Tlacolula de Matamoros
The caves and rock shelters vary in size and what they contain. Many contain paintings and other forms of graphic representation. Contents include ceramics and stone tools. The corn materials show similarities to the first vestiges of the domestication of wheat and rye in the Middle East. One of the deepest caves is called the Cueva de la Paloma. The caves have been studied since the 1960s, especially the Cueva de Guilá Naquitz (white stone in Zapotec), which has some of the best evidence for the domestication of corn and squash, which dates back more than 10,000 years. Other caves, such as those near Yagual and Mitla confirm findings at Guilá Naquitz and show human occupation to about 8000 years BCE the sites also show similarities to the Head Smashed and Buffalo Jump Complex sites in Canada. Many more smaller caves with similar artifacts are thought to exist in the area.
Baredine Cave
The sightseeing lasts 40 minutes, visitors descend along a 300m long pathway up to 60m below the ground and an underground lake and visit 5 beautifully decorated chambers.
An interesting detail of this adventurous trip is also the encounter with the underground world of animals: visitors will see the cave olm (Proteus anguinus Laurenti), endemic in this dinaric karst region- an animal that can be found only in this karst area.
In one of the chambers you will pass along a 4m wide passage that leads 66m vertically down reaching the deepest point of the cave at 132m.