2,000-Year-Old Rock Art Found In Venezuela
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Dory Jackson
3 hrs ago
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Rock art discovered in Western Venezuela features what are thought to be some of the largest engravings in the world, according to research published Wednesday in Cambridge University Press. The rocks are reportedly around 2,000 years old and boast engravings of animals, humans and ancient rituals.
Pre-Columbian art has long been a subject of study by scientists and naturalists that travel along the Orinoco River, but it has also proven to be an interest of research among archeologists. Researchers from the University College London's Institute of Archaeology (UCL) mapped their discovery in unprecedented detail. The research team said it hoped the engravings, formally known as petroglyphs, would help to provide a better understanding of its archaeological and ethnographic context.
"The Rapids are an ethnic, linguistic and cultural convergence zone," Dr. Philip Riris, the study's lead author, said in a news release Thursday. "The motifs documented here display similarities to several other rock art sites in the locality, as well as in Brazil, Colombia, and much further afield."
"This is one of the first in-depth studies to show the extent and depth of cultural connections to other areas of northern South America in pre-Columbian and Colonial times," Riris continued.
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"These engravings are embedded in the everyday -- how people lived and travelled in the region," archaeologist Philip Riris said.
By Brooks Hays | Dec. 7, 2017 at 12:29 PM
The engraving features a flautist and several other human-like figures. Scientists believe it
depicts a ceremony celebrating renewal and peak harvest, just before the onset of the wet
season. Photo by UCL
Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Researchers have mapped Venezuela's rock art in unmatched detail. The new map, published this week in the journal Antiquity, features some of the largest rock engravings in the world and some carved as many as 2,000 years ago.
One of the rock art panels featured in the new map covers an area of nearly 3,300 square feet and hosts 93 different engravings. Another motif features horned snakes stretch nearly 100 feet in length.
All of the mapped art is found in the Atures Rapids, a region of Amazonas, Venezuela's southernmost state. The sparsely populated region is thought to be the original home of a native people known as the the Adoles.
Scientists mapped the engravings using drones. Low flows throughout the Orinoco River basin left many of the engravings more exposed than usual.
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https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2017/12/07/Scientists-map-ancient-rock-art-in-Venezuela/2151512663060/