The Amazon rainforest is known to hold major historical artifacts, and recently, archeologists made an exciting discovery; tens of thousands of ice age paintings. Known as “the Sistine Chapel of the ancients,” the paintings of animals and humans are said to have been created about 12,500 years ago.

The artworks are splattered along massive cliff faces that stretch about 8 miles (12 kilometers) in Colombia and are one of the world’s largest prehistoric rock art collections. That is one massive ancient canvas that has been preserved for centuries, and now we have a chance to know all about the Amazonians during the ice-age era.

To know the estimated time that the stunning paintings were created, archaeologists examined some artworks depicting the ice age animals that are now extinct. There’s an illustration of the mastodon, an ancient relative of the elephant that roamed South America 12,000 years ago.

With the artworks stretching over 8 miles, it’s surprising how the communities managed to take on such a monumental task. All these flora and fauna from the ice age were seen and painted by the humans who transversed the Amazon at the time, and such is the vastness of the paintings will take generations to study thoroughly.

While many archaeological discoveries are usually made public, the “the Sistine Chapel of the ancients” was kept away from the public. The site was discovered in 2019, but it wasn’t until 2020 that the world was informed of the ancient paintings.

Located in Serranía de la Lindosa, the site is among the newest archaeological sites, including one at Chiribiquete national park, where more ancient rock art had been found. So you’d think that the site was immediately named, but interestingly that wasn’t the case.

The discovery of prehistoric depictions of the ancient civilization is an exciting prospect, and Ella confirmed it in the interview, as mentioned earlier. The presenter spoke of the thrill of seeing the images that were created thousands of years ago.

One does not just stumble upon such a site; you must be an explorer or archaeologist to get to some of these places. So you could be wondering, who made this monumental discovery? The finding was made by a team of Britons and Colombians, led by José Iriarte, an expert on Amazon and pre-Colombian history and a professor of archaeology at Exeter University.

The team needed substantial financial and resource backing to make it possible to undertake a discovery of such magnitude. Luckily for them, the European Research Council had their backs, and they fully funded the operation.

According to José, the site is a sight to behold, commenting, “When you’re there, your emotions flow … We’re talking about several tens of thousands of paintings. It’s going to take generations to record them … Every turn you do, it’s a new wall of paintings.”

The professor was also mesmerized by the level of detail in the drawings, which were so clear, to a point where one can exactly tell the animal painted. While the animals are now extinct, José reiterated that an image of the ice age horse was “so detailed, we can even see the horse hair. It’s fascinating.”

What makes “the Sistine Chapel of the ancients” stand out isn’t just the vastness of the paintings but also its detailed contents. While many archaeological sites have a dedicated theme, this site is a bit different regarding what has been painted on the rocks.

Considering the level of detail in the paintings, it’s hard to argue that the people who drew them knew what they were doing. They ensured that all bases about their lives, from their living conditions to the animals and plants they had, were all covered.

We can agree that most archaeological sites aren’t located in urban or easily accessible areas; that’s why they are “discovered,” and the Amazonian rock paintings are no different. Nonetheless, the site takes a hazardous journey to reach and involves hiking.

While the site is quite far from any urban area, the numerous dangerous animals in the region make the journey even more treacherous to accomplish. The documentary presenter Al-Shamahi mulled, “Caimans are everywhere, and we did keep our wits about us with snakes.”

As the documentary rightfully acknowledges, Colombia is a country that is split by a war between the government and the FARC guerrillas that raged for 50 years, and the only thing keeping the two factions together is an uneasy ceasefire.

Getting into the Farc territory is something many people have not been able to do successfully, and it was a massive achievement for José Iriarte and his team. It takes a lot of courage to venture into hostile regions, and we’re glad they did, as they discovered the largest prehistoric rock art in the world.

To say “the Sistine Chapel of the ancients” paintings are a marvel is an understatement. All the images drawn vary in size, and there are countless handprints, with most of the illustrations from animals to geometric shapes in that scale.

While some are small, other paintings are much bigger than the rest. The sizes aside, some of the drawings are so high that the only way to view them is by using drones. Al-Shamahi was surprised by how high some of the pictures were, claiming, “I’m 5ft 10in, and I would be breaking my neck looking up. How were they scaling those walls?”

Yet, while it is indeed a wonder how the creators of the paintings scaled the rock walls, there seems to be an answer within the images themselves. According to Iriarte, he believes that the depictions of wooden towers, complete with figures appearing to be bungee jumping from them, are the way they accessed the high walls.

Most of the archaeological artworks found have been speculated to serve a particular purpose, depending on the history of the people and the actual drawings. The ones in the Sistine Chapel are no different, and Iriarte, the paintings might have a sacred purpose going by some depictions they found.

Iriarte also noted something peculiar about the paintings; trees and hallucinogenic plants featured heavily in the illustrations, and it’s for a good reason. According to the expert, “For Amazonian people, non-humans like animals and plants have souls, and they communicate and engage with people in cooperative or hostile ways through the rituals and shamanic practices that we see depicted in the rock art.”

Like every other place in the world, the Amazon has also shifted, and according to Al-Shamani, it wasn’t always a forest. The presenter added, “It hasn’t always been this rainforest. When you look at a horse or mastodon in these paintings, of course, they weren’t going to live in a forest. 

It is believed that the people who created the images were among the first humans to dwell in the western Amazon. Archaeologists estimate that at the time, the area was changing from a landscape full of forests, thorny scrubs, and savannahs into the tropical rainforest that we have today.

At the time of the discovery and filming of the Jungle Mystery: Lost Kingdoms of the Amazon documentary, COVID-19 was ravaging the world, so the team didn’t get to explore as much as they would have wanted. Yet, as per Al-Shamani, as soon as the pandemic dissipated, they had plans to go back to the site and explore to see how much more paintings they could uncover.

Due to its importance in history, the Colombian government declared the Serrania La Lindosa a protected archaeological site. With that announcement, there is some hope that the site will be open to the public so everyone can experience the ancient artwork.