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Ancient Rock Art Mapped in Amazing Detail, Revealing 100-Foot Snake
By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | December 11, 2017 07:03am ET
This story was updated Dec. 11 at 11:40 a.m. EST.
Ancient rock art isn't always easy to reach, but a researcher in Venezuela has solved this challenge with a bit of modern technology: A camera-equipped drone that zipped across a rocky, watery landscape to photograph ancient artwork depicting people, cultural rituals and animals, a new study reports.
The drone-recorded engravings, in addition to more accessible rock art along the Orinoco River in western Venezuela, are some of the largest rock engravings found anywhere in the world, the researcher said. One panel is more than 3,200 square feet (304 square meters) and has 93 engravings. Another engraving portrays a 98-foot-long (30 m) horned snake.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/61155-drone-maps-ancient-rock-art-venezuela.html?utm_source=notification
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"These engravings are embedded in the everyday -- how people lived and travelled in the region," archaeologist Philip Riris said.
By Brooks Hays | Dec. 7, 2017 at 12:29 PM
The engraving features a flautist and several other human-like figures. Scientists believe it
depicts a ceremony celebrating renewal and peak harvest, just before the onset of the wet
season. Photo by UCL
Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Researchers have mapped Venezuela's rock art in unmatched detail. The new map, published this week in the journal Antiquity, features some of the largest rock engravings in the world and some carved as many as 2,000 years ago.
One of the rock art panels featured in the new map covers an area of nearly 3,300 square feet and hosts 93 different engravings. Another motif features horned snakes stretch nearly 100 feet in length.
All of the mapped art is found in the Atures Rapids, a region of Amazonas, Venezuela's southernmost state. The sparsely populated region is thought to be the original home of a native people known as the the Adoles.
Scientists mapped the engravings using drones. Low flows throughout the Orinoco River basin left many of the engravings more exposed than usual.
More:
https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2017/12/07/Scientists-map-ancient-rock-art-in-Venezuela/2151512663060/
