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An archeological team in Venezuela has break 20 rock art site that date back thousands of years in Canaima National Park , in the southeastern part of the body politic .
While archaeologists have incur similar rock art designs elsewhere in South America , the newfound art " represent a new culture previously unknown,“José Miguel Pérez - Gómez , an archeologist and researcher at Simón Bolívar University in Caracas who is leading the squad , told Live Science in an email .
An enhanced view showing some of the rock art found in Venezuela.
Some of these design , which researchers call " pictograms , " were draw in red and depict geometrical motive such as furrow of dose , row of X ’s , superstar - form patterns and straight lines that connect together to form a diversity of intention . There are also unsubdivided portrayal of leaves and stick figure drawings of people . to boot , some of the prototype , squall petroglyphs , were incised into the rock and also show a salmagundi of geometrical motifs .
It ’s unreadable why people created this art . " It is almost out of the question to get into the minds of people living so many [ thousands of ] years ago " Pérez - Gómez said , but " by all odds these signs had a ritual meaning . " For representative , the dissimilar picture may be bear on to giving birth , disease , the renewal of nature or good hunting . The places where the rock art was create " most probably had a import and an importance within the landscape , just as the church service have a substance for multitude today , " Pérez - Gómez summate .
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One area where rock art sites were found in Venezuela.(Image credit: José Miguel Pérez-Gómez)
While it ’s unknown on the nose how one-time the rock artistry is , similar sway artistic production in Brazil has been dated to around 4,000 year ago . However Pérez - Gómez thinks that the examples in Venezuela may be older .
Canaima National Park is a massive park , about the size of it of Belgium , that encompasses forests and hilly terrain . One of its most famous feature is Angel Falls , thetallest waterfall on state in the world . The park may have been the " ground zero " where this cryptic culture first develop , Pérez - Gómez said , before after dispersing to spot as distant as the Amazon river , the Guianas and even southern Colombia , which have rock nontextual matter similar to the newly found exemplar in Venezuela .
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The view from one of the rock art sites.(Image credit: José Miguel Pérez-Gómez)
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The remains of ceramics and stone putz were also found at the 20 rock prowess sites and may have been used by the people who create the rock art , however more research needs to be done to say so for sure , Pérez - Gómez said . to boot , more rock prowess land site are likely to be found in Canaima National Park as enquiry continues , he noted .
One of the rock art sites and the grassy landscape around it.(Image credit: José Miguel Pérez-Gómez)
The research was present at the " New Worlds New Ideas " prehistoric archaeological congress held in Valcamonica , Italy from June 26 to 29 . A paper that discussed one of the rock-and-roll art sites was published in November 2023 in the journal Rock Art Research .
Part of the landscape of the region where the rock art sites were found.(Image credit: José Miguel Pérez-Gómez)
An enhanced view showing a close up of some of the rock art.(Image credit: José Miguel Pérez-Gómez)
More examples of newly found rock art.(Image credit: José Miguel Pérez-Gómez)
An enhanced view showing some of the rock art.(Image credit: José Miguel Pérez-Gómez)
This image shows some of the petroglyphs, rock art that is incised into the rock.(Image credit: José Miguel Pérez-Gómez)
A section from one of the rock art sites.(Image credit: José Miguel Pérez-Gómez)
Some of the newly found rock art.(Image credit: José Miguel Pérez-Gómez)
This enhanced image shows some of the newly discovered rock art.(Image credit: José Miguel Pérez-Gómez)
