“Unlocking History: How 9,000-Year-Old Rock Art Reveals Early Human Interactions with Dinosaur Footprints” – Arkeonews

Exciting news from Brazil! Researchers have uncovered ancient rock art that’s over 9,000 years old, alongside dinosaur footprints that are around 66 million years old. This amazing discovery was made at Serrote do Letreiro in the Sousa Basin.

A team led by Leonardo P. Troiano and his colleagues published their findings in the journal Scientific Reports. They have revealed that prehistoric hunter-gatherers created intriguing petroglyphs, or rock carvings, right next to the footprints of dinosaurs. This blend of archaeology and paleontology provides fascinating insights into the lives of those early humans.

Although the petroglyphs were first found in 1975, recent advancements in drone technology helped researchers discover their new placement near the dinosaur tracks. The footprints belong to dinosaurs that roamed the Earth during the Cretaceous Period.

The researchers suggest that ancient humans intentionally placed their carvings close to the dinosaur prints, as some petroglyphs are only a couple of inches away. This indicates that these early people not only noticed the dinosaur footprints but also engaged with them in a meaningful way.

Troiano, an archaeologist from Brazil’s National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage, believes the location of the petroglyphs was chosen specifically because of the dinosaur footprints. He pointed out that Serrote do Letreiro is near the Valley of the Dinosaurs, a conservation area known for its fossilized dinosaur tracks.

In 2023, Troiano and his team worked with middle-school students to survey the site. The students learned about the link between paleontology and archaeology while capturing photos of the specimens. They identified tracks of different dinosaur types, including theropods, sauropods, and ornate two-legged ornithopods, like iguanodonts.

The petroglyphs primarily feature geometric shapes, like lines and circles, created by hunter-gatherers who lived in the area between 9,400 and 2,620 years ago. Troiano described these groups as small, seminomadic, and equipped with stone tools. They made the rock carvings using two main techniques: perforation and scraping. Perforation involves hammering a stone to create indentations, while scraping uses a stone to engrave designs on the surface.

These carvings provide crucial insights into ancient practices and rituals. Troiano speculates that creating rock art may have involved rituals, perhaps influenced by psychotropic substances. He believes that the people were interested in the significance of the footprints.

Supporting this idea, Jan Simek, a professor of anthropology at the University of Tennessee, noted how the findings show how ancient cultures observed and integrated fossils into their spiritual lives. He remarked on humanity’s tendency to connect spiritual experiences with unexplained natural phenomena.

The research not only sheds light on ancient human activities but also highlights the importance of the connection between our past and the environment around us.