In the karst caves of Puerto Rico, rock art adorns the rock walls. Previous studies have determined the age of this art based on the age of archaeological artifacts in nearby caves, but this indicator is relative and may not correspond to the actual time of creation of the drawings.
An exciting discovery has been made in Puerto Rico’s mysterious karst caves, shedding light on the island’s ancient history. Although previous studies have attempted to date cave art based on archaeological artifacts, the results have been somewhat equivocal. Phys.org writes that dating this remarkable work of art has now reached a new level of precision, thanks to groundbreaking research presented at the Geological Society of America’s GSA Connects 2023 meeting.
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Angel Acosta-Colon, a geophysicist at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) in Arecibo, led the research. Along with his colleague Reniel Rodríguez, he set out to determine the exact age of cave art in Puerto Rico; these encompassed a variety of forms of expression, including petroglyphs (carved images), pyroglyphs (painted on the remains of charred objects), and pictographs. cave paintings).
Pictographs in particular attracted attention because they used an organic black material that was ideal for radiocarbon dating.
Their search took them to 11 different caves on La Isla Grande, the largest island in the Puerto Rican archipelago. They carefully collected 61 pigment samples belonging to painting from these caves.
When selecting samples, the researchers were careful to choose designs that were common and not unique. “[Пиктограммы] “They are not an unlimited resource, they are finite,” Acosta-Colon explains, “so if we touch someone, we touch them forever and rob future generations of the joy of seeing what we see.”
To extract the pigment for dating purposes, the researchers were careful and took small samples of only 1-2 milligrams from the black markings on the cave walls. They were then sent to the University of Georgia Applied Isotope Science (AIS) Center for carbon-14 dating.
The results of this study are nothing short of remarkable. The earliest abstract geometric pictographs date back to the Archaic period, approximately B.C. It is dated to the years 700-400.
This finding is important because it challenges previous ideas that Puerto Rico’s pre-colonial population existed for only 400-500 years before the arrival of Europeans.
“This is very important to us because when the European invasion came to Puerto Rico, they put on paper that our pre-colonial population had only been there for 400 to 500 years,” says Acosta-Colon. “This proves that we were here.” [тысячи] “Many years before European occupation, and this is documented by science, not contextual archaeology.”
The study also revealed that simpler anthropological-type drawings were created between 200 and 400 AD. to.
“We have gaps in time, and it’s interesting because we don’t know what happened,” Acosta-Colon says, adding that they can fill in those gaps by taking more samples from around the island.
The team also discovered more detailed drawings of people and animals made between 700 and 800 AD. These images survived for centuries until the island was colonized by Europeans around 1500 AD. Surprisingly, these later images included images of horses, ships, and other animals.
They discovered a particularly unusual finding among many animals. “We have a lion-like image, but there are no lions in Puerto Rico,” says Acosta-Colon. As he and Rodriguez wondered who might have seen the lion, they thought about the slaves the Spanish had brought to the island.
“But the painting is about 1,500 years old,” he says. “I think we have evidence that this is some of the first slave art in Puerto Rican caves.”
This research has far-reaching implications. By determining the age of these pictographs, the study sheds light on a rich history of the Puerto Rican people that extends well beyond the European invasion. It provides concrete evidence that life began much earlier in Puerto Rico.
Acosta-Colon studied more cave art, dating the emergence of humans in Puerto Rico to B.C. He believes it is possible to push it back to 5,000. This, combined with archaeological finds, can reconstruct the history of the Puerto Rican people from the Archaic age to the Taino people and the pre-Columbian period.
A magnificent journey through time etched on the walls of these hidden caves, waiting to tell its story to anyone who dares to enter.
Previously Focus wrote about the opportunity to look into the life of the ancient Egyptians: archaeologists showed Fayum portraits that are 2 thousand years old.
We also talked about the tomb of the man who changed Egyptian history. Czech archaeologists excavated an ancient burial site.
Source: Focus
Ashley Fitzgerald is an accomplished journalist in the field of technology. She currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker. With a deep understanding of the latest technology developments, Ashley’s writing provides readers with insightful analysis and unique perspectives on the industry.