New findings in Chiribiquete provide clues to the world of those who painted pictograms centuries ago.

Although the world learned of its existence less than 40 years ago, the Chiribiquete mountain range holds a history spanning several millennia. Traces of human intervention dating back thousands of years have been discovered on its tepuis—geological formations of elevated plateaus that are among the oldest on the planet.

It was in 1986 that this place was "discovered" by anthropologist Carlos Castaño Uribe, who was then director of Colombia's National Parks. On a trip between San José del Guaviare and Araracuara, he had to detour due to a storm, managing to fly over the previously unknown rock formations.

Convinced that this place needed to be protected, in 1989 Chiribiquete became a National Natural Park, initially with almost 1.3 million hectares, which later expanded to currently cover 4,266,169 hectares – about 26 times the area of ​​Bogotá –, distributed between Guaviare and Caquetá, becoming the largest terrestrial protected area in Colombia.

In 1991, the first expeditions discovered rock art on the walls of the tepuis . It is estimated that thousands of pictograms were engraved on the rocks with paint made from local minerals. But reaching this area, hidden in the dense jungle, is neither easy nor convenient in terms of conservation, which is why there have been few expeditions over the years.

The latest research was carried out between 2021 and 2024 , and was conducted by the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH), which has just released its findings on the history of this territory that, until less than half a century ago, was not even on the maps.

Fernando Montejo, deputy director of heritage management at Icanh, commented that the exercise was a challenge. Because Chiribiquete is such a protected ecosystem yet difficult to access, the archaeological investigation, which normally involves the presence of people on-site for long periods of time, had to be adapted to minimize the impact on the area, which, in addition to being a fragile ecosystem, is considered sacred by the indigenous communities of the Colombian Amazon.

Thus, although the Icanh team traveled to the mountains on a few occasions, they used innovative techniques to capture information, such as laser imaging, photogrammetry (a technique for acquiring hundreds of images of objects using electromagnetic energy), and 3D scanning—all noninvasive technologies that allowed the mural panels to be recorded.

As a result, the project achieved a high-quality digital record of eight rock art panels in Chiribiquete and six panels in the La Lindosa mountain range , the latter known as the 'gateway' to Chiribiquete and part of its buffer zone.

These panels documented more than 1,000 rock figures distributed across several murals, with an average density of 1.4 figures per square meter . So far, the paintings have depicted at least 60 animal species, including jaguars, otters, tapirs, turtles, and catfish, as well as fauna now absent from the region, providing information about the region's ancient ecological landscapes. Other drawings depict human figures and plant species.

One point Montejo emphasized is that the Chiribiquete pictograms feature more realistic representations of flora and fauna compared to those previously seen at La Lindosa; There is also less predominance of abstract shapes and figures.

“At first glance, this seems to speak to a pictorial tradition that doesn't completely fit with what we've seen before, which could shed new light on new hypotheses about who made these paintings ,” he told EL TIEMPO.

On this subject, the official explained that, currently, the theory about who painted these murals points to itinerant human groups who traveled through this tropical rainforest and who had a certain way of seeing and thinking about the world, which was captured through a pictorial tradition. What has been discovered now would help clarify whether there really was only one pictorial tradition or if there may have been several.

Likewise, the researchers conducted a diagnosis of the state of conservation of the rock art in the mountain range and found that the only impacts were the effects of the jungle's environment and natural wear and tear over thousands of years.

Tool remains and plant remains were also found at the site , which were subjected to anthracological analysis—which studies charcoal to reconstruct human use of wood—to learn more about the use and species that the ancient inhabitants of this area used in their daily lives.

Dating is a point of contention in archaeological debates around the world, and Chiribiquete is no exception. In the first records, compiled in the 1990s, researchers such as Carlos Castaño Uribe spoke of evidence of human occupation dating back 19,000 to 21,000 years, a figure that would make Chiribiquete one of the oldest human settlements in the entire region. However, the most widespread scientific consensus indicates that, in general, the oldest settlement in Colombia should be between 13,000 and 14,000 years old , consistent with current data on the time at which pre-Hispanic settlements began on the continent.

In response to this conversation, Montejo said that because research in Chiribiquete has been so limited, there is little data on the chronology of this site.

For now, beyond the "oldest" date, the new research involved controlled excavations and analysis of charcoal fragments and palm kernel samples, which led to six radiocarbon dates using AMS (an archaeological dating method), with chronologies ranging from 1,175-1,273 and 4,150-3,973 years before present . This last period is the oldest recorded so far by Icanh in the Chiribiquete mountain range.

"We were able to confirm that this site was occupied at least 3,000 years ago. This data allows us to fill in information gaps and reconstruct the sequence of human occupation of tropical rainforests, confirming that these ecosystems have been inhabited for a long time," Montejo noted.

The ICANH deputy director of heritage management also highlighted that for this chronological analysis , an archaeomagnetic dating technique was used for the first time in Colombia, and it proved successful. In this sense, he said, the path has been paved for the possibility of continuing to use this technique in the future to date cave painting contexts.

Finally, although a public presentation of the research results has already been made, over the coming months, ICANH will continue analyzing the collected images to further decipher the scenes from the past depicted in the pictograms on the murals.

Without forgetting that, even with this and other research, knowledge remains a mere fraction of what this virtually unexplored Amazonian territory holds. In fact, although a total of 65 rock painting panels have been recorded in the area to date, Montejo estimates that this would not represent "even 5% of the panels that could exist in all of Chiribiquete and its archaeological sites."

In addition to the findings regarding traces of human history in Chiribiquete, the Icanh research also confirmed the importance of continuing to protect this ecosystem and keeping it free from practices such as tourism, agriculture, mining, and others.

Alhena Caicedo, director of the institute, noted that the park's more than 4 million hectares are home to a large portion of the country's endemic Amazonian species. "In 2018, Chiribiquete was declared a mixed cultural and natural heritage site, and this cultural dimension is represented in more than 70,000 rock art found on several of the tepuis that make up this mountain range," she said.

In 2018, Chiribiquete was declared a mixed cultural and natural heritage site, and this cultural dimension is represented in more than 70,000 rock drawings located on several of the tepuis that are part of this mountain range.

Caicedo also commented that this territory is often thought of as "inhospitable, wild, and desolate—consistent beliefs that have been ingrained since colonization," but archaeological evidence shows that Chiribiquete has been inhabited for thousands of years.

The Icanh director concluded by noting that highlighting the area's cultural and natural wealth also helps strengthen conservation efforts so that many of the negative factors that are putting this important site of biodiversity and historical memory at risk in Colombia can be "stopped."

A message that President Gustavo Petro amplified on June 14, from San José del Guaviare, at the presentation of the results of this new research: “ A reserve like Chiribiquete cannot suffer the mechanisms that are burning the forest, because it would be an attack on nature and culture, on humanity.”

Maria Isabel Ortiz Fonnegra