Extreme Drought Is Revealing Ancient Carvings of Human Faces In the Amazon

Ancient rock carvings of human faces that are normally submerged in the Brazilian Amazon have been exposed this month by a record-breaking drought that has dramatically lowered water levels.

The carvings were made by Indigenous peoples some 1,000 to 2,000 years ago at an archaeological site called Ponto das Lajes, close to where the Negro and Solimoes rivers converge in the Amazon. This region of the Amazon is currently suffering a devastating drought, causing the shoreline of the Negro River to drop by about 50 feet to reach the lowest levels since the turn of the 20th century.

As a consequence, these mysterious rock carvings, called petroglyphs, are visible once again for the first time in more than a decade. Some of the carvings were exposed in 2010 during a much milder drought, but researchers have identified more of them as water levels dropped in recent weeks. 

In addition to the captivating human faces etched into the river rock, the petroglyphs also depict animals and other figures that were crafted centuries before the arrival of Europeans on the continent.

"The site expresses emotions, feelings, it is an engraved rock record, but it has something in common with current works of art," Jaime Oliveira, an archaeologist at the Brazilian Institute of Historical Heritage, told AFP. 

The extreme drought in the region has fueled devastating wildfires that have made the air quality in Manaus among the worst in the world. In Lake Tefé, an area a few hundred miles west of Manaus, more than 100 river dolphins recently perished as a result of this hot and dry spell. Researchers think that the severity of the drought might have been amplified by a strong El Niño weather pattern as well as the effects of human-driven climate change.

It’s not clear what this rock art meant to the people who made it, but its recent exposure has drawn interest from experts and people who live in the region, which includes the Amazonian city of Manaus. But even as locals enjoy these ancient carvings, they also worry about the forces that have made them visible again.

“I had never seen this; I've lived in Manaus for 27 years," Livia Ribeiro, an administrator in the city, told AFP. "We come, we look at (the engravings) and we think they are beautiful. But at the same time, it is worrying…I also think about whether this river will exist in 50 or 100 years.”