Mexico City, Jan 23 (IANS/EFE): Mexican archaeologists have discovered in the western state of Nayarit a series of petroglyphs estimated to have been carved between 850 and 1350 A.D., the National Anthropology and History Institute, or INAH, said.

The bas relief carvings have a symbolic character and are attributed to ancient groups from the Aztatlan cultural complex, and they were found at a site called "Cantil de las animas" (Cliff of the souls), in the mountainous portion of Nayarit's southern high plateau, an area where archaeological finds have been practically unknown.

The carvings appear along a horizontal band almost 4 meters long by 2 meters wide, arranged on volcanic rocks that form a cliff approximately 10 meters high, the INAH said in a statement.

The iconography of the petroglyphs is linked to the pictorial tradition of the Aztatlan culture, which from about 850-900 through 1350 A.D. inhabited mainly the low coastal lands in northern Nayarit and southern Sinaloa state, INAH archaeologist Mauricio Garduno said.