Animal etchings into rocks along the Orinoco river in South AmericaPhilip Riris et al
Posted on 06/05/2024 1:38:07 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Prehistoric engravings of giant snakes along South America's Orinoco river are among the largest examples of rock art we know of anywhere in the world, with some stretching for more than 40 metres.
The Orinoco is one of the world's largest rivers, flowing through Venezuela and along its border with Colombia. "There's an outstanding record of rock art along the Orinoco, especially on the Venezuelan side," says José Oliver at University College London. "Usually, they are paintings found in rock shelters."
Engravings are common in many open-air sites along the river, he says, but not all of them have been officially recorded...
Since 2015, Oliver and his colleagues have taken several trips to areas along the Colombian and Venezuelan margins of the river to build a better picture of its rock engravings...
Of the 157 rock art sites that the team has managed to visit, 13 were made up of engravings that were at least 4 metres tall...
Most of the engravings depict people, mammals, birds, centipedes, scrolls and geometric shapes, but snakes were among the largest motifs, with the biggest measuring 42 metres across. In the mythology of the Indigenous Orinoco people, anacondas and boa constrictors are primordial creators, so are held in high regard, says Riris.
The prominence of the rock art along the river suggests that the ancient carvings may have been a territorial marker to signal that a certain group lives there, but not necessarily a warning to stay away...
Ceramics unearthed in the region and dated to 2000 years ago have similar motifs to the ones on the engravings, which suggests that the rock art was similarly created two millennia ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
Animal etchings into rocks along the Orinoco river in South AmericaPhilip Riris et al
Thanks for the link!
A warning they did have democrats then.
That rock looks like it is pretty hard. What did they use to chip out the engraving?
Almost as if there is an instinct when it comes to serpents... Maybe something from a creator???
Personally. I love snakes.
Here is a link to some more pictures. One of them is a millipede, that is a lot of legs which is why there aren’t any 40 meter long millipedes.
https://www.archaeology.org/news/12440-240605-orinoco-river-art
. Ask Joe Biden. I think said he was in the area around then
Bingo
snip
>Colombia and Venezuela suggests that they may have been used to communicate territorial boundaries more than 2,000 years ago.<
Hey I have a thought. Are there any bigazz rocks along the US and Mexico?
They are discovering more and more about ancient civilizations in South America. Some very old sites that defy modern thinking of how long ago the Americas were settled and by who. Not to long ago I read about ground penetrating sonar readings that found huge sections of what is now jungle but was villages and even cities now buried and yet to be researched.
Bkmk
There’s danger on the edge of town
Ride the King’s Highway, baby
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway west, baby
Ride the snake, ride the snake
To the lake, the ancient lake, baby
The snake, he’s long, seven miles
Ride the snake
He’s old and his skin is cold
Moses and the brazen serpent.
Snakes and ancient spirals
Thank you!!!
My pleasure!
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