Archaeologists from Brazil’s National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage discovered a gallery of rock paintings dating back 9.4 thousand years in the Cerrote do Letreiro region in the northeastern part of the country. The petroglyphs were adjacent to the paw prints of Cretaceous dinosaurs left between 145 and 66 million years ago. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Scientific Reports (SciRep).
Impressions of prehistoric dinosaurs’ limbs inspired Stone Age artists, with some designs copying their shapes, scientists say.
The team noted that the tracks belonged to different dinosaur species, such as carnivorous theropods, long-necked sauropods, and bipedal ornithopods, including iguanodontic dinosaurs.
The authors of the study suggested that the similarity of the tracks to those of the rhea emu (Rhea americana), the largest bird living in Brazil, may have made it easier for ancient people to recognize and interpret these fossil remains.
The petroglyphs, which are essentially carved in circles filled with lines and other geometric lines, are attributed to hunter-gatherers who lived in the area between 9,400 and 2,620 years ago.
Researchers found that ancient people painted using two methods: drilling and engraving. To do this, they used stone hammers and scrapers, combining both techniques to achieve better results.
Earlier archaeologists to create Brazil has an impressive gallery of rock paintings depicting animals and celestial bodies.
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Source: Gazeta
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