Gigantic Ancient Rock Art Reveals Secrets of Amazon’s First Inhabitants, From Mythology to Diet

Archaeologists have discovered a giant rock in the Colombian Amazon with extensive ochre animal paintings dating back 12,500 years. The discovery sheds light on the mythologies and diet of the first humans on the continent.

The Cerro Azul hill in Colombia’s Serranía de la Lindosa region is home to an extraordinary collection of paintings depicting various creatures, including animals and humans, transforming into each other.

The freestanding tabletop hill contains 16 “panels” with ochre drawings, several of which were only accessible to explorers after a strenuous climb.

These spectacular cave paintings, which likely served as a grand gallery for ancient people for thousands of years, are evidence of a rich mythology that guided generations of indigenous people in the Amazon, according to a new study published in the journal Journal of Anthropological Archaeologyand.

“These rock art sites contain the earliest evidence of human presence in the western Amazon, dating to 12,500 years ago,” said study co-author Mark Robinson from the University of Exeter.

One of the panels studied as part of the Amazonian Rock Art Project (University of Exeter)

Scientists evaluated animal remains found at nearby sites and compared them with the creatures depicted in cave paintings.

The researchers focused in particular on six panels, ranging from one measuring 40 by 10 meters that contained more than 1,000 paintings to a much smaller 60-square-meter panel that contained 244 well-preserved red paintings.

In total, using drones and traditional photography, researchers documented more than 3,200 images painted on the rock, most of which depicted animals such as deer, birds, peccaries, lizards, turtles and tapirs.

Cerro Azul with the location of the rock art panels and the excavation site analysed in this study (University of Exeter)

They found that the ancient inhabitants of the Amazon had a diverse diet that included fish, a range of small and large mammals, and reptiles including turtles, snakes and crocodiles.

Although numerous specimens of fish have been found in archaeological remains, their presence in works of art has been limited to just two panels.

Because the proportions of the animal bones do not match the depictions of animals in rock art, scientists suspect the artists were not simply painting what they ate.

Photos of rock art panels at Cerro Azul (Journal of Anthropological Archaeology)

There were also no big cats visible in the images, even though they are the most common predators in the region.

“This context shows the complexity of the relationships Amazonians had with animals, both as food sources and as revered beings, which had supernatural connections and required complex negotiations by ritual specialists,” Dr Robinson said.

Some of the figures that combine human and animal characteristics refer to a complex mythology of transformation from animal to human, a belief that is still present in contemporary Amazonian societies.

Examples of animals represented at Cerro Azul. a) armadillo, b) paca, c) coati, d) amphibian, e) tapir, f) stingray, g) cat, h) turtle, i) deer, j) crocodile/caiman, k) monkey, l) porcupine, m) horse, n) snake with legs, o) lizard, p) deer, bat, spider, waterfowl, q) sloth, r) canid. (Journal of Anthropological Archaeology)

The paintings highlight ancient people’s extensive knowledge of the various habitats in the region, including savanna, flooded forests, and rivers.

“They had an in-depth knowledge of the different habitats in the region and had the skills to track and hunt animals and collect plants from them as part of a broad survival strategy,” said Javier Aceituno, another author of the study from Medellín, Colombia.

“While we cannot be certain of the meaning of these images, they certainly add deeper nuances to our understanding of the power of myths in indigenous societies,” said Jose Iriarte, a co-author of the Exeter study.