Home Art Rock art in Venezuela may be the sign of a lost ancient culture

Rock art in Venezuela may be the sign of a lost ancient culture

Rock art in Venezuela may be the sign of a lost ancient culture

Archaeologists who spent years poring over images of stars and leaves have declared that a cluster of rock-art sites in Venezuela is the center of an ancient and previously unknown culture.

The motifs first came on the radar of archaeologists in 2009. Since then, a team— led by researcher José Miguel Pérez-Gómez of the Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas and funded by the Fundación Manoa—has identified 20 prehistoric sites bearing the motifs, all located in hard-to-access areas of Venezuela’s vast Canaima National Park.

( Rarely seen cliff art reveals the majesty of the Amazon’s aquatic realm. )

Unveiling a lost culture Consisting of pictograms either drawn in red ocher, a natural pigment, or incised into the rock as petroglyphs (rock carvings), the images grace remote boulders, cliff walls, and even rocks located among rapids. They appear only faintly to the naked eye. After extensively photographing the rock art, which was then digitally enhanced using a tool called DStretch, the team learned much more about their style and coloring. They are still waiting to carry out dating studies. Similar art in Venezuela was produced in the early part of the Archaic period of South American history (10,000–3,000 B.C.).

( American whalers recorded voyages in Australian rock art, study reveals. )

The works studied bear strong stylistic connections with more recent art in neighboring Brazil, the Guianas, and Colombia. According to the archaeologists, this indicates that the newly found cluster in Venezuela was the focal center for a Canaima cultural tradition. “We are looking at a new culture,” team leader Pérez-Gómez told History. “All the elements are there.”

Awe and wonder Dominated by tabletop mountains, the 7.4-million-acre Canaima National Park is home to Angel Falls, the world’s tallest uninterrupted waterfall, known to Indigenous Pemon people of the region as Kerepakupai Merú.

Standing in an elevated position in the middle of a Canaima valley, the Upuigma rock-shelter is an isolated outcrop that bears the main panels of pictograms. Pérez-Gómez proposes that the location was originally chosen by the hunter-artists as an ideal spot to watch and hunt game. Ranging from simple dots and lines to star-shaped patterns, the symbols are repeated across the 20 sites in Canaima. There are also depictions of stick figures and leaves.

( 3D scans reveal largest cave art in North America. )

An aerial view shows the Upuigma rock-shelter, which stands isolated in a valley. The main panel is located on the right side of the structure, which was also a shelter for the artists, as evidenced by fire-blackened walls.

José Miguel Pérez-Gómez

“The motifs are very difficult to interpret,” Pérez-Gómez said, but his team designates their likely origin to ritualistic activities.

The mostly nonfigurative and repetitive nature of the motifs strongly indicates that they could have been made in an altered state of consciousness, in which the artists depicted shapes entering their field of vision. These were probably inspired by entoptic phenomena: visual effects within the eye. These may take the shape of geometric forms, or floaters, an experience enhanced by the influence of hallucinogens.

According to Pérez-Gómez, the rock art panels were a way of “connecting to the supernatural world.” The boulders “were probably like churches . . . [The locals] would have gone back there for hundreds, or thousands, of years in order to connect to their ancestors.”

Presenting the findings at a conference in Valcamonica, Italy, Pérez-Gómez suggested the artists were influenced by the beauty of the environment.

( How to visit ancient alfresco galleries i n the Algerian desert. )

Team leader José Miguel Pérez-Gómez examines rock art at Kuyarimpa cliff, Canaima National Park, Venezuela.

José Llovera

Ground zero Very little historical research had been undertaken in this area of Venezuela because of the challenges accessing the remote terrain. Having spent 15 years researching the trove of pictograms, Pérez-Gómez and his team have a much clearer understanding of how and why the art was produced and its importance within the wider region.

The geometric language of the Canaima designs seems to have evolved into more complex types of art similar to finds in other parts of Venezuela. This means that the Canaima rock art, in addition to being a newly discovered practice in its own right, was also very likely the cultural ground zero for an entire regional style.

The aerial panel at Upuigma rock-shelter depicts a ladder shape, or scalariform. To reach it, the artist had to climb up 22 feet.

José Miguel Pérez-Gómez

The team believes the pictograms and petroglyphs will contribute to greater knowledge about how local people lived and moved around this remote region in the Archaic era. They also hope that ceramics and tools found in the vicinity of the rock art will help the ongoing process of dating the discovery, casting light on how these hunter-artists lived and worked.

( See these 6 architectural wonders before they disappear, including petroglyphs. )

Future plans include extensive consultation with experts in rock art dating techniques, who will help the team date their findings, and continued documentation of the sites.

The team is also reaching out to the local Pemon people. Although some members of the community were aware of the rock art sites, much of the knowledge was not passed down through generations and was lost over time. Pérez-Gómez also has his sights set on a community engagement project, which may include building a museum to showcase the treasures of Canaima.

The north panel of the Kusari rock-shelter’s rock art is seen first without enhancement and then with DStretch.

José Miguel Pérez-Gómez (Top) (Left) and José Miguel Pérez-Gómez (Bottom) (Right)

This story appeared in the January/February 2025 issue of National Geographic History magazine.

Read whole article here

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.