Seminar - The Rock Art of Serranía del Chiribiquete: a geoarchaeological and geomorphological heritage in the heart of the Amazon
29.04.2025
New discoveries in Amazonian rock art: paintings, pigments, and some of the oldest traces in South America.
Deep in the Colombian Amazon lies the Chiribiquete Massif, a chain of table mountains with steep quartz-sandstone cliffs. It was in this remote and dramatic setting that anthropologist Carlos Castaño Uribe, in 1989, first documented thousands of enigmatic rock paintings—left by an ancient and unknown indigenous culture.
Over thirty years later, in December 2024, a new expedition led by Castaño Uribe together with the Italian speleological association La Venta Esplorazioni Geografiche brought to light new discoveries: mural paintings depicting jaguar-men mythological figures and the source of the iron hydroxide pigments, extracted from complex natural cave systems previously unknown in the area. Scientific analysis, partly conducted in the laboratories of the Department of Geosciences at the University of Padua, suggests that these artworks may be among the earliest human traces in South America.
Carlos Castaño Uribe will present these findings in a seminar that highlights the value of multidisciplinary research and the ongoing collaboration between anthropology, geoarchaeology, and geomorphology.
Details
- Where: Arduino Room, Department of Geosciences – University of Padua
- When: Tuesday, 29 April 2025 at 4:30 PM
Free admission while seats last
