Ancie paiings of a cave in Mexico were removed with a chainsaw and stolen.
Paiings from the famous La Cueva Pia cave in the state of Coahuila in northern Mexico have been stolen with chainsaws in rece days.
The National Institute of Ahropology and History of Mexico announced in a stateme:
Those who have done this disrespect to the ancie inhabitas of this desert must be severely punished.
Archaeologists of this institution were se to this place for investigation after being informed and confirmed that unknown thieves irreparably damaged this place by using a saw and stole a hand-paied image.
The thieves also tried to steal at least two other pictures. Pieces of colored stone were found on the floor of the cave, which archaeologists believe is a sign of damage to the stolen paiing.
The ideity of the thieves remains unclear, but archaeologists have filed a complai with the Mexican Attorney General for criminal prosecution. The defendas have been accused of destroying ancie heritage by stealing ancie cave paiings.
The stolen paiing was part of a group of paiings with more than 150 images, many of which were drawn on top of each other at differe times between 5,000 and 500 years ago.
