A team of British and Colombian archaeologists has reported that thousands of rock paintings are believed to have originated in Colombia about 12,500 years ago.
Spread over eight miles of rock face, the discovery has been dubbed the “Sistine Chapel of the Ancients.” The sheer size of the discovery means that it will take generations to fully study, The Guardian reports.
The age of the drawings is estimated from what is shown, such as the long-extinct relative of the elephant known as mastodon, which has not been in South America for at least 12,500 years, according to the British newspaper. Horses are also featured.
The Guardian noted that an extremely remote area in the Serra de la Lindosa where other rock paintings were first discovered last year, but has been kept secret until now. To get to the venue, the team members had to drive two hours outside San Jose del Guevara before traveling for four hours to the venue.
“The new site is so new, they haven’t even named it yet,” said archaeologist and document Ella al-Shamahi.
“We began to see animals that are now extinct,” added the president of archeology at the University of Exeter and an expert on Amazon and pre-Columbian history. “The pictures are so natural and so well made that we have little doubt that you are seeing a horse, for example. The ice-age horse had a wild, heavy face. It’s so detailed, we can even see the horse’s hair. It’s interesting. “
Iriarte also reportedly said that the drawings, which show small groups of figures extending their arms around the animals, could be depictions of worship.
“For the Amazonian people, non-humans like animals and plants have spirits, and they communicate and engage with people in a cooperative or hostile way through the rituals and shamanic practices shown to us in rock art,” according to the Guardian.
Eriett further explained that this discovery was important for the depiction of his megafuna, as it indicates how dramatically the field has changed in the past era. The animals depicted in the drawings could not have survived in the rain forest. When they existed, the region would have been more “like Savannah” according to al-Shamahi.
Eriart says there are probably more paintings waiting to be found.
“We’re just scratching the surface,” he said.
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