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America's Oldest Art

The rock art found in Brazil's Serra da Capivara National Park is dated to potentially 36,000 years ago, challenging the prevailing theory that the Americas were first colonized around 10,000 BC from the north. The art depicts complex scenes of hunting and rituals, but its dating and origins remain controversial, with some critics arguing for more recent dates and alternative migration theories. Despite the evidence from South America, the earliest secure human evidence in North America is only 12,300 years old, indicating ongoing debates about human colonization of the Americas.

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8 views3 pages

America's Oldest Art

The rock art found in Brazil's Serra da Capivara National Park is dated to potentially 36,000 years ago, challenging the prevailing theory that the Americas were first colonized around 10,000 BC from the north. The art depicts complex scenes of hunting and rituals, but its dating and origins remain controversial, with some critics arguing for more recent dates and alternative migration theories. Despite the evidence from South America, the earliest secure human evidence in North America is only 12,300 years old, indicating ongoing debates about human colonization of the Americas.

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azimovnurmuxammad6
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on

Reading Passage 3 below.

America’s oldest art?


A Set within treacherously steep cliffs, and hidden away valleys of northeast Brazil,
is some of Southeast America’s most significant and spectacular rock-art. Most of
the art so far discovered from the ongoing excavations comes from the
archaeologically – important National Park of the Serra da Capivara in the state of
Piaui, and it is causing quite a controversy. The reason for the uproar? The art is
being dated to around 25.CC0 or perhaps. According to some archaeologists, even
36,000 years ago. If correct, this is set to challenge the wide-field view that America
was first colonized from the north, via the Bering Straits from eastern Siberia at
around 10.000 BC. only moving down into Central and South America in the
millennia thereafter.

B Prior to the designation of 130,000 hectares as a National Park, the rock-art sites
were difficult to get to and often dangerous to enter. In ancient times, this
inaccessibility must have heightened the importance of the sites, and indeed of the
people who painted on the rocks. Wild animals and human figures dominate the art
and are incorporated into often-complex scenes involving hunting, supernatural
beings, fighting and dancing. The artists depicted the animals that roamed the local
ancient brushwood forest. The large mammals are usually hunted in groups and tend
to be shown a running stance, as they trying to escape from hunting parties.
Processions – lines of human and animal figures – also appear of great importance
to these ancient artists. Might such lines represent family units or groups of warriors?
On a number of panels, rows of stylized figures, some numbering up to 30 individual
figures, were painted using the natural undulating contours of the rock surface, so
evoking the contours of the seconding landscape. Other interesting, but very rare,
occurrences are scenes that show small human figures holding on to and dancing
around a tree, possibly involved in some form of a ritual dance.
C Due to the favourable climatic conditions. the imagery on many panels is in a
remarkable state of preservation. Despite this, however, there are serious
conservation issues that affect their long term survival. The chemical and mineral
quantities of the rock on which the imagery is panted are fragile and on several
panels it is unstable. As well as the secretion of sodium carbonate on the rock
surface, complete panel sections have, over the ancient and recent past, broken
away from the main rock surface. These have then become buried and sealed into
sometimes-ancient floor deposits. Perversely, this form of natural erosion and
subsequent deposition has assisted archaeologists in dating several major rock-art
sites. Of course, dating the art is extremely difficult oven the non-existence of plant
and animal remains that might be scientifically dated. However, there am a small
number of sites in the Serra da Capivara that are giving up their secrets through
good systematic excavation. Thus, at Toca do Roqi.omo da Pedra Furada. rock-art
researcher Nide Guidon managed to obtain a number of dates. At different levels of
excavation, she located fallen painted rock fragments, which she was able to dale to
at least 36,000 years ago. Along with toe painted fragments, crude stone tools were
found. Also discovered were a series of scientifically datable sites of fireplaces, or
hearths, the earliest dated to 46,000 BC. arguably the oldest dates for human
habitation in America.

D However, these conclusions are not without controversy. Critics, mainly from North
America, have suggested that the hearths may, in fact, be a natural phenomenon,
the result of seasonal brushwood fires. Several North American researchers have
gone further and suggested that the rock art from this site dates from no earlier than
about 3,730 years ago, based on the results of limited radiocarbon dating. Adding
further fool to the general debate is the fact that the artists in the area of the National
Hark tended not to draw over old motifs (as often occurs with rock-art), which makes
it hard to work out the relative chronology of the images or styles. However, the
diversity of imagery and the narrative the paintings created from each of the many
sites within the National Park suggests different artists were probably making their
art at different times and potentially using each site over many thousands of years.
E With fierce debates thus raging over to dating, where these artists originate from is
also still very much open to speculation. The traditional view ignores the early dating
evidence from the South American rock-art sites. In a revised scenario, some
anthropologists are now suggesting that modern humans may’ have migrated from
Africa using the strong currents of the Atlantic Ocean some 63.000 years or more
ago, while others suggest more improbable colonization coming from the Pacific
Ocean. Yet, while the ether hypothesis is plausible, there is still no supporting
archaeological evidence between the South American coastline and the interior.
Rather, it seems possible that there were a number of waves of human colonization
of the Americas occurring possibly over a 60,000-100,000 year period, probably
using the Bering Straits as a land bridge to cross into the Americas.

F Despite the compelling evidence from South America, it stands alone: the earliest
secure human evidence yet found in die state of Oregon in North America only dates
to 12,300 years BC. So this is a fierce debate that is likely to go on for many more
years. However, the splendid rock art and its allied anthropology of northeast of
Brazil, described here, is playing a huge and significant role in the discussion.

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