Does This Amazon Rock Art Depict Extinct Ice Age Mammals?

The New York Times ^ | 06 March 2022 | Becky Ferreira

[Theoria]

The animals painted in ocher in Colombia may include giant ground sloths and other creatures that vanished from the Americas. But some researchers say the art has a more recent origin.

At the end of the last ice age, South America was home to strange animals that have since vanished into extinction: giant ground sloths, elephant-like herbivores and an ancient lineage of horses. A new study suggests that we can see these lost creatures in enchanting ocher paintings made by ice age humans on a rocky outcrop in the Colombian Amazon.

These dazzling rock art displays at Serranía de la Lindosa, a site on the remote banks of the Guayabero River, were long known to the area’s Indigenous people but were virtually off limits to researchers because of the Colombian Civil War. Recent expeditions led by José Iriarte, an archaeologist at the University of Exeter in England, have sparked renewed interest and heated debate over the interpretation of the animals in the paintings.

“The whole biodiversity of the Amazon is painted there,” Dr. Iriarte said, both aquatic and land creatures and plants, as well as “animals that are very intriguing and appear to be ice age large mammals.”

Dr. Iriarte and his colleagues, who are part of a project studying human arrival in South America, defend the case that the rock art depicts ice age megafauna in a study that was published on Monday in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. But as the study itself acknowledges, the identification of extinct animals in rock art is extremely controversial — and the site at La Lindosa is no exception.

[Theoria]

Ping, not Ukraine.

Figure 1. Map of the Americas showing most important LP-EH archaeological, rock and portable art, and palaeontological sites mentioned in the text where Ice Age megafauna has been documented or portrayed: 1. Upper Sand Island site; 2. Fin del Mundo; 3. Vero Beach; 4. Ware Formation; 5. Taima-Taima; 6. Lake Valencia; 7. El Breal de Orocual; 8. El Vano; 9. Cerro Gavilán; 10. Totumo; 11. Pubenza; 12. Tibitó; 13. Serranía la Lindosa; 14. Chiribiquete; 15. Caverna da Pedra Pintada; 16. Tanque Loma; 17. Talara; 18. Serra da Capivara; 19. Toca da Bastiana; 20. Bahia; 21. Casa del Diablo; 22. Lapa do Boquete; 23. Lapa do Gentio; 24. Santa Elina; 25. Santana do Riacho; 26. Lapa do Santo; 27. Lagoa Santa region; 28. Abrigo do Sol; 29. Tarija; 30. Inca Cueva; 31. Hornillos 2; 32. Los Vilos; 33. Campo Laborde; 34. Arroyo Seco 2; 35. Centinela del Mar; 36. Monte Verde; 37. Cueva de las Manos; 38. Los Toldos; 39. Piedra Museo; 40. Cerro Tres Tetas; 41. El Ceibo.

[Theoria]

Full Article

[Theoria]

Article is about number 13, in reference to sites.

[CivilWarBrewing]

Fossil Fuels are to blame.

[Jonty30]

The arrow looks like it is pointed to a giant sloth.

[Theoria]

Figure 3. (a) Giant sloth painting at La Lindosa: 1. massive claws; 2. short rostrum; 3. large head; 4. robust thorax; 5. inverted pes; 6. offspring; 7. miniature men. (b) Artistic reconstruction of Eremotherium patterned after its closest living relative Bradypus. (c) Artistic reconstruction of Arctotherium patterned after its closest living relative, Tremarctos ornatus (Mike Keesey). Keesey's reconstructions are figurative works of art, where he took the liberty of adding features that are not visible in the rock art like fur, ear canals and wrinkles, among other features.

[Telepathic Intruder]

Ancient American science fiction. 20,000 years from now archeologists might discover an intact CD of the movie Aliens, and think we had xenomorphs and M41A pulse rifles/grenade launchers/flame throwers.

[marktwain]

Looks like a short-faced bear to me...

[telescope115]

At first I thought the artist must’ve gotten his hands on some prehistoric LSD.

[Deaf Smith]

Odd that Texas is not included in figure 1 for all three categories.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

I would imagine back then during the ice age most of the time the people were starving and constantly had food on their minds which is why they drew so many animals.

Around ten years ago I saw that movie by Werner Herzog "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" and in 3D! which is about cave paintings in the Chauvet Cave in France which they claim are 30,000 years old, almost as old as Hillary. And it's the same thing, paintings of animals, animals, animals.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Look at the drawings at #39...PAC MAN!!

[dfwgator]

When there wasn’t even any Hollywood.

[G Larry]

I like the 10 guys at the top, carrying the python.....

[Jamestown1630]

I’ve always loved that drawing/painting - a nice reproduction of it is on my wish-list.

It’s just amazing to me that people that ‘primitive’ would draw horses so sensitively and thoughtfully.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauvet_Cave

[epluribus_2]

This pictogram is cut off from the far right side, discovered last November. Vaguely familiar form.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Theoria.

[epluribus_2]

[BenLurkin]