The Sistine Chapel Of Prehistory
Hello guys! How is your December? I hope that, like me, you are also looking forward to Christmas
🎅🎄🤶
As my gift for you, I have prepared a post that is a bit different from the previous ones because this time it will not be about excavations! Today I will share with you a recent discovery in the hot Amazon, and more specifically I’ll tell you about rock art. Enjoy! 😊
Earlier this month, the media reported the discovery of one of the world's greatest prehistoric rock art in the Amazon rainforest. Surprisingly, according to some news, the paintings were already noticed some time ago, but their existence was kept secret. The rock wall is located in SerranÃa de La Lindosa and stretches for nearly 12 kilometers.
However, the most interesting are the drawings themselves which were painted by the first people who reached the Amazon 12,500 years ago. On the wall we can see the representations of people and – in large part – of animals. This is all the more fascinating since most of them are now extinct! The paintings depict, among others, mastodon (a prehistoric relative of the elephant), which became extinct during the Ice Age. The drawings also show images of the paleolama, an extinct genus of camelid that lived from the Late Pliocene to the Early Holocene. Besides, there are also painting of various species of fish, turtles, lizards, birds and sloths.
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| a possible mastodon-hunting scene depicted on the side of a cave in the SerranÃa de La Lindosa / Jeison Lenis Chaparro-Cárdenas |
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| a giant ground sloth with its young / MARCOTE-RIOS ET AL. |
The discovery of these breathtaking drawings represents a great opportunity to explore a lost, ancient civilization and at once to realize what the Amazon Forest looked like long ago – it is worth knowing that it was not always a rainforest.
One of the most fascinating things was seeing ice age megafauna because that’s a marker of time. I don’t think people realise that the Amazon has shifted in the way it looks. It hasn’t always been this rainforest. When you look at a horse or mastodon in these paintings, of course they weren’t going to live in a forest. They’re too big. Not only are they giving clues about when they were painted by some of the earliest people – that in itself is just mind-boggling – but they are also giving clues about what this very spot might have looked like: more savannah-like. ~ Ella Al-Shamahi, an archaeologist and explorer
The find is even more valuable as it is really well preserved. From what I have read, it is very possible that we owe this good condition to the rocks hanging above the drawings…
Due to the similarity and scale of the work, this astounding collection of drawings has been hailed as the “Sistine Chapel of Prehistory”.
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I hope you enjoyed my December post. I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t give you some links to articles thanks to which you can read more about this discovery:
Have a good read and “see you” next week! 👀
It's amazing! Thanks for another intresting content
ReplyDeleteTruly fascinating! This is the kind of news we should definitely pay more attention to. Thank you! :)
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