Rock paintings examined by archaeologists in the Colombian Amazon have provided insight into the complex relationship between the continent’s first settlers and the animals they encountered.
Spectacular ocher paintings of a wide variety of species, including images of animals and humans transforming into each other, hint at the rich mythology that guided generations of native Amazonians.
And while the found images adorning the Cerro Azul rock formation in the Serranía de la Lindosa cannot yet be precisely dated, related evidence of human activity suggests that they have likely served as galleries for thousands of years, as early as 10,500 BCE. .
The research, led by an international team from the University of Exeter, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, integrated zoarchaeological analysis of animal remains recovered from nearby excavations with analysis of the artistic images. The animal remains revealed a varied diet including fish, a range of small to large mammals and reptiles including turtles, snakes and crocodiles. However, the proportions of animal bones do not match the proportional representation of animals, indicating that the artists did not simply paint what they ate.
“These petroglyphs contain the earliest evidence of humans in the western Amazon, dating back 12,500 years ago,” said Dr Mark Robinson, associate professor of archeology in Exeter’s Department of Archeology and History. “As such, the art is an astonishing insight into how these early settlers understood their place in the world and how they formed relationships with animals. The context demonstrates the complexity of the Amazon’s relationships with animals, both as a food source but also as respected creatures. , which had supernatural connections and required complex negotiations from ritual specialists.”
Archaeologists have documented several important rock art sites in the region since a peace deal between the Colombian government and the FARC in 2016 paved the way for the safe resumption of scientific research. Cerro Azul, a detached table mound close to the Guayabero River in the northwest of the Guaviare department, was one of them. There, 16 ‘panels’ with ocher drawings were found, some of which were only accessible by heavy climbing and the use of ropes.
The research team, made up of academics from Britain, Colombia and Germany, chose to focus in detail on six panels. These ranged from the 40 by 10 meter El Más Largo, which contained over 1,000 images, to the much smaller 10 by 6 meter panel called Principal, many of which 244 images are extremely well preserved in vivid red.
A total of 3,223 images were cataloged using drone photogrammetry and traditional photography. The images are categorized according to their shape, with figurative images being the most common and making up 58% of the total. More than half of these related to animals. At least 22 different animals were identified, including deer, birds, peccaries, lizards, turtles and tapirs.
Although fish remains are abundant in the archaeological remains, their appearance in art is limited to just two panels, in what appear to be fish scenes. Notable by their absence were the big cats, despite their position as apex predators and evidence of artwork at other Colombian sites. The researchers speculate that the artists may not have been able to depict powerful beasts, such as the jaguar. While depictions of figures combining human and animal features reveal a complex mythology of transformation between animal and human states that is still present within modern Amazonian communities.
The diverse range of animals represented in the art and archaeological remains demonstrates a broad understanding and exploitation of a wide range of environments in the region, including savannah, flooded forests and rivers.
“The indigenous people of Cerro Azul and surrounding lands hunted and depicted a wide range of animals from different ecologies – from aquatic fish to arboreal monkeys; terrestrial deer to sky birds, both nocturnal and diurnal,” says Dr Javier Aceituno of the Universidad. the Antioquia, Medellín. “They had an intimate knowledge of the region’s diverse habitats and had the relevant skills to track and hunt animals and harvest plants from each, as part of a broad subsistence strategy.”
“Our approach reveals differences between what indigenous communities exploited for food and what is conceptually important to represent – and not represent – in art,” concludes Professor Jose Iriarte, also from Exeter. “While we cannot be sure what meaning these images have, they certainly add nuance to our understanding of the power of myths in Indigenous communities. They are especially revealing when it comes to more cosmological aspects of life in the Amazon, such as what is considered taboo, where power resides, and how negotiations with the supernatural were conducted.”
