Mysterious cave drawings found in Amazon reveal 'amazing insights' into ancient human life

A new study dives into the relationship between early humans and their surroundings, as researchers uncover mysterious prehistoric cave drawings .

The researchers, who published their findings in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology , analyzed the drawings, which depict half-human , half-animal creatures called therianthropes. The drawings were found in the Colombian Amazon on a stretch of clift called the Serranía de la Lindosa.

The Colombian Amazon “contains one of the richest collections of rock art in the world,” the study said. This particular cliffside dates back to 10,500 BC, though the art itself is not dated yet.

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Painted on the rocks in red ochre pigments are images of human figures, animals, plants and geometric designs. The animals include deer, turtles, birds, lizards and more.

Some of the therianthropic figures include human-bird, human-deer, human-sloth and more. Therianthropes are common in mythology and folklore as humans-animal shapeshifters.

According to The Sun , Jose Iriarte, a professor at Exeter who worked on the study, said the depictions showcase a better understanding of the power of myth on Indigenous communities.

“They are particularly revealing when it comes to more cosmological aspects of Amazonian life, such as what is considered taboo, where power resides, and how negotiations with the supernatural were conducted.”

Certain animals were missing from the drawings, including big cats and fish. Cats like jaguars and pumas exist in the Colombian Amazon, yet ancient humans likely didn’t get close enough to depict them correctly.

The researchers were unable to precisely determine the significance of species that were included and excluded from the drawings.

Dr Mark Robinson, Associate Professor of Archaeology in Exeter’s Department of Archaeology and History, said in a statement: “As such, the art is an amazing insight into how these first settlers understood their place in the world and how they formed relationships with animals.

"The context demonstrates the complexity of Amazonian relationships with animals, both as a food source but also as revered beings, which had supernatural connections and demanded complex negotiations from ritual specialists.”