Let's go back to my cave. I'll show you my etchings.
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 ...
That makes 3 of us.
David Grann wrote Lost City in 2009, but there are other books about Fawcett. This one is the newest that I know of.
Grann is a nice guy. I wrote him with a couple of questions and he wrote me back with the answers fairly quick.
Are they sure they are ancient? They look suspiciously modern, although I quite believe they likely are ancient.
But, they are definitely not black faces.
Let's go back to my cave. I'll show you my etchings.
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