Unexpected discovery of mysterious cave drawings in North America

3D scans have helped researchers discover giant painting hidden in a deep cave.

These works of art are invisible until researchers using 3D scans can detect them.

Artwork Large was discovered inside Caves 19th in Alabama (unnamed to protect the site from vandalism). Although its location was first found in 1998, the tight confines of the cave made the artwork painted in the mud impossible to see. But hundreds of smaller images were discovered throughout the cave at the time.

Huge analogous drawings can depict spirits of the underworld and date back to the first millennium AD. According to research, art was created before there was contact, or before Native Americans encountered foreign cultures.

Jan F. Simek, a distinguished professor of science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a team of researchers initially stumbled upon the giant drawings while documenting cave interiors in early 2017.

“We knew the cave contained mud glyphs of Native Americans prior to exposure, and we are working on a project to document 3D imaging to aid management,” said Simek, lead author of the study. and conservation.”

The photogrammetry process involves taking thousands of pictures to create a 3D model. It creates an accurate profile of the site, revealing secret artwork, especially due to the cave’s very low ceiling. During two months of work on the field, the team took 16,000 photos.

During the 3D photography sessions, the team captured a large view of the outer ceiling where sunlight shines into the cave and found five previously unknown drawings.

Using photometry in caves and at other sites could change the way scientists discover and understand Native American cave art, including the intentions and meanings behind the designs. .

Drawings with spiritual themes

The researchers were able to use 3D models to manipulate the cave ceiling to study the details of the lettering and create digital drawings based on intersecting patterns. Four of the artworks show human-like figures dressed in elaborate costumes.

The drawings share a spiritual theme – like those displaying supernatural features – with other known rock art in the region, the researchers say, so they may represent objects characters in previously unknown religious stories, possibly from the Middle Woodland period between 200 BC and 600 AD. .

Although the entrance is 10 m high and 15 m wide, the art chamber has a low ceiling just 0.6 m from the bottom of the cave. This meant that whoever created the artwork had to crouch or crawl through the chamber – and the drawings could only be viewed by lying on the floor of the cave and looking at them.

The works of art were created during a time when indigenous tribes were gradually turning to farming and building permanent settlements.

These tribes use their surroundings to honor their religious and spiritual beliefs, build mounds as conduit for spirits to the upper world, and use caves as spiritual spaces. sacred as the path to the underworld.

“Large drawings painted in caves may represent the spirits of the underworld, whose power and importance is reflected in their shape, size and context,” the researchers note. .”

While this creation is similar to the large outdoor rock artwork found in Utah and other locations across North America, it is unusual to find such large figures hidden in a cave. .

The first North American cave art was found in Tennessee in 1979 and is between 750 and 800 years old. Since that initial discovery, 89 other sites have been found throughout southeastern North America. The oldest site dates back 7,000 years, but much of the cave art was created between 800 and 1600 AD.

Researchers think that our ancestors conquered darkness to create the world’s oldest work of art.