/data/photo/2022/03/08/62273e5818f34.jpg "Rock Art in South America Describes Giant Animals That Extincted in the Ice Age")
KOMPAS.com – More than 12,000 years ago, South America filled with rows of animals time lapse which has a giant size. One of which is giant land squirrels the size of a car.
According to the researchers, this is known from rock art which was found 13 kilometers long in Serrania de la Lindosa in the Amazon rainforest, Colombia.
“The paintings of the earliest humans who lived in the region depict the entire diversity of Amazonia. From turtles, fish, jaguars, monkeys and porcupines,” said Jose Iriarte, study author and professor in the University of Exeter’s faculty of archeology. .
As quoted from CNN, Tuesday (8/3/2022) Iriate said, the art was painted by early humans in South America who came from Africa.
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When they arrived in the new area, early humans then found new animals that they did not know before.
“They found a large mammal and most likely painted it. The paintings were very naturalistic and we could see the morphological features of the animals,” said Iriate.
But the discovery of what researchers call an extinct megafauna is apparently still controversial and debated.
Other archaeologists say that the so-called giant sloth may be a capybara, a giant rodent that is currently common in the region.
But the debate did not stop Iriate from continuing to look for evidence of the existence of other animals and identify their distinctive features in the paintings.
Also read: Without Natural Light, How Did Early Humans Make Paintings in Caves?
His team later said they had identified five animals in the rock art in South America that.
In addition to the giant ground sloth, the team also found gomphotheres (elephant-like animals), animals called the descendants of extinct horses, camels, and ungulates (hoofed mammals).
Meanwhile, researchers have not determined what pigments used to make paintings come from. But Iriarte said ocher fragments were found in sediment layers during excavations.
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Determining the age of the red pigment used for painting is tricky.
This is because ocher is an inorganic mineral pigment that does not contain carbon, so it cannot be determined using radiocarbon dating techniques.
Further study of this painting is needed in order to explain why giant animal is extinct.
Research published in journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
Also read: This ancient painting depicts the existence of an extinct swan
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