Ancient South Americans were apparently prompt by ossified dinosaur tracks in what is now easterly Brazil , where they cut figure into the rock , form tens of zillion of years earlier by the motion of giants .
The dinosaur tracks go to bird-footed dinosaur , sauropod dinosaur , and iguanodontians , and are scatter across three rock outcrop in the Brazilian state of Paraíba . The petroglyph on the site consist principally of orbitual patterns , but several look very much like the tridactyl dinosaur tracks also present on the site . The squad ’s research cataloguing the petroglyphs and associated trackways waspublishedin Scientific Reports .
Neither the trackways nor the petroglyphs have been directly date stamp , but human interment see to 10,000 class ago were previously incur at two nearby sites . One of those sites , Pedra do Alexandre , has burials spanning from 9,400 eld erstwhile to 2,620 yr older , indicating there ’s still a wide metre physical body in which the petroglyph could have been carved . But the petroglyphs emplacement , and the purpose of some of the figures , was clearly inhale by the much more ancient trackways .
A petroglyph (left) and tridactyl dinosaur track (right), damaged by fracturing of the rock face.Photo:Troiano et al., Scientific Reports 2024
theropod dinosaur were a grouping of bipedal , often carnivorous creatures that includes T. rex and all modern Bronx cheer . sauropod were massive , herbivorous quadrupeds easily recognisable for their long necks , if not their huge bodies . Iguanodontianswere a bipedal , herbivorous radical that included the pollex - spiked , eponymous Iguanodon , as well as the duck - bill duck-billed dinosaur .
Brazil was once a hotbed for a bevy of ancient brute , include dinosaur , their winged counterparts ( pterosaur ) , andother , more ancient reptiles . In fact , fossil smuggling out of Brazilremains a vexing trouble for government agency .
The propinquity of the petroglyphs to the fossilized footprints reveals “ active engagement with the fossil stuff , ” the squad write , “ suggest that these traces not only catch the attention of the native community of interests but were meaningful and became integrated into their knowledge repertoire . ”
A dinosaur track (left), a recent track emulating it (center), a petroglyph apparently emulating the dinosaur track (right).Photo:Troiano et al., Scientific Reports 2024
No petroglyph overlapped with or caused damage to the footprint on the site—“suggesting rumination by the makers , ” they wrote . Absolute dating of the petroglyphs using hug drug - shaft of light fluorescence spectroscopy could reveal when they were made — perhaps across the centuries , by different groups .
The team reference petroglyphs at the nearby Junco archaeological website , which depict an smorgasbord of geometric figures that resemble star , spoked steering wheel , prime , and ( if you squinch ) building . The petroglyph were author by multiple multitude , the squad concluded , based on variation in trend across the figure . Some of the figures and trackways are seriously damaged due to flaking of the rock .
Given ancient South Americans ’ lack of modern understanding of dinosaur , the team summate that the petroglyph makers may have mistaken the dinosaur trackways for rhea footprint . Rheas are modern theropod dinosaurs and the orotund raspberry in Brazil — indeed , native to the same region where the palaeontological site sit around .
A rhea in Brazil.Photo: Rob Jansen (Shutterstock)
That may be so , but unlike the true Rhea americana trail those ancient residential district see , the ones in the sway in Paraíba did n’t go away . That gave the prints some implication to the local residential area , as prove by the ancient artwork placed alongside them .
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