Finding remains of ancient civilizations is not uncommon. What is a little more uncommon is finding relics from the past and no historian knows who they belonged to.
Archaeologists have recently discovered sites containing several cave paintings. So far, so good, except that they don’t know who they could have belonged to. A life-size Cluedo that turns out to be mysterious on many points.
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Paintings of unknown origins
A team of archaeologists recently discovered about twenty sites containing cave paintings in the heart of Venezuela , as reported by Live Science . The discovery was made on a thousand-year-old site, more precisely in the Canaima National Park , located in the southeast of the country. If this park rings a bell, it’s because it’s where the world’s highest waterfall, Salto del Angel, is located .
The colorful paintings found were made of pictograms , as well as various geometric shapes in red, probably painted with ochre . The researchers were able to discover many points, but also lines, rows of X, not to mention stars as well as simple stylized shapes that could represent people. And faced with these petroglyphs , the question immediately arises as to who could have made them.
The answer is most frustrating, because at present, archaeologists do not know. However, this is not the first time that similar cave paintings have been found in South America. But according to José Miguel Pérez-Gómez, archaeologist and researcher at the Simon Bolívar University in Caracas, these cannot be linked to any already known civilization. Okay, but why?
Why can’t researchers identify their origins?
Learning that there are unknown pre-Columbian civilizations is a bit like discovering a secret room in your apartment when you have lived there for years. It is bound to be surprising. In addition to the paintings, researchers have found remains of ceramic objects as well as stone tools . While it is likely that they belonged to the individuals who made the petroglyphs, analyses must be carried out to confirm this.
This is the first time that signs of human activity have been detected in this region of South America, which is difficult to access. This explains why archaeologists have difficulty identifying the authors. For José Miguel Pérez-Gómez, it is not impossible that the area was the “ground zero” of a culture that was previously unknown. This culture would have subsequently dispersed to other regions. Similar works dating back 4,000 years have been found in Brazil, for example. Those in Venezuela would be older.
According to initial interpretations, the paintings could represent birth, illness or even renewal. But according to the researcher, “It is almost impossible to get into the heads of people living so many years ago .” The mystery therefore remains.
Also read:
- Mysterious painting of 12 zodiac signs revealed in ancient Egyptian temple
- Cave paintings suggest our ancestors were already practicing astronomy 15,000 years ago
- The Mayans: The History and Secrets of This Lost Civilization
