'Sistine Chapel of the ancients' rock art discovered in remote Amazon forest

Tens of thousands of ice age paintings across a cliff face shed light on people and animals from 12,500 years ago

Many of the paintings are very high up, some so high they can only be reached by drones. Photograph: Marie-Claire Thomas/Wild Blue Media

One of the world’s largest collections of prehistoric rock art has been discovered in the Amazonian rainforest. Hailed as “the Sistine Chapel of the ancients”, archaeologists have found tens of thousands of paintings of animals and humans created up to 12,500 years ago across cliff faces that stretch across nearly eight miles in Colombia. Their date is based partly on their depictions of now-extinct ice age animals, such as the mastodon, a prehistoric relative of the elephant that hasn’t roamed South America for at least 12,000 years. There are also images of the palaeolama, an extinct camelid, as well as giant sloths and ice age horses. These animals were all seen and painted by some of the very first humans ever to reach the Amazon. Their pictures give a glimpse into a lost, ancient civilisation. Such is the sheer scale of paintings that they will take generations to study. The discovery was made last year, but has been kept secret until now as it was filmed for a major Channel 4 series to be screened in December: Jungle Mystery: Lost Kingdoms of the Amazon. The site is in the Serranía de la Lindosa where, along with the Chiribiquete national park, other rock art had been found. The documentary’s presenter, Ella Al-Shamahi, an archaeologist and explorer, told the Observer: “The new site is so new, they haven’t even given it a name yet.”

She spoke of the excitement of seeing “breathtaking” images that were created thousands of years ago.

The discovery was made by a British-Colombian team, funded by the European Research Council. Its leader is José Iriarte, professor of archaeology at Exeter University and a leading expert on the Amazon and pre-Columbian history.

He said: “When you’re there, your emotions flow … We’re talking about several tens of thousands of paintings. It’s going to take generations to record them … Every turn you do, it’s a new wall of paintings.

“We started seeing animals that are now extinct. The pictures are so natural and so well made that we have few doubts that you’re looking at a horse, for example. The ice-age horse had a wild, heavy face. It’s so detailed, we can even see the horse hair. It’s fascinating.”

The images include fish, turtles, lizards and birds, as well as people dancing and holding hands, among other scenes. One figure wears a mask resembling a bird with a beak.

The site is so remote that, after a two-hour drive from San José del Guaviare, a team of archaeologists and film-makers trekked on foot for around four hours.

They somehow avoided the region’s most dangerous inhabitants. “Caimans are everywhere, and we did keep our wits about us with snakes,” Al-Shamahi said, recalling an enormous bushmaster – “the deadliest snake in the Americas with an 80% mortality rate” – that blocked their jungle path. They had been delayed getting back, and it was already pitch black.

They had no choice but to walk past it, knowing that, if they were attacked, there was little chance of getting to a hospital. “You’re in the middle of nowhere,” she said. But it was “100%” worth it to see the paintings, she added.

As the documentary notes, Colombia is a land torn apart after 50 years of civil war that raged between Farc guerrillas and the Colombian government, now with an uneasy truce in place. The territory where the paintings have been discovered was completely off limits until recently and still involves careful negotiation to enter safely.

Al-Shamahi said: “When we entered Farc territory, it was exactly as a few of us have been screaming about for a long time. Exploration is not over. Scientific discovery is not over but the big discoveries now are going to be found in places that are disputed or hostile.”

The paintings vary in size. There are numerous handprints and many of the images are on that scale, be they geometric shapes, animals or humans. Others are much larger.

Al-Shamahi was struck by how high up many of them are: “I’m 5ft 10in and I would be breaking my neck looking up. How were they scaling those walls?”

Some of the paintings are so high they can only be viewed with drones.

Iriarte believes that the answer lies in depictions of wooden towers among the paintings, including figures appearing to bungee jump from them.

He added: “These paintings have a reddish terracotta colour. We also found pieces of ochre that they scraped to make them.”

Speculating on whether the paintings had a sacred or other purpose, he said: “It’s interesting to see that many of these large animals appear surrounded by small men with their arms raised, almost worshipping these animals.”

Observing that the imagery includes trees and hallucinogenic plants, he added: “For Amazonian people, non-humans like animals and plants have souls, and they communicate and engage with people in cooperative or hostile ways through the rituals and shamanic practices that we see depicted in the rock art.”

Al-Shamahi added: “One of the most fascinating things was seeing ice age megafauna because that’s a marker of time. I don’t think people realise that the Amazon has shifted in the way it looks. It hasn’t always been this rainforest. When you look at a horse or mastodon in these paintings, of course they weren’t going to live in a forest. They’re too big. Not only are they giving clues about when they were painted by some of the earliest people – that in itself is just mind-boggling – but they are also giving clues about what this very spot might have looked like: more savannah-like.”

Iriarte suspects that there are many more paintings to be found: “We’re just scratching the surface.” The team will be back as soon as Covid-19 allows.

Source: Guardian/Observer

Australia's PM Scott Morrison demands apology from China over fake image

Scott Morrison has demanded an apology after an official Chinese government Twitter account posted a “repugnant” attack on Australia’s soldiers.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian tweeted a graphic, fake photograph of an Australian soldier holding a knife to a child’s throat.

The provocative image is a reference to the Afghan war crimes report, which found evidence of elite Australian soldiers murdering 39 Afghan civilians.

“Shocked by murder of Afghan civilians & prisoners by Australian soldiers,” Mr Zhao tweeted.

“We strongly condemn such acts, & call for holding them accountable.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said China should be “utterly ashamed” of the post. He has demanded Beijing remove it and issue an apology.

He confirmed the government had also contacted Twitter to remove the post.

Mr Morrison conceded tensions between Canberra and Beijing were ongoing, but urged China to disavow the “appalling” attack and return to the negotiation table.

“The way to deal with those is by engaging directly in discussion and dialogue between ministers and leaders. Despite this terribly offensive post today, I would ask again and call on China to re-engage in that dialogue,” he said.

“You don’t engage in disinformation, and the ugliness, that we’ve seen in this post on the Chinese government Twitter account today.

“I am extremely proud of all Australians who put a uniform on for us. I’m proud of their service. I’m proud of their dedication. I’m proud of their loyalty this country and its values.

“Today is not a day for Australia in any way to feel wrongly about how we conduct ourselves. Even with this difficult information to deal with, we are dealing with it in the right way.

“The only thing that has brought shame today is this appalling post by the Chinese government.

“This sort of conduct is not conducive to any relationship. And that’s why I think it’s so important in our mutual interests that this egregious act be dealt with in the way that I’ve suggested.”

Scott Morrison responds to Zhao Lijian’s tweet.

He said the incident highlighted the need for Canberra and Beijing to remain in ongoing dialogue.

“Australia has always been available for that, and Australia has sought to arrange that,” he said. Mr Morrison had sought to cool tensions with Beijing during a speech last week, in which he lauded China for dragging millions of its citizens out of poverty.

In a seemingly positive development, Mr Zhao told a daily briefing that Beijing had noticed the rhetoric emanating from Canberra.

Despite the sudden reversal, Mr Morrison warned against “over-assuming” by linking the two incidents.

“I’ve consistently said that China’s economic development has been a positive for Australia and for China, pulling more people out of poverty than in the history of the world,” he said.

“I think these are positive things. Australia has played a role in that. That is why a positive relationship between China and Australia is so possible even given the changes that have occurred over the last ten years.”

Labor has joined the government in calling for the tweet to be taken down.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese condemned the post as “gratuitous, inflammatory and deeply offensive”.

“Labor will not be asking questions about this matter today,” he told parliamentary Question Time.

“Australia‘s condemnation of this image is above politics and we all stand as a nation in condemning it.”

ASPI defence, strategy and national security director Michael Shoebridge said China needs to look in the mirror before casting assertions on Australia’s handling of alleged war crimes.

“The contrast with the Chinese government is extraordinary because they have over one million Uighurs in detention camps,” he told NCA NewsWire.

“We only know this, not because they released a forensic investigation and are trying to stop the abuses, but from leaked accounts from escapees, leaked government documents and satellite imagery.

“The scale of their abuses, which are government directed, are breathtaking.”

“If they conducted a forensic investigation to prevent them, just as our government has with the small number of unlawful killings, the world would be a better and fairer place.”

Source: News.com.au

Iran parliament demands end of nuclear inspections after murder

Conservatives and hardliners in the parliament are gearing up to revitalise Iran’s nuclear programme after scientist’s assassination.

Tehran, Iran – Following the assassination of a top nuclear scientist near Tehran, Iran’s conservative parliament has called for a halt to international inspections of the country’s nuclear facilities as a proportionate response to the killing.

In a statement signed by all members of parliament, the legislative body said on Sunday “the hand of the murderous Zionist regime” can be clearly seen in the assassination of top scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was killed after an explosion and ensuing gunfire on Friday.

According to the lawmakers’ statement, what has emboldened Israel to take this step is a “damaging way of thinking among some government members” who believe negotiating with the West would transform Iran into a “normal” state in its eyes, and Iran must therefore refrain from antagonising it.

“But the experiences of terror and sabotage of the US, Israel and their other allies in the country in recent years, which have unfortunately gone largely without proportionate response, have shown how wrong and dangerous this way of thinking is,” the statement said.

The statement, read out at a public session, added that this way of thinking has emboldened rivals, plunging the country into tensions unprecedented since the eight-year Iran-Iraq War that ended in 1988.

An image released by Iran's Atomic Energy Organization shows the interior of the Fordow Uranium Conversion Facility in Qom [AFP]

Members of parliament called for an “immediate and punitive response” to foreign acts of aggression, the best of which would be to “revive the brilliant nuclear industry of our country”.

That goal, they said, could be achieved through ending the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol, and halting inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

As per a landmark 2015 nuclear deal, Iran agreed to significantly curb its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of multilateral sanctions and provided access to IAEA inspectors that continues to date. The Additional Protocol is not a stand-alone agreement but includes voluntary measures that boost the IAEA’s ability to verify the peaceful use of all nuclear materials in a country. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful.

Legal obligation Exactly one year after the US withdrew from the nuclear deal and embarked on its increasingly intensive “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions in May 2018, the administration of President Hassan Rouhani started gradually scaling back Iran’s nuclear commitments, saying the steps were reversible. But ever since US President Donald Trump’s unilateral withdrawal, conservatives and hardliners have pushed to return Iran’s nuclear programme to the level it was at before the nuclear deal. They were strengthened when they swept an overwhelming majority of parliament seats after elections in February that saw the lowest voter turnout in the four-decade history of the Islamic Republic. Sunday’s statement creates no legal obligation for the government and Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, but members of parliament are finalising a bill to create that obligation. Called the Strategic Act to Revoke Sanctions, the bill creates the grounds for implementation of all the demands in the lawmakers’ statement. The bill, which contains nine articles, also obligates the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran to annually produce at least 120 kilogrammes (about 265 pounds) of 20-percent enriched uranium, revitalise the Fordow plant, and increase the number of advanced centrifuges, among other things. The bill states it aims to bring the nations that signed the agreement, minus the US, back into full compliance with the nuclear deal and ensure Iran reaps the economic benefits promised under the accord. If these conditions are met, the bill envisions also bringing Iran back into full compliance. The parliament on Sunday agreed to accelerate the bill, which is expected to undergo further reviews later this week. It must be approved the Guardian Council – a powerful 12-member vetting body that reviews all legislation approved by parliament ‘No signal of weakness or trust’ In a speech in parliament on Sunday, speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the Iranian people have experienced many losses like Fakhrizadeh’s assassination, but have persevered. “This time too, they will prove to enemies that the martyrdom of Dr Mohsen Fakhrizadeh will open a new window for the country’s progress and make these shameful terrorists and their supporters regretful,” he said. The politician, who ran against Rouhani in the 2017 presidential elections and is thought to be a potential candidate in next year’s race, said the only way to deter future attacks is to show a “strong reaction”. All forces and organisations in Iran must refrain from sending “any signals indicating weakness or trust to the US political system”, he said. Iranian authorities have vowed “harsh revenge” following Fakhrizadeh’s assassination, the same promise made after Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani was killed by a Trump-ordered drone strike in Iraq in early January. The escalation comes weeks before Trump has to leave the White House after losing the presidential elections to rival Joe Biden, who has promised to reverse his hardline campaign on Iran. Source: AL JAZEERA