Patagonia: oldest rock art found – 02/20/2024 – Science

In the Patagonian desert, in Argentina, there is a cave with almost 900 paintings of human figures, animals and abstract designs. Until recently, researchers worked with the hypothesis that the rock art in Cueva Huenul 1, as the site is known, emerged in the last few thousand years.

But in an article published last Wednesday (14) in the journal Science Advances, archaeologists claim that one of the most mysterious drawings in the cave, whose shape resembles that of a comb, first appeared around 8,200 years ago, making it It is by far the oldest example of rock art in one of the last places on Earth to be inhabited by our species.

The authors of the drawings in the cave repeated the comb-like shape, in black pigment, for thousands of years, at a time when other human activities were practically non-existent in the place.

The art seen there offers a rare glimpse into a culture that may have depended on this design pattern to communicate valuable ideas across generations and during a period of climate change.

“We received the results and were very surprised,” said Guadalupe Romero Villanueva, study author and archaeologist at the Argentine government agency Conicet and the National Institute of Anthropology and Latin American Thought in Buenos Aires. “It was a shock, and we had to rethink some things.”

Patagonia, which extends to the southern tip of South America, was not reached by humans until about 12,000 years ago. The first inhabitants prospered in Cueva Huenul 1 for generations, leaving signs of habitation.

Then, around 10,000 years ago, the area became more arid and hostile as a result of climate change. The archaeological record in the cave also dried up over the next few thousand years, suggesting that the site was abandoned due to environmental pressures.

The drawings overlap with this long period of hardship, according to Romero Villanueva and his colleagues, who identified the age of the paintings with radiocarbon dating. The team also found that the black paint was likely made from charred wood, perhaps from burned bushes or cacti.

“It is significant that we have, more or less, 3,000 years of painting with basically the same pattern,” said Ramiro Barberena, study author and archaeologist at Conicet and the Catholic University of Temuco, in Chile.

He added that this was evidence “of the continuity in the transmission of information in these very small, very mobile societies.”

Although the meaning of the comb-like design has been lost to time, researchers speculate that it may have helped preserve collective memories and oral traditions of people who endured a hot, dry period.

Relationships between groups of ancient humans who developed and shared this rock art may have increased the chances of survival in this challenging environment, Barberena said.

Andrés Troncoso, an archaeologist in the anthropology department at the University of Chile who was not involved in the research, said he agreed with this interpretation. The paper “contributes to the discussion about how humans have dealt with climate change in the past,” he said.

Although the meaning of the drawing likely remains a mystery, its long presence in the cave opens a new window into the study of prehistoric Patagonian people.

“You can’t help but think about these people,” Romero said. “They were in the same place, admiring the same landscape; people who lived here, maybe families, were gathering here for social reasons. It’s really exciting for us.”