The Comondú Complex is an archaeological pattern dating from the late prehistoric period in northern Baja California Sur and southern

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

. It is associated with the historic

Cochimí The Cochimí were the indigenous inhabitants of the central part of the Baja California peninsula, from El Rosario in the north to San Javier in the south. Information on Cochimí customs and beliefs has been preserved in the brief observati ...

people of the peninsula. The complex was defined on the basis of investigations at rock shelters near the town of San Jose de Comondú by archaeologist William C. Massey, beginning in the late 1940s. It has been recognized at sites extending from the

Sierra de la Giganta The Sierra de la Giganta is a mountain range of eastern Baja California Sur state, located on the southern Baja California Peninsula in northwestern Mexico. It is a mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges System, which extends from Southern Cal ...

(west of Loreto) in the south to

Bahía de los Ángeles ("Bay of the Angels") is a coastal bay on the Gulf of California, located along the eastern shore of the Baja California Peninsula in the state of Baja California, Mexico. The town of the same name is located at the east end of Federal Highway ...

in the north. A key characteristic of the Comondú Complex is the presence of small Comondú Triangular and Comondú Serrated projectile points. These points reflect the introduction of the bow and arrow into the peninsula, perhaps around 500-1000 CE, largely supplanting the earlier

atlatl A spear-thrower, spear-throwing lever or ''atlatl'' (pronounced or ; Nahuatl ''ahtlatl'' ) is a tool that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in dart or javelin-throwing, and includes a bearing surface which allows the user to store ene ...

and dart. Other traits include grinding basins and slicks, manos, tubular stone pipes, coiled basketry, and square-knot netting. The region's Great Mural rock art may also be associated with the Comondú Complex.

References

* Laylander, Don, and Jerry D. Moore. 2006. ''The Prehistory of Baja California: Advances in the Archaeology of the Forgotten Peninsula''. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. * Massey, William C. 1966. "Archaeology and Ethnohistory of Lower California". In ''Archaeological Frontiers and External Connections'', edited by Gordon F. Ekholm and Gordon R. Willey, pp. 38–58. Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 4. University of Texas Press, Austin. * Tuohy, Donald R. 1978. ''Culture History in the Comondu Region, Baja California''. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. {{DEFAULTSORT:Comondu complex Pre-Columbian cultures Archaeological sites in Baja California Sur Ensenada Municipality Comondú Municipality Loreto Municipality (Baja California Sur) Mulegé Municipality Pre-Columbian archaeological sites 1940s archaeological discoveries