2023-10-26 10:26:44
Some rock carvings had already been sighted before, but now a greater variety has emerged that will help researchers establish their origins.
Faces engraved in the rock and until now submerged under the Amazon River AFP
The fall in the flow of the Amazon in the worst drought in Brazil in more than a century has revealed human faces sculpted in stone more than 2,000 years ago on a rocky outcrop along the river.
Some rock carvings have been spotted before, but there is now a greater variety that will help researchers establish their origins, archaeologist Jaime de Santana Oliveira said Monday.
In one area you can see some smooth grooves in the rock, which must have been made by the indigenous inhabitants sharpening their arrows and spears long before the Europeans arrived.
A sculpture carved into the rock Reuters
«The engravings are prehistoric or precolonial. “We cannot date them exactly, but based on evidence of human occupation in the area, we believe that they are between 1,000 and 2,000 years old,” said the expert from the National Historical and Artistic Institute of Brazil (IPHAN) in an interview reported by Reuters.
The rocky point is called Ponto das Lajes on the northern coast of the Amazon, near where the Río Negro and Solimoes rivers meet.
Faces of the past Engravings discovered by severe drought Reuters and AFP
According to Oliveira, the sizes They were first seen there in 2010, but this year’s drought has been more severe. The Black River has dropped 15 meters since July, exposing vast expanses of rock and sand where there were no beaches.
«This time we found not only more sizes but the sculpture of a human face excavated in the rock«said the IPHAN specialist, who supervises the preservation of historical sites.
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