Mysterious ancient ‘human face’ rock carvings revealed by receding waters in Amazon

‘This time we found not just more carvings but the sculpture of a human face cut into the rock’

Receding water levels in the Brazilian Amazon due to historic levels of drought have revealed strange human faces sculpted into stone likely about 2,000 years ago.

Water levels in the Brazilian Amazon have dropped to record lows in the region’s worst drought in over a century.

The drop in water levels has revealed a variety of never-before-seen rock carvings that can help archaeologists gain a better understanding of the people who sculpted them.

Scientists suspect the engravings are prehistoric or pre-colonial, but are not entirely sure of their origins.

The region where the rocks were discovered is called Ponto das Lajes on the north shore of the Amazon where the Rio Negro and Solimoes rivers join.

One area of the carvings reportedly shows smooth grooves in the rock.

Ancient rock carvings that reappeared in the region of the Lajes Archaeological Site due to the severe drought affecting the region’s rivers are pictured on the banks of the Negro River in Manaus, Amazonas State, northern Brazil, on 21 October 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

Researchers said this may have been a site where Indigenous inhabitants once sharpened their arrows and spears long before Europeans arrived.

“We cannot date them exactly, but based on evidence of human occupation of the area, we believe they are about 1,000 to 2,000 years old,” archaeologist Jaime de Santana Oliveira said in an interview, according to Reuters.

Some of the carvings were initially discovered in 2010, but the latest discovery due to the recent historic drought has revealed more variety of sculpted human faces.

“This time we found not just more carvings but the sculpture of a human face cut into the rock,” said Dr Oliveira, who works for the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (iphan).

Ancient rock carvings that reappeared in the region of the Lajes Archaeological Site due to the severe drought affecting the region’s rivers are pictured on the banks of the Negro River in Manaus, Amazonas State, northern Brazil (AFP via Getty Images)

This year’s drought in the Amazon has been much more severe partly due to a particularly acute lack of rain.

The Rio Negro, which is the largest tributary of the Amazon river, has dropped 15 metres (49.2 feet) since July – its lowest level in 121 years.

The drought has been particularly severe in the Rio Negro watershed in northern Amazonas, and parts of southern Venezuela and southern Colombia.

“Overall, this is a pretty unusual and extreme situation. The primary culprit exacerbating the drought appears to be El Niño,” atmospheric scientist René Garreaud from the University of Chile said in a statement.

Ancient rock carvings that reappeared in the region of the Lajes Archaeological Site due to the severe drought affecting the region’s rivers are pictured on the banks of the Negro River in Manaus, Amazonas State, northern Brazil (AFP via Getty Images)

The warming of surface waters in the Pacific has acted like a “boulder”, blocking atmospheric circulation in ways leading to drier conditions over the Amazon Basin, scientists said.

The receding water levels have exposed vast expanses of rocks in the region and also contributed to drinking water supply disruptions for hundreds of communities as well as fish and dolphin die-offs.