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One of the largest collections of prehistoric rock art in the world was discovered in the Amazon rainforest.
Hailed as “the Sistine Chapel of the Ancients”, archaeologists have found tens of thousands of paintings of animals and humans created up to 12,500 years ago on cliff walls that stretch for nearly eight kilometers in Colombia.
Their date is in part based on their depictions of now extinct Ice Age animals, such as the Mastodon, a prehistoric elephant relative that has not roamed South America for at least 12,000 years. There are also images of the paleolama, an extinct camelid, as well as giant sloths and ice age horses.
These animals were all seen and painted by some of the very first humans to reach the Amazon. Their images provide a glimpse of an ancient lost civilization. Such is the scale of the paintings that it will take generations to study them.
The discovery was made last year, but has been kept a secret until now as it was filmed for a major Channel 4 series that will premiere in December: Mystery of the Jungle: Lost Kingdoms of the Amazon.
The site is in the Serranía de la Lindosa where, along with the Chiribiquete National Park, other works of rock art have been discovered. The presenter of the documentary, Ella Al-Shamahi, archaeologist and explorer, told the Observer: “The new site is so new that they haven’t even given it a name yet.”
She spoke of the excitement of seeing “breathtaking” images created thousands of years ago.
The discovery was made by an Anglo-Colombian team, funded by the European Research Council. Its leader is José Iriarte, professor of archeology at the University of Exeter and a great expert in Amazonian and pre-Columbian history.
He said: “When you are there your emotions flow… We are talking about tens of thousands of paintings. It will take generations to record them… With each turn you take, there’s a new wall of paintings.
“We started to see animals that are now extinct. The photos are so natural and well done that we have little doubt that you are looking at a horse, for example. The Ice Age horse had a heavy, wild face. It’s so detailed, you can even see the horse’s hair. It’s fascinating.”
Images include fish, turtles, lizards, and birds, as well as people dancing and holding hands, among other scenes. A figure wears a mask resembling a bird with a beak.
The site is so remote that after a two-hour drive from San José del Guaviare, a team of archaeologists and filmmakers walked for about four hours.
They were sort of avoiding the most dangerous inhabitants of the area. “Caymans are everywhere, and we have kept our spirits on us with snakes,” said Al-Shamahi, recalling a huge bushbender – “the deadliest snake in the Americas with an 80% death rate” – who blocked their way in the jungle. They had been slow to return, and it was already dark.
They had no choice but to walk past, knowing that if they were attacked there was little chance of reaching the hospital. “You are in the middle of nowhere,” she said. But it was “100%” worth seeing the paintings, she added.
As the documentary notes, Colombia is a land torn apart after 50 years of civil war raging between the Farc guerrillas and the Colombian government, now with a difficult truce in place. The territory where the paintings were discovered was completely off-limits until recently and still requires careful negotiation to enter safely.
Al-Shamahi said, “When we entered Farc territory, it was just like a few of us had been shouting for a long time. The exploration is not over. The scientific discovery is not over, but the great discoveries will now be in contested or hostile places.
The paintings vary in size. There are many handprints available and many images are on this scale, whether they are geometric shapes, animals or humans. Others are much bigger.
Al-Shamahi was struck by the height of many of them: “I am five feet tall and would break my neck if I looked up. How did they climb these walls?
Some of the paintings are so tall that they can only be seen with drones.
Iriarte believes the answer lies in depictions of wooden towers among the paintings, including figures appearing to bungee jumping.
He added: “These paintings have a reddish terracotta color. We also found pieces of ocher that they scraped off to make them.
Specifying whether the paintings had a sacred or other purpose, he said: “It is interesting how many of these large animals appear to be surrounded by little men with their arms raised, almost worshiping these animals.
Observing that the images include hallucinogenic trees and plants, he added, “For Amazonian people, non-humans like animals and plants have souls, and they communicate and engage with people in a cooperative or hostile through the rituals and shamanistic practices that we see represented. in rock art.
Al-Shamahi added, “One of the most fascinating things was seeing the Ice Age megafauna because it is a marker of time. I don’t think people realize that the Amazon has changed the way it looks. It wasn’t always this rainforest. When you look at a horse or a juggernaut in these paintings, of course, they weren’t going to live in a forest. They are too big. Not only do they give clues as to when they were painted by some of the first people – that in itself is just mind boggling – but they also give clues as to what this place might have looked like: more savannah.
Iriarte suspects that there are many more paintings to be found: “We are only scratching the surface.” The team will be back as soon as Covid-19 allows.
Jungle Mystery: Lost Kingdoms of the Amazon begins 6.30 p.m. on Channel 4 on December 5. The discovery of rock art is in episode 2, December 12
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