Newly discovered art work is currently being analyzed for authenticity, as it may uncover the types of animals living during the ice age in South America- more than 12,000 years ago.
The rock art derived from an 8-mile-long frieze of paintings at Serrania de la Lindosa in the Colombian Amazon rainforest.
“The paintings have the whole diversity of Amazonia. Turtles and fishes to jaguars, monkeys and porcupines,” explained Jose Iriarte, professor of Archaeology at University of Exeter in the UK.
Iriarte describes the founding as “the last journey,” most likely depicting the arrival of the first humans to reach the landscape.
“They encountered these large-bodied mammals and they likely painted them. And while we don’t have the last word, these paintings are very naturalistic and we’re able to see morphological features of the animals,” Iriarte added.
However, the discovery has become a controversial topic. It has scholarly support but some are skeptical of its authenticity. Since the art is well-preserved, some archaeologists believe it was created at a later time.
According to CNN, the art displays the following types of animals: a giant ground sloth, a gomphothere, an extinct lineage of horses, a camelid, and an unidentified hoofed mammal with a trunk.
Paleontologists have used fossils to support the possibility of these animals’ existence, and the information provided has been used to support the tenants of the study.
The red pigment used to paint the art contains Ocher, a carbon-free mineral that is nearly impossible to trace to its origin.
Further research is projected to be completed by the end of 2022.