Ancient cave art unearthed in northern Mexico, include nearly 5000 cave paintings made by three separate hunter gatherer groups.

The paintings were discovered in 2006, but the revelations as to where they came from were revealed this week at a conference in Mexico, reports the AP. 

The cave paintings were originally discovered by archaeologists in the San Carlos Mountain Range near the town of Burgos, which is only 100 miles south of the U.S. border.

The first findings from researchers who studied the red markings that resemble people were released to the public this week during a Conference in Mexico after Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History has been studying the findings for the last two years.

One of the archaeologists studying the paintings, Martha Garcia Sanchez, said "Their importance is that based on them, we have been able to document the presence of pre-Hispanic groups in Burgos, where before it was believed there was nothing, when in reality it was inhabited by one or several cultures."

Another archaeologist, Gustavo Ramirez of the INAH Center of Tamaulipas, said the group has been so-far unable to locate any objects within the area where the cave paintings were found that would help date the indigenous civilizations who constructed the pieces of cave art.

Ramirez also mentioned what some consider the most important aspect of the find, saying "where before it was said that there was nothing, when in fact it was inhabited by one or more cultures."

Those nomadic groups are believed to be the Guajolotes, Iconoplos and Pintos, who—combined—fashioned the 4,926 drawings.

The images themselves depict acts of hunting, fishing, and gathering while other drawings appear to depict religious and astronomical themes, which go beyond the group's everyday corporeal survival and acknowledge a spiritual slant to their existence.

Garcia also added that little is known of the indigenous groups within the San Carlos Mountain Range near present day Burgos, but the discovery will change all that as researchers, ethnographers and archaeologists continue to study the find.