Scientists record ancient rock art collection bordering the Orinoco

Along the Orinoco River, between the border of Venezuela and Colombia, there are representations of anacondas, centipedes, human figures and giant rodents, engraved on rocks that line the riverbed, evoking myths told more than 2,000 years ago.

This is one of the most important collections of rock art in the world, known to locals for a long time, but which has been scientifically documented for the first time.

A team of researchers, led by British, published in the archaeological journal Antiquity It is estimated that up to a thousand ancient engravings could be found in an area of ​​110 thousand square meters, between the Middle and Upper Orinoco Rivers. Among them, a giant snake 43 meters long and other enormous animals.

Despite the relevance of the discovery, The Independent published that scientists estimate that it is only the tip of a vast and ancient artistic iceberg.

Within this collection, manta rays, vultures, monkeys, crocodiles, dogs, jaguars, turtles, frogs and geometric figures such as concentric circles, grids and triangles filled with dots have also been identified.

The richness of these engravings is so significant that they have been compared to other examples of rock art in the world, such as those found in the French region of Dordogne, the Alps of northern Italy, Western Australia and South Africa.

Our field research in Colombia and Venezuela reveals a largely unknown and unrecorded ancient culture in this remote part of South Americasaid Philip Riris, one of the project leaders and part of the department of archaeology and anthropology at Bournemouth University.

One of the distinctive features of this collection, compared to others located in other parts of the world, is the monumental size of some of its representations: there is a 43-meter snake, two 10-meter-high human figures, an 11-meter-long centipede and what appears to be a giant one-meter-high insect.

Because their size makes them visible from long distances, it is interpreted that they could have been used as ancient signs to indicate to travelers the territory they entered and left.

Researchers have also paid special attention to the representation of snakes that measure between 16 and 43 meters, and that could be related to a more global tradition of mega-snakesas well as being an evocation of the religious belief systems related to these animals, since in peoples of prehistoric Europe, ancient Egypt, even Aboriginal Australia and ancient America, snakes were part of mythology.

Snakes have been associated by man with the creation of humanity, immortality, the cure of diseases, and can also be related to evil or benevolence.

In Mexico, for example, Quetzalcoatl is one of the most significant and complex figures in Mesoamerican mythology, especially among the Mexica, Toltec, and Maya. His name means feathered serpent, and he is a deity that combines aspects of a serpent and a quetzal bird, symbolizing the union of heaven and earth.

Representations like those in Colombia and Venezuela abound in other ancient cultures, such as those settled in California and Ohio, in the United States, and in Peru, where giant snakes writhe in the local landscapes. One of the largest is 900 years old and is 411 meters long, and is located on a mountain in southern Ohio.

The Orinoco rock art collection was discovered by ancient Americans between 700 and 1000 AD and is one of the most difficult to access open-air art expressions, as the engravings were made on top of cliffs up to 200 metres high.

The images were produced by removing the surface of the granite, which in the region is darkly stained by countless years of bacterial growth, to reveal the lighter rock beneath this layer of bacteria. Some of these images are below the waterline, and are only visible at stations where the river level is low, while others are just a short distance from the shore.

The thousand engravings recorded by the scientific team are located in 157 groups along the Orinoco. The Independent believes that his documentation contributes to changing the understanding of a remarkable ancient culture long lost.