The Amazon rainforest is home to a whole range of wildfire and a wide variety of flora and fauna. It also has a treasure trove of Ice Age rock art that nature has preserved for thousands of years. A press release from researchers at the Britain's University of Exeter confirms this. It is located in the Serranía La Lindosa in modern-day Colombia. Researchers associated with the project are trying to establish when humans first settled in the Amazon region. Another item on their agenda is to find out how the presence of humans during the Ice Age affected biodiversity.

The rock art stretches for nearly eight miles and could become a Travel destination. There are many similar sights in the world where tourists flock to see ancient works of art. José Iriarte, Professor of Archaeology at Exeter, told CNN that the findings are preliminary and the project could continue for five years.

CNN says this rock art of the Ice Age depicts enormous creatures like the mastodons that no longer exist. In the opinion of those involved in the research, the paintings are thousands of years old – probably between 11,800 to 12,600 years, according to a press release from researchers at Britain's University of Exeter. These are set in three different rock shelters. The largest one contains 12 panels with innumerable individual images that depict a whole range of animals – many of them are extinct.

These are windows to a lost civilization.

Rock art in the Amazon rainforest

An archaeologist at the University of Exeter explains that these images were the handiwork of the earliest people who inhabited western Amazonia. He describes them as something that provides a glimpse into the lives of Ice Age communities. Hunting was a way of life for them, and they had to deal with giant herbivores.

CNN adds that the range of images includes humans and animals apart from geometric shapes and hunting scenes. Red color prevailed, and the collection can claim to be one of the largest in South America. The paintings are at the mercy of the natural elements, but the overhanging rocks have protected them for ages.

New TV series in the UK's Channel 4 on Amazon rock paintings

In the words of José Iriarte - "These rock paintings are spectacular evidence of how humans reconstructed the land, and how they hunted, farmed and fished." They brought to the fore a bygone era and showed how humans co-existed among giant-sized animals, now extinct. He appreciated their level of observation of the fauna. The rock art belongs to a time when the Amazon was transforming into the tropical forest of today. The subject will feature in a new TV series on the UK's Channel 4. The locals knew about these rock paintings and extended assistance to the research team working at the site in 2017 and 2018.

Terracotta-colored Amazon cliff paintings

According to the New York Post, the Amazon rainforest has a massive collection of Ice Age paintings. A team of British-Colombian archaeologists discovered the prehistoric rock art last year. There are tens of thousands of approximately 12,500-year-old paintings. Some of the drawings are of long-extinct animals, and these proved to be a great help to date the terracotta-colored drawings. Team leader José Iriarte, an archaeology professor at Exeter University, described the images as lifelike. Some anthropologists believe the world has much more hidden ancient life yet to come to the surface in different parts of the world. The world is full of surprises, and these rock arts are an example of how little we know about our own planet. In August 2019, there were reports of the Amazon rainforest burning. Incidents of this nature take a heavy toll on the environment and destroy biodiversity.
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