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Stone age etchings found in Amazon basin as river levels fall
Guardian (UK) ^ | Wednesday, November 10, 2010 | Tom Phillips

Posted on 11/11/2010 4:47:55 PM PST by SunkenCiv

A series of ancient underwater etchings has been uncovered near the jungle city of Manaus, following a drought in the Brazilian Amazon.

The previously submerged images -- engraved on rocks and possibly up to 7,000 years old -- were reportedly discovered by a fisherman after the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon river, fell to its lowest level in more than 100 years last month...

Though water levels are now rising again, partly covering the apparently stone age etchings, local researchers photographed them before they began to disappear under the river's dark waters.

Archaeologists who have studied the photographs believe the art -- which features images of faces and snakes -- is another indication that thousands of years ago the Amazon was already home to large civilisations.

Eduardo Neves, president of the Brazilian Society of Archaeology and a leading Amazon scholar, said the etchings appeared to have been made between 3,000 and 7,000 years ago when water levels in the region were lower...

Recent years have seen a growing number of archaeologists studying the Amazon, revising previous theories that the rainforest was too inhospitable to host a major civilisation...

Archaeologists are particularly concerned about the imminent inauguration of a 2.2-mile bridge across the Rio Negro connecting Manaus with Iranduba. The area is home to numerous archaeological sites, where ancient ceramics and burial urns have been found. "The bridge ... will probably alter quite dramatically life on the other side of the Rio Negro ... because [it] will put pressure on the land with urbanisation, and river fronts tend to be loaded with archaeological remains," Arroyo-Kalin said. "By changing the dynamic of how the region is being used ... you will certainly start damaging archaeology."

(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: agriculture; amazon; amazonia; animalhusbandry; annaroosevelt; art; brazil; epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; manaus; preclovis; precolumbianamazon; rainforest; rionegro; sahara; slashandburn; terrapreta
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To: SunkenCiv

"It says...drink...more...Ovaltine"


21 posted on 11/11/2010 5:32:40 PM PST by COBOL2Java (Obama is the least qualified guy in whatever room he walks into.)
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To: thoolou

“...a leading Amazon scholar, said the etchings appeared to have been made between 3,000 and 7,000 years ago when water levels in the region were lower... “

Or. It didn’t rain as much. Not much snow melt from the Andes.

What happened to the “Large Population”? My take. They were over taxes and left the area and the government ran out of other people’s labors.


22 posted on 11/11/2010 5:36:11 PM PST by steveab (When was the last time someone tried to sell you a CO2 induced climate control system for your home?)
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To: COBOL2Java

+1 LOLOLOL


23 posted on 11/11/2010 5:51:05 PM PST by kimmie7 (I do not think BO is the antichrist, but he may very well be 665.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Percy Fawcett told folks 100 years ago that you could find things like this in the Amazon if you looked hard enough.

I suggest reading “The Lost City of Z”. A facinating book.


24 posted on 11/11/2010 7:31:45 PM PST by Conan the Librarian (The Best in Life is to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and the Dewey Decimal System)
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To: TaxPayer2000

Now *that* is a lot of trash.


25 posted on 11/11/2010 7:49:42 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: COBOL2Java

One to work, seven to watch. Government operation.


26 posted on 11/11/2010 7:51:03 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: Islander7

To Helen back.


27 posted on 11/11/2010 7:51:25 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: TaxPayer2000

Hey, what’s Michelle Obama doing there second from left?


28 posted on 11/11/2010 7:53:20 PM PST by aruanan
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To: Conan the Librarian

thanks!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/723732/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1880194/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2535575/posts


29 posted on 11/11/2010 8:10:20 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: UCANSEE2

Until the sewer backed up.


30 posted on 11/11/2010 8:15:14 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: UCANSEE2

“What was that gulping sound?”


31 posted on 11/11/2010 8:15:32 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: TaxPayer2000
Rubbish lies exposed on the dried bed of the Rio Negro

This would be a great opportunity for the locals to clean up some of that exposed rubbish.

32 posted on 11/11/2010 8:17:43 PM PST by meadsjn (Sarah 2012, or sooner)
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To: bunkerhill7; fieldmarshaldj; thoolou; Darksheare

“This way to the Egress.”


33 posted on 11/11/2010 8:20:30 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: UCANSEE2
http://mikecane.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/wall-street-bull-3.jpg

34 posted on 11/11/2010 8:31:38 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: blam
Wholeheartedly agree.
35 posted on 11/11/2010 8:33:23 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: csvset

Thanks!


36 posted on 11/11/2010 8:34:18 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: Conan the Librarian

TY for reference. I will check that out.


37 posted on 11/11/2010 9:02:38 PM PST by Psalm 144
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To: csvset

They look like spacemen !!!! (sarcasm)


38 posted on 11/11/2010 9:48:35 PM PST by ZULU (No nation which tried to tolerate Islam escaped Islamization.)
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To: Conan the Librarian; All

Who wrote “The Lost City of Z” and when was it written.


39 posted on 11/12/2010 2:41:34 AM PST by gleeaikin
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To: SunkenCiv

“There’s rock in the water here.”

“Remember your flotation vest.”


40 posted on 11/12/2010 9:34:01 AM PST by Darksheare (I shook hands with Sheryl Crow and all I got was Typhus and a single sheet of toilet paper.)
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