THE ROCK PAINTINGS OF CALIFORNIA DESCRIBED BY THE JESUITS

 

Author Sealtiel Enciso Pérez

Although in most of the writings done by the Jesuits, the natives of California are described as brutish, ignorant, savage, and other similar adjectives, the religious men could not help but be amazed upon discovering the cave paintings near the mission of San Ignacio Kadaakamán, as well as reports from a priest who claimed to have found gigantic bones of probable prehistoric inhabitants of those lands.

The Jesuits commented that upon their arrival, they were able to appreciate a great level of brutishness and barbarism among the natives located in different sites of California, however, they supposed that it was not always like that. They reached this conclusion after discovering several caves that displayed beautiful paintings of men and women who were "decently" dressed as well as animals, between the 27th and 28th degrees of latitude. Upon investigating the origin of the pigments used, it was easy to conclude that the earth and minerals easily found in the "virgins" volcano were used to create them. However, it caused them great admiration that the colors could have survived the passage of time and the merciless action of the climate and erosion caused by the same.

Beautiful cave paintings

When asking the natives about the origin of these paintings, only some of them responded that they were made by giants from the north, but they had no further information. Therefore, the Jesuits concluded that the current Californians lacked the artistic skills and "intelligence" to create these paintings, and they could not have come from coinciding branches. It is important to highlight the report of the priest José Rotea, which was described as "exact and sincere," and which claimed that near San Ignacio, in a place called San Joaquín, he was able to unearth gigantic bones that belonged to a human being of great size. The bones found were vertebrae, shinbones, ribs, a large fragment of the skull, and teeth. Unfortunately, he states that he could not locate the entire body because a stream that passed through the place carried away everything that was there. The conclusions of the priest Rotea were that by making a comparative study of the size of the vertebrae of this giant, it is very likely that he measured about 11 feet.

The accounts of the Ignatians about their impressions of the paintings found in the caves are interesting. They mention that there were animals drawn that still roamed those mountains in those days, and other animals that they called "foreigners." The posture of the human beings depicted also surprised them because they appeared to be decently dressed and in postures of "open arms."

Bibliography:

Historia de la Antigua ó Baja California - Francisco Javier Clavijero