Ancient Amazon art reveals secrets of prehistoric ecology

Rock paintings in the Colombian Amazon provide insights into ancient life, depicting a mix of diet, mythology and environmental influences over 12,500 years ago.

Archaeologists studying rock art in the Colombian Amazon have discovered extensive ochre paintings at Cerro Azul depicting various animals and mythological transformations. Some of the sites are 12,500 years old. The artworks provide insight into the diet, mythology and ecological knowledge of ancient Amazonians and underscore the complex relationship between humans and the environment.

A new study published in Journal of Anthropological ArchaeologyShe has studied rock art in the Colombian Amazon and shed light on the complex relationship between the continent’s first settlers and the animals they encountered.

The Cerro Azul rock outcrop in the Serranía de la Lindosa is home to spectacular ochre paintings of a variety of animals speciesincluding depictions of animals and humans transforming into one another, illustrating the rich mythology that guided generations of indigenous Amazonian people. Although these images have not yet been precisely dated, associated evidence of human activity suggests that they probably served as galleries for thousands of years, as far back as 10,500 BC.

Findings from archaeological research

The study included a zooarchaeological analysis of animal remains found in nearby excavations with an analysis of artistic representations in rock art. The animal remains revealed a diverse diet, including fish, a range of small to large mammals, and reptiles, including turtles, snakes, and crocodiles. However, the proportions of the animal bones do not match the proportional representation of the animals, suggesting that the artists did not just paint what they ate.

“These rock art sites contain the earliest evidence of human existence in the western Amazon, dating back 12,500 years,” says Dr Mark Robinson, Associate Professor of Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology and History at Exeter. “As such, the art provides an astonishing insight into the way these early settlers understood their place in the world and how they formed relationships with animals. The context illustrates the complexity of Amazonian relationships with animals, both as a source of food and as revered beings that had supernatural connections and required complex negotiations with ritual specialists.”

Archaeologists have documented several significant rock art sites in the region since a peace agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC in 2016 paved the way for a safe resumption of scientific investigations. Cerro Azul, a freestanding mesa near the Guayabero River in northwestern Guaviare Department, was one of those sites. Sixteen “tablets” with ochre drawings were found there, some of which could only be reached by strenuous climbing and the use of ropes.

Detailed analysis of artistic panels

The study, led by researchers from the University of Exeter, the Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, focuses in detail on six panels, ranging from the 40 x 10 m “El Más Largo”, which contained more than 1,000 images, to the much smaller 10 x 6 m “Principal” panel, many of whose 244 images are extremely well preserved in bright red.

A total of 3,223 images were catalogued using drone photogrammetry and conventional photography. The images were categorised by their shape, with figurative images being the most common at 58%. More than half of these relate 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 finds, in art they are limited to just two panels that appear to be fishing scenes. Notable is their absence of big cats, despite them being apex predators and evidence of them in artwork at other Colombian sites. The researchers speculate that the artists may have been prohibited from depicting powerful animals such as the jaguar. Images of figures combining human and animal characteristics reveal a complex mythology of transformation between animal and human states that is still present in modern Amazon communities.

Mythology and ecological knowledge in art

The wide variety of animals depicted in art and archaeological remains testifies to a comprehensive understanding and use of the region’s numerous habitats, including savannas, flooded forests and rivers.

“The indigenous people of Cerro Azul and the surrounding areas hunted and raised a wide variety of animals from different habitats – from aquatic fish to arboreal monkeys, from terrestrial deer to aerial birds, both nocturnal and diurnal,” says Dr. Javier Aceituno of the Universidad de Antioquia in Medellín. “They knew the different habitats of the region very well and had the appropriate skills to track and hunt animals and harvest plants from each habitat, as part of a comprehensive 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 the meaning of these images is, they certainly offer more nuance to our understanding of the power of myth in indigenous communities. They are particularly insightful 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.”

Reference: “Animals of the Serranía de la Lindosa: Exploring Representation and Categorization in Rock Art and Zooarchaeological Remains of the Colombian Amazon” by Mark Robinson, Jamie Hampson, Jo Osborn, Francisco Javier Aceituno, Gaspar Morcote-Ríos, Michael J. Ziegler and José Iriarte, 19 July 2024, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2024.101613