Abstract
Megafauna paintings have accompanied the earliest archaeological contexts across the continents, revealing a fundamental inter-relationship between early humans and megafauna during the global human expansion as unfamiliar landscapes were humanized and identities built into new territories. However, the identification of extinct megafauna from rock art is controversial. Here, we examine potential megafauna depictions in the rock art of Serranía de la Lindosa, Colombian Amazon, that includes a giant sloth, a gomphothere, a camelid, horses and three-toed ungulates with trunks. We argue that they are Ice Age rock art based on the (i) naturalistic appearance and diagnostic morphological features of the animal images, (ii) late Pleistocene archaeological dates from La Lindosa confirming the contemporaneity of humans and megafauna, (iii) recovery of ochre pigments in late Pleistocene archaeological strata, (iv) the presence of most megafauna identified in the region during the late Pleistocene as attested by archaeological and palaeontological records, and (v) widespread depiction of extinct megafauna in rock art across the Americas. Our findings contribute to the emerging picture of considerable geographical and stylistic variation of geometric and figurative rock art from early human occupations across South America. Lastly, we discuss the implications of our findings for understanding the early human history of tropical South America.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Tropical forests in the deep human past’.
Highlights
Rock art has played a major role in Pleistocene archaeology, from discussions about the origins of behavioural ‘modernity’ to the nature of human–animal relationships
Our understanding of La Lindosa human history and rock art has been transformed by the new dating of multiple rock shelters establishing the Late Pleistocene human colonization of the region, the discovery of a whole new section of the Serranía de la Lindosa with rock art, and the analysis of potential Ice Age megafauna depictions
In the absence of direct dating of the paintings our identification of the potential Ice Age megafauna is based on, (i) the naturalistic appearance and diagnostic morphological features of the animal images, (ii) the late Pleistocene archaeological dates from La Lindosa confirming the contemporaneity of humans and most of the megafauna depicted in rock art in the region, (iii) the recovery of ochre pigments in late Pleistocene archaeological strata, and (iv) the widespread depiction of extinct megafauna in rock art across the Americas
Summary
Rock art has played a major role in Pleistocene archaeology, from discussions about the origins of behavioural ‘modernity’ to the nature of human–animal relationships. The paper begins with an introduction to the archaeology and rock art of the wider region This is followed by a description of the La Lindosa rock art and the potential Ice Age animal depictions that resemble a giant sloth, a gomphothere, a camelid, horses and three-toe ungulates with trunks. During three archaeological field seasons (2015, 2017 and 2018), we carried out excavations in three rock shelters (Cerro Azul, Cerro Montoya and Limoncillos), where lithic artefacts, charred seeds, animal remains, ochre fragments and charcoal were recovered in the stratigraphic deposits of these sites [9] These three rock shelters exhibit large concentrations of 2 rock art paintings, though at varying degrees of preservation. During our recent survey of the region, we discovered a whole new section of the western area of La Lindosa with five new panels along approximately 1 km of rock walls oriented northwest-southeast, facing southwest and standing approximately 370–470 m above sea level
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
