Serranía La Lindosa Del Guaviare

Donde · Feb 6, 2019

There is an area in Colombia where plate tectonics and volcanic activity have produced huge sandstone formations in the Serranía La Lindosa of Guaviare department. Over millennia local Indian populations produced pictograms on the many cliff faces. Unfortunately it is not possible to carbon date them because they were painted with mineral based iron oxide pigments but speculation for some ranges from as recently as the Spanish conquest to ten thousand years or possibly older. I visited the area last week.

In one of the paintings there is an animal that could be a Giant Ground Sloth.

There is speculation that another section was painted during the invasion by the Spanish Conquistadores and that the apparently frightened people face a Spanish war dog which the Conquistadores used to attack and kill the Indians. The Indians made traps of sharp spines to pierce the dogs' feet and deter them but the Spaniards devised iron paw protectors which may be what we see on the animal's feet.