The numerous caverns, caves and grottos in the southwest of Tamaulipas are notable for the great richness and diversity of their fauna, as well as having great anthropological and archaeological value, as some contain important remains of the ancient peoples that inhabited the region.
The numerous caverns, caves and grottos in the southwest of Tamaulipas are notable for the great richness and diversity of their fauna, as well as having great anthropological and archaeological value, as some contain important remains of the ancient peoples that inhabited the region.
CAVE OF ABRA AND GRUTA DE QUINTERO
These two cavities of the Sierra del Abra or Cucharas are undoubtedly the best known and most visited in the municipalities of Antiguo Morelos and El Mante due to their proximity to the municipal capitals and their easy access. The location of both sites allowed, several years ago, mining activities to extract guano and phosphorite, so their original conditions were altered. The modification is most critical and irreversible in the Gruta de Quintero, where many of the limestone formations were damaged by the machinery used.
In both cavities, visitors damage the caves by extracting pieces of stalactites and stalagmites as souvenirs and by leaving a record of their visit on the walls, destroying in a few seconds what nature has taken thousands of years to sculpt. However, the Cueva del Abra is spectacular due to its size. At the end of the enormous 180 m long entrance passage, the natural skylight whose 116 m vertical draft was partially lowered, for the first time, by cavers from San Antonio, Texas, in 1956. In the Quintero Grotto, 500 m of underground passage and observe the incredible fauna that inhabits it. At dusk, a colony of thousands of insectivorous bats (Tadarida brasiliensis mexicana or Mexican coludo bat) is seen coming out to feed in the surroundings.
THE CAVE OF BIRTH
The tourist site par excellence of the municipality of El Mante is El Nacimiento, with an impressive natural environment where the Mante river flows from a cave at the foot of a rocky cliff at the base of the Sierra del Abra. The Birth Cave, one of the deepest and most majestic flooded caverns in the world, is known internationally thanks to Sheck Exley, who broke two diving records at great depths when in 1989 he descended into the cave. The waters that arise from this spring are the source of supply for the consumption of the inhabitants of Ciudad Mante and for the irrigation of the cane fields that feed the local sugar industry.
OTHER CAVES IN THE SIERRA DE CUCHARAS
Other important cavities in the municipality of Antiguo Morelos are the Pachón, Florida and Tigre caves, the first being the one of greatest scientific interest, since inside it contains an underground lake in which a large population of blind fish from the genus Astyanax.
At the confluence of the municipalities of Mante, Ocampo and Gómez Farías, at the eastern end of the Servilleta Canyon, there are around six caves, most of them short-developed; Due to the vestiges of cave paintings on its interior walls, they were probably used by the ancient Huastec Indians who inhabited the cúes (mounds) that are located on the banks of the Comandante River. A little further north, within the municipality of Gómez Farías and on the eastern side of the sierra, we find a good number of interesting cavities near the Plan de Guadalupe ejido; Of these, the Zapata Cave is the most visited and spectacular, since the enormous underground passage crosses a section of the mountain range that is illuminated during the day by three skylights distributed along the route. In the other caves there are vestiges of ceramics and a great variety of cave paintings.
Within the mountainous area of the El Cielo Biosphere Reserve, the Agua, Infiernillo, La Mina and La Capilla caves stand out; the first two, around the San José ejido, are characterized by the large size of their rooms and the beauty of their mineral formations, and the other two by the incredible diversity of their troglobian fauna.
FINDINGS IN TAMAULIPECAS CAVES
The Los Portales and Romero caves, located in the Cañón del Infiernillo area, are the cavities of greatest anthropological and archaeological value in the region. They were inspected in 1937 by Javier Romero and Juan Valenzuela, members of the then newly founded National Institute of Anthropology and History, and in 1954 by Richard S. MacNeish and David Kelly, members of the National Museum of Canada. During these two visits, human remains (mummies), fiber textile objects, samples of corn, beans, squash, pots and ceramics were extracted. MacNeish and Kelly's studies revealed that the earliest cultural period, the Hell phase, dates back to 6500 BC.
CONCLUSIONS
Aside from the risks involved in exploring a cave or grotto, this is a very rewarding and exciting activity that we can do safely if we have enough information and the right equipment. These sites deserve all our respect as well as all nature, and that is why I transcribe the creed of the cavers and the recommendations of the eminent Mexican explorer Carlos Lazcano Sahagún: “When we visit a cavity, the only thing we take are photographs, the only thing we leave They are the prints of our feet, and the only thing we kill is time. We want those who visit the caverns where we have been previously to see them the way we saw them: no garbage, no inscriptions, no mutilations, no looting; let them feel that they are discovering something new ”.
Source: Unknown Mexico No. 303 / May 2002
