Tens of thousands of ice age paintings across a cliff face shed light on people and animals from 12,500 years ago.
One of the world’s largest collections of prehistoric rock art has been discovered in the Amazonian rainforest.
Hailed as “the Sistine Chapel of the ancients”, archaeologists have found tens of thousands of paintings of animals and humans created up to 12,500 years ago across cliff faces that stretch across nearly eight miles in Colombia.
It is possible to see many animals in paintings from sloths, and horses to even now-extinct creatures palaeolama and mastodon.
Archaeologist Ella Al-Shamahi told The Guardian that the site, which is located in the Serranía de la Lindosa, required a two-hour drive from San José del Guaviare and an additional four-hour trek on foot to reach. “When we entered Farc territory, it was exactly as a few of us have been screaming about for a long time,” Al-Shamahi said. “Exploration is not over. Scientific discovery is not over but the big discoveries now are going to be found in places that are disputed or hostile.”
The area has been kept private and studies on the paintings are going to be continued.
