Southwest Texas Project, Texas State University where pictographs were radiocarbon dated to 3560 to 3455 cal B.P. (Karen L. Steelman / Science)
Monumental Paintings Reveal Complex Cosmological Thinking
The research team, led by Karen Steelman, Carolyn Boyd, and Phil Dering from Texas State University and Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center, obtained an unprecedented 57 direct radiocarbon dates from 12 rock art sites across the Lower Pecos Canyonlands region. Using plasma oxidation and accelerator mass spectrometry techniques, they determined that Indigenous communities began painting these sacred, polychromatic murals almost 6,000 years ago.
The murals, found in limestone rock shelters along the tributaries of the Pecos River, Devils River, and Rio Grande, are far more than random artistic expressions. Some panels extend over 100 feet (30 meters) in length and reach heights of 20 feet (6 meters), requiring some type of scaffolding or ladders to create. The paintings depict human-like and animal-like figures adorned with elaborate headdresses, power bundles, single-pole ladders, and other symbolic elements arranged in deliberate compositions.
Zoomorphic, enigmatic, and anthropomorphic figures form the murals. (Karen L. Steelman / Science)
Single Painting Events Challenge Previous Assumptions
An unexpected new discovery was that many of these massive murals were created during single painting events rather than accumulated over centuries as previously believed. Digital microscopy revealed that artists consistently followed a rule-bound color application sequence, moving from darker to lighter hues - black first, then red, yellow, and finally white.
"Another huge shocker is that the dates within many of the murals clustered so closely as to be statistically indistinguishable, suggesting that they were produced during a single painting event as a visual narrative," Boyd explained in the Texas State University announcement.
The team analyzed 2,206 photomicrographs at 588 points of intersecting paint involving 256 figures across eight sites. Paint layers of multiple figures were interwoven, forming well-planned compositions that demonstrate these were not random accumulations but carefully orchestrated visual manuscripts.
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Carolyn Boyd examines the painting sequence at Fate Bell Shelter in Seminole Canyon State Park. (Courtesy TXST/Shumla/Texas State University)
Ancient Beliefs That Shaped Mesoamerican Civilizations
The research provides compelling evidence that Pecos River style paintings faithfully transmitted sophisticated metaphysical concepts across 175 generations of artists. These concepts later informed the beliefs and symbolic expression of Mesoamerican agricultural societies, including the Aztec and Maya civilizations.
The paintings incorporate recurring motifs with consistent meanings: power bundles extending from figures' arms, rabbit-eared headdresses, antlers tipped with dots, crenellated arches with portals, and stylized dart tips. These elements functioned as a graphic vocabulary, and their arrangement conveyed complex narratives about creation myths, cosmological constructs, and ritual practices. According to the Science Advances publication, this iconographic system persisted through dramatic changes in material culture, climate conditions, and land use patterns. Remarkably, modern Indigenous communities in the United States and Mexico can still relate the stories communicated through this imagery to their own cosmologies, demonstrating what researchers describe as a pan-New World belief system at least 6,000 years old.
Examples of material culture from rock shelter contexts. (PHOTO CREDITS: AMISTAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA [(A) AMIS#14716, (B) AMIS#2794, (C) AMIS#29450, (D) AMIS#2836, and (F) AMIS#27620]; WITTE MUSEUM, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, wittemuseum.org/Science)
Cultural Keystone Landscape of Sacred Knowledge
The Lower Pecos Canyonlands, with its distinctive landscape of deep canyons, sinkholes, caves, rock shelters, permanent springs, and winding rivers, served as what researchers term a "cultural keystone place" - a location of high cultural salience imbued with supernatural power and agency. The nomadic forager societies who created these paintings returned generation after generation to this sacred landscape. They invested tremendous time, resources, and labor into producing these monumental works of art, suggesting the location held profound spiritual significance.
"Think about it, the canyons of Southwest Texas house a vast and ancient library of painted texts documenting 175 generations of sacred stories and Indigenous knowledge," Boyd stated. "As an artist and an archaeologist, I can tell you that this is a breathtaking discovery."
The desert climate has preserved these prehistoric artworks exceptionally well, with more than 134 documented Pecos River style sites north of the Rio Grande, and likely as many in adjacent Coahuila, Mexico.
Top image: Ancient polychromatic Pecos River style rock art mural showing humanlike figures with elaborate symbolic elements painted on limestone shelter wall in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwest Texas. Source: Texas State University
By Gary Manners
References
Boyd, C. & Steelman, K. 2025. Mapping the chronology of an ancient cosmovision: 4000 years of continuity in Pecos River style mural painting and symbolism. Available at: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adx7205
Texas State University. 2025. Pecos River rock art dates back 6,000 years and was created in planned single events. Available at: https://news.txst.edu/research-and-innovation/2025/pecos-river-rock-art.html
