Venezuela archaeologists discover ancient rock art sites from a 'previously unknown' culture

Archaeologists have discovered a 4000-year-old rock art in Venezuela that represents a new culture that was unknown earlier. The team of researchers found 20 such rock art sites in the Canaima National Park, in the country's southeastern region.

Similar designs have also been found in South America previously, however, archaeologists believe the recently discovered art depicts "a new culture previously unknown", José Miguel Pérez-Gómez, the lead archaeologist in the team, told Live Science in an email. He is an archaeologist and researcher at Simón Bolívar University in Caracas.

Some designs depict pictograms and geometric patterns including straight lines, star patterns, lines of dots, and rows of X's. Additionally, archaeologists discovered some petroglyphs, which are rock carvings made by pecking the stone surface with a tool. Some simple representations of stick figures and leaves were also found.

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Pérez-Gómez highlighted that although the purpose of the art is unclear, it had a ritual significance which may be related to the revival of nature, good hunting, birth, or diseases. "It's unclear why people created this art. It is almost impossible to get into the minds of people living so many [thousands of] years ago" he said and added "definitely these signs had a ritual meaning."

Although the exact age of the recent rock art findings in Venezuela cannot be determined yet, it is thought to be older than previous similar findingsin Brazil dating4,000 years ago, according to Pérez-Gómez.

Nearly the size of Belgium, Canaima National Park comprises mountainous and forest terrain. The world's tallest waterfall, Angel Falls is also located in this park. Pérez-Gómez said this park may have been the initial site from where this culture developed and further spread to other locations like the Amazon River basin, the Guianas, and southern Colombia.

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The stone tools and ceramics, which might have been used to create the ancient rock art were also found at the 20 sites. However, this theory is yet to be confirmed with further research, according to Pérez-Gómez. He believes more such sites are likely to be found in the park as the research continues.

The research findings were first presented at the "New Worlds New Ideas", an international conference held in Valcamonica, Italy, from June 26 to 29. A paper discussing the findings of one of the rock art sites was published in the Rock Art Research journal in November.

“This is relevant not only for Venezuela but points at a cultural and ethnic richness that will enhance, worldwide, how we think about the region,” Pérez-Gómez told Axios Latino.