The ancient rock art that stretches across an 8-mile wall was discovered in the Amazon rainforest
The site hailed as “the Sistine Chapel of the ancients” was discovered last year, but has since been kept secret. It was initially filmed for the Channel 4 series “Jungle Mystery: Lost Kingdoms of the Amazon” that will be screened in December. The documentary’s presenter Ella Al-Shamahi said that “The new site is so new, they haven’t even given it a name yet.”
Scientists say the paintings were made around 11,800 to 12,500 years ago
The site was discovered by an international team of British and Colombian researchers. José Iriarte, professor of archaeology at Exeter University and expert on Amazon and pre-Colombian history, commented on the discovery: “When you’re there, your emotions flow … We’re talking about several tens of thousands of paintings. It’s going to take generations to record them … Every turn you do, it’s a new wall of paintings.”
There are drawings of deer, tapirs, alligators, bats, monkeys, turtles, serpents, and porcupines, as well as what appears to be Ice Age megafauna
Remarkably, all the paintings turned out to be well-preserved and incredibly detailed. “The pictures are so natural and so well-made that we have few doubts that you’re looking at a horse, for example. The ice-age horse had a wild, heavy face. It’s so detailed, we can even see the horse hair. It’s fascinating.”
Iriarte also said in a statement that this ancient art serves as spectacular evidence of how humans reconstructed the land, how they lived there, hunted, farmed, and fished. “It is likely art was a powerful part of culture and a way for people to connect socially. The pictures show how people would have lived amongst giant, now extinct, animals, which they hunted,” he concluded.
Although the discovery was made about a year ago, the drawings were first unveiled for an upcoming documentary series by Channel 4
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It's also amazing how you're just stupid and too lazy to research anything before labeling it 'Fake News'
"To create the paintings, the researchers hypothesize the ancient artists peeled back the rock using fire to create a blank canvas."
Actually, I was trying to make fun of the fact that it is so easy to scream 'fake news' nowadays. I personally thing these paintings are amazing. I would like to see with my own eyes.