Published 18:14 IST, December 16th 2020
Ancient Rock Art to throw light on earliest inhabitants of Colombian Amazon
Rock art found in Colombian Amazon could reveal the lifestyle of the inhabitants in that area thousands of years ago. Read on to know more details.
- Science News
- 3 min read
An ancient rock art collection has been discovered in the Colombian Amazon. The archaeological remains and rock art found in this part of the Amazon throw light on the lives of the people who used to live in this region many years ago.
From the images that have been collected from Colombia, one thing can be easily understood. As per the NewScientist, the people that inhabited this part lived side by side with the extinct mega mammals. The remains and the images also bring forth the fact that the humans in those times had a varied diet. This proved that they adapted quickly to the environment. That helped them from becoming extinct like the mega mammals.
This unnamed site was discovered by an international team of researchers in southern Colombia. These researchers were conducting investigations in the Guaviare region. According to these researchers, this is the most precise evidence of the existence of humans in this region.
More Details
Indigenous artworks have been found extensively in Chiribiquete National Park. The artwork found at La Lindosa is new to science and is even new for the local people of the area. The researchers found these artworks to be very detailed and on a huge scale. The images found are an extensive collage of people, handprints, animals, and even geometric shapes. This pattern is spread over an area of five kilometres.
The archaeological team was very excited to find depictions of fishes, lizards, and birds that we are familiar with along with megafauna that has become extinct around ten to twelve thousand years ago. According to Jose Iriarte at the University of Exeter, UK, this proves that the humans were also present during this time. That is the reason why they could draw about the megafauna.
In the artwork, a palaeolama is depicted by these earliest humans. This is an extinct long-necked camelid. The other drawings show big sloths and mastodons (earliest elephants). The researchers plan to conduct more researches and study further to understand in depth about the depicted animals and also the age.
The climate was warming at the same time when the humans were roaming this area. Establishing the presence of humans in this area is a very significant step for the team of researchers.
The evidence that fruits were eaten by the humans and the animal and plant diversity shows that human beings adapted quickly to the changes in the Amazon thousands of years ago.
Updated 18:14 IST, December 16th 2020