A traditionally extreme drought within the Amazon River system has revealed beforehand undiscovered precolonial carvings in a rocky outcropping alongside the banks of the Rio Negro close to Manaus, Brazil. The area, referred to as Ponto das Lajes, is experiencing its worst drought in additional than a century, and whereas a number of the carvings have been seen earlier than, the expanded selection will assist archaelogists accurately determine their origins.
The location of the newly seen carvings, which depict human faces, was first recognized in 2010, however this yr’s drought introduced the waterway’s shoreline down by 50ft, exposing bigger parts of rocks and sand.
“The engravings are prehistoric, or precolonial. We can’t date them precisely, however primarily based on proof of human occupation of the world, we imagine they’re about 1,000 to 2,000 years previous,” archaeologist Jaime de Santana Oliveira advised Reuters.
One of many areas Oliveira’s staff is finding out options easy grooves, the place Indigenous inhabitants would sharpen spears and arrows previous to the arrival of European colonists.
“This time we discovered not simply extra carvings however the sculpture of a human face minimize into the rock,” mentioned Oliveira, who works for Brazil’s Nationwide Historic and Creative Heritage Institute (IPHAN), which oversees the preservation of historic websites.
Whereas the carvings are archaeologically important, the truth that they’re now uncovered underscores the environmental disaster within the area. “We come, we take a look at (the engravings) and we predict they’re lovely. However on the identical time, it’s worrying,” Livia Ribeiro, a resident of Manaus, advised the AFP. “I additionally take into consideration whether or not this river will exist in 50 or 100 years.”
This isn’t the primary archaeological breakthrough in Brazil this yr. In August, a Tenth-century village in Formoso was found to have been designed within the picture of the Pleiades star cluster.
