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This rock art is a time capsule to an ancient Amazon

by Tara Yarlagadda
Courtesy of the researchers / University of Exeter / Universidad Nacional de Colombia / Universidad de Antioquia

By: Gorodenkoff

Ancient peoples fascinate us, but we know very little about how they once lived.

Courtesy of the researchers / University of Exeter / Universidad Nacional de Colombia / Universidad de Antioquia

New research from the LASTJOURNEY project allows us step into the shoes of ancient Amazonians, gaining incredible insights into their hopes, desires, and daily lives through their art, preserved through the ages on the walls of caves.

Courtesy of the researchers / University of Exeter / Universidad Nacional de Colombia / Universidad de Antioquia

The researchers found the Ice Age art hiding in caves high in the Colombian Amazon.

The ancient art features moments from daily human life, including geometric shapes...
Courtesy of the researchers / University of Exeter / Universidad Nacional de Colombia / Universidad de Antioquia
...handprints...
Courtesy of the researchers / University of Exeter / Universidad Nacional de Colombia / Universidad de Antioquia
...and animals.
Courtesy of the researchers / University of Exeter / Universidad Nacional de Colombia / Universidad de Antioquia

Courtesy of the researchers / University of Exeter / Universidad Nacional de Colombia / Universidad de Antioquia

The art shows ancient humans living alongside now-extinct, giant Ice Age mammals...

...including giant sloths
Shutterstock

Shutterstock

...and mastodons, a distant cousin of wooly mammoths.

Courtesy of the researchers / University of Exeter / Universidad Nacional de Colombia / Universidad de Antioquia

The rocky, red art shows how ancient peoples interacted with their environment.

A changing Amazon undergoing climate change.
Courtesy of the researchers / University of Exeter / Universidad Nacional de Colombia / Universidad de Antioquia

Courtesy of the researchers / University of Exeter / Universidad Nacional de Colombia / Universidad de Antioquia

"These really are incredible images, produced by the earliest people to live in western Amazonia."

Mark Robinson, a member of the research team
Read more stories about ancient peoples here.
By: Gorodenkoff via Shutterstock

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