Caverna da Pedra Pintada (Monte Alegre)
Caverna da Pedra Pintada · Painted Rock Cave · Monte Alegre Cave · Para Rock Art
Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene (11–10 ka BCE)·Paleoindian (preceramic Amazonian foragers)·🇧🇷 Pará, Monte Alegre, Rio Amazonas, Brazil
About
About Caverna da Pedra Pintada (Monte Alegre)
Sandstone cave on a 100-m cuesta above the Amazon floodplain 500 m from the Rio Amazonas, excavated by Anna Roosevelt 1989–1996, preserving the earliest securely dated rock art and Paleoindian occupation in Amazonia. Walls display red and yellow hematite paintings of stick humans, hand stencils, concentric sunbursts and geometric lattices in a 20×5 m frieze, stratified beneath by Paleoindian hearths with fishtail points and Amazon pollen indicating Pleistocene rainforest foraging.
11,200–10,000 BCE (13 ka cal BP), overturning models of Amazonia as late-peopled. Lower caves extend the Monte Alegre sandstone complex with 19 painted caves total along the Paituna range.
Why it mattersEarliest Amazonian occupation overturning 'counterfeit paradise' late settlement model; proves rainforest foraging before ceramics.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Whether geometric lattices encode early calendric or hallucinogenic patterns
- 02How broad-spectrum forest foraging sustained Pleistocene bands
Theories
- 01Lookout camp controlling Amazon riverine fish migrations
- 02Ritual art marking territorial tenure in dense forest
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.11,200–10,000 BCE (Paleoindian)
- Period
- Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene (11–10 ka BCE)
- Culture
- Paleoindian (preceramic Amazonian foragers)
- Builders
- Early Amazonian hunter-gatherers
- Purpose
- Cuesta lookout painting and seasonal camp overlooking Amazon várzea and fishery
- Abandoned
- c.10 ka BCE with Holocene forest closure; later re-occupied sporadically
- Rediscovered
- 1989 Anna Roosevelt excavations
- Excavation
- Excavated
11,200 BCE
Earliest red geometric paintings with fishtail points
10,000 BCE
Paleoindian hearths and Amazon pollen sealed under pigment fall
1996
Science publication claims Pleistocene Amazon occupation
On the ground
Structures & features
2.0200° S · 54.0700° W · 80 m · 3 mapped features
Main Painted Frieze
frieze20-m red geometric and hand-stencil frieze inside cave
2.0202° S · 54.0705° WPaleoindian Hearth Trench
trenchStratified fishtail and pollen layer beneath fall
2.0200° S · 54.0700° WCuesta View Terrace
terrace100-m cuesta rim overlooking Amazon várzea
2.0195° S · 54.0710° W