The arch
The pierced rock.
Rocmayer — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cleude — Public domain · GLandovsky — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Rocmayer — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Otávio Nogueira from Fortaleza, BR — CC BY 2.0
Pedra Furada, the «pierced rock», is a huge stone arch in Serra da Capivara National Park in Piauí, together with a group of rock shelters people lived in for thousands of years. The park as a whole holds more than 800 archaeological sites with hundreds of rock paintings, some about 12,000 years old, showing hunting, dancing and animals in shades of red. The place is best known for the scientific debate it started: in 1973 a Brazilian-French team began digging here, and in 1986 the Brazilian archaeologist Niède Guidon reported hearth charcoal and stone flakes that might be tools, dated to between 48,000 and 32,000 years ago and in later tests to as much as 60,000 years. If made by people, they would mean a human presence in the Americas tens of thousands of years earlier than the prevailing theory holds, but other researchers argue the charcoal may come from natural fires. UNESCO inscribed the park as a World Heritage Site in 1991. Entry tickets are sold at the control posts at the start of the visitor circuits, including the Boqueirão da Pedra Furada post; visit with a guide, early in the morning or before sunset.
The pierced rock.
About 12,000 years old.
The Americas' first people?
Boqueirão da Pedra Furada, Serra da Capivara National Park, Piauí
Digs there gave dates that may point to a human presence in the Americas tens of thousands of years earlier than thought, though the dates are still debated.