The engravings, known as petroglyphs, are believed to have been created around 2,000 years ago Researchers have mapped the petroglyphs in the Atures Rapids area of Amazonas state in Venezuela The largest panel is 304 square metres, and contains at least 93 individual engravings Another engraving of a horned snake measures more than 30 metres in length Researchers hope their study will shed new light into their archaeological and ethnographic context. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
AI Generated·May contain errors
Video Summary
AI Generated
Scientists from University College London have mapped massive 2,000-year-old petroglyphs in western Venezuela's Orinoco River rapids. These carvings, some spanning over 30 meters, depict humans, animals, and rituals, offering new insights into pre-Columbian social networks, trade routes, and the cultural connections between indigenous groups across northern South America.
They're thought to be some of the largest rock engravings in the world, and now scientists
have mapped stunning carvings in western Venezuela for the first time.
The engravings, known as petroglyphs, are around 2,000 years old and include depictions
of animals, humans and cultural rituals.
Researchers hope that mapping the petroglyphs will shed new light into their archaeological
and ethnographic context.
Researchers from University College London have mapped the petroglyphs in the Etours
Jesuit priests describe the area as home to the native Adulls people, and the rapids were
a key meeting point on trading route.
Eight groups of engraved rock art were recorded on five islands within the rapids.
The largest panel is 304 square meters, and contains at least 93 individual engravings,
the largest of which measures several meters across.
Another engraving of a horn snake measures more than 30 meters in length.
The team used drones to photograph the engravings, some of which are in highly inaccessible areas.
Dr. Philip Rouras, lead author of the study, said, the rapids are an ethnic, linguistic
and cultural convergent zone.
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.
While painted rock art is mainly associated with remote funerary sites, these engravings
are embedded in the everyday, how people lived and traveled in the region, the importance
of aquatic resources and the seasonal rhythmic rising and falling of the water.
The size of some of the individual engravings is quite extraordinary.
While the rock engravings have been studied before, this is the most detailed study of
the carvings.
Almost all of the engravings are affected by seasonally rising and falling water levels
in the Orinoco.
Depending on rain upstream, the relative height of the river also varies annually by up to
several meters during the extremes of both seasons.
In one panel surveyed, a motif of a flute player surrounded by other human figures probably
depicts part of an indigenous rite of renewal.
Performances coincided with the seasonal emergence of the engravings from the river just before
the onset of the wet season, when the islands are more accessible and the harvest would
take place, according to the researchers.
Dr. Jose Oliver principal investigator, said, our project focuses on the archaeology of
Available archaeological evidence suggests that traders from diverse and distant regions
interacted in this area over the course of two millennia before European colonization.
The project's aim is to better understand these interactions.
Mapping the rock engravings represents a major step towards an enhanced understanding of
the role of the Orinoco River in mediating the formation of pre-conquest social networks
throughout northern South America.
