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A team of British and Colombian archaeologists have reportedly discovered tens of thousands of rock art in Colombia that are believed to date back to around Dec.. 500 years ago.
The discovery spans eight miles of cliffs and has been hailed as the « Sistine Chapel of the Ancients ». « The immense size of the discovery means that it will likely take generations to fully study, » reported The Guardian.
The age of the drawings is estimated from the data shown, for example a long-extinct relative of the elephant named Mastodon, who has lived for at least 12 years. 500 years ago it is no longer in South America, according to the British newspaper. Other ancient animals such as the paleolama, giant sloths and ice age horses are also shown.
The drawings in Serranía de la Lindosa, an extremely remote area where other rock art was previously discovered, were first discovered last year but have been kept a secret until now, The Guardian noted. To reach the site, team members had to drive two hours from San José del Guaviare before going on a four-hour hike to the site.
« The new website is so new it hasn’t even given it a name, » said archaeologist and documentary filmmaker Ella Al-Shamahi, according to The Guardian.
« We started seeing animals that are now extinct, » added project leader José Iriarte, professor of archeology at Exeter University and an expert on Amazonian and pre-Columbian history. « The pictures are so natural and so well made that we have little doubt that you are looking at a horse, for example. The Ice Age horse had a wild, heavy face. It’s so detailed that we can even see the horse hair. It is fascinating. ”
Iriarte also reportedly said that the drawings, which show smaller groups of figures raising their arms around animals, could be depictions of worship.
« For the people of the Amazon, non-humans like animals and plants have souls, and they communicate and interact with humans in cooperative or hostile ways through the rituals and shamanic practices we see in rock art, » Iriarte told the Guardian.
Iriarte went on to explain that this discovery was important in depicting the megafauna as it shows how drastically the region has changed over the past aeons. The animals depicted in the drawings could not have lived in a rainforest. If they existed, according to Al-Shamahi, the region would have been more « savannah-like ».
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Sistine Chapel, Amazon rainforest, rock painting, Colombia, Ice Age
World news – AU – Archaeologists discover thousands of ancient rock wall paintings in the Amazon forest
Ref: https://thehill.com
