Discovered in Venezuela Rock Art belonging to Unknown Civilization
Archaeologists in Venezuela have discovered 20 previously unknown rock art sites, dating back thousands of years.
An archaeological team in Venezuela has discovered 20 rock art sites dating back thousands of years in Canaima National Park, in the southeastern part of the country. While archaeologists have found similar rock art drawings in other parts of South America, the new art "represents a previously unknown culture," explained José Miguel Pérez-Gómez, an archaeologist and researcher at the Simón Bolívar University in Caracas and leader of the team, in an email.
Some of these drawings, which the researchers call "pictograms," were drawn in red and depict geometric motifs such as lines of dots, rows of Xs, star-shaped patterns, and straight lines connecting with each other to form a variety of designs. There are also simple depictions of leaves and stylized drawings of people. Additionally, some of the images, called petroglyphs, were engraved into the rock and also show a variety of geometric patterns.
It is not clear why people created this art.
"It is almost impossible to enter the minds of people who lived so many [thousands of] years ago," said Pérez-Gómez, but "certainly these signs had a ritual significance." For example, the different depictions may be connected to birth, illness, the renewal of nature, or successful hunting.
The locations where the rock art was created "most likely had a meaning and importance within the landscape, just as churches have meaning for people today," Pérez-Gómez added.
Although the exact age of the rock art is unknown, similar rock art in Brazil has been dated to about 4,000 years ago. However, Pérez-Gómez believes that the examples in Venezuela could be older.
Canaima National Park is a vast park, roughly the size of Belgium, that includes forests and mountainous terrain. One of its most famous features is Angel Falls, the highest waterfall on mainland earth. The park may have been the "ground zero" where this mysterious culture first developed, said Pérez-Gómez, before spreading to distant places like the Amazon River, the Guianas, and even southern Colombia, which has rock art similar to the newly discovered examples in Venezuela.
Remnants of pottery and stone tools have also been found at the 20 rock art sites and could have been used by the people who created the rock art, but further research is needed to confirm this, Pérez-Gómez stated. Additionally, it is likely that more rock art sites will be discovered in Canaima National Park as research continues, he noted.
The research was presented at the prehistoric archaeological congress "New Worlds New Ideas" held in Valcamonica, Italy, from June 26 to 29.
