In his travels, Lumholtz found bottle-shaped shaft tombs, containing the bundled, wrapped remains of people who had lived from 200 B.C. to 250 A.D. These tombs also held many clay objects, including bowls and figures of animals and human beings, created to accompany the dead on their journey after life. Since shaft tombs are widespread throughout northern South America, their appearance in West Mexico may indicate a Pacific coast connection between ancient inhabitants of the two continents. Tracing an arc southward from Nayarit through central Jalisco and into northern Colima, the shaft tombs of West Mexico are the defining archaeological feature of the region.