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Scientists excavating in Brazil have discovered what they believe to be the oldest rock engraving ever found. The finding indicates that humans may have inhabited the Americas 4,000 prior to what was previously believed.
According to University of Sao Paulo researchers, the anthropomorphic figure may be “the oldest figurative petroglyph ever found in the new world.” They also referred to it as the “earliest indisputable testimony of rock art in the Americas.”
The depiction was found in the Lapa do Santo rock in Brazil. The figure was “pecked into the bedrock” and consisted of “tri-digits” and a “C”shaped head.
One of the archeologists, Danilo Bernardo, wrote “When we found it, it was a great surprise. During our excavations, we never attempted to look for any rock art.”
The style of the etching is very different from other ancient art found in Argentina and Brazil, which lead scientists to conclude that the Clovis people were not in fact the first humans to live in the Western Hemisphere.
“The variability was impossible to be reached in a short span of time, suggesting the idea that the peopling of the New World occurred prior to the antiquity recognized by the Clovis model,” the archeologist explained.