Serra da Capivara National Park (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: ''Parque Nacional Serra da Capivara'', , locally ) is a national park in the Northeastern region of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The area has many prehistoric paintings. The name of the mountain range that defines the park, "Serra da Capivara," literally means " Capybara Hills" in

. This area has the largest and the oldest concentration of prehistoric sites in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

. Scientific studies confirm that the Capivara mountain range was densely populated in the

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

Era.

Location

It is located in northeast state of Piauí, between latitudes 8° 26' 50" and 8° 54' 23" south and longitudes 42° 19' 47" and 42° 45' 51" west. It falls within the municipal areas of São Raimundo Nonato, São João do Piauí,

Coronel José Dias Coronel José Dias is a municipality in the state of Piauí in the Northeast region of Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin Am ...

and Canto do Buriti. It has an area of 1291.4 square kilometres (319,000 acres). The Capivara-Confusões Ecological Corridor, created in 2006, links the park to the Serra das Confusões National Park.

History

upright=1.32, Pedra Furada The park was created to protect the prehistoric artifacts and paintings found there. It became a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

in 1991. Its head archaeologist is Niède Guidon. Its best known archaeological site is Pedra Furada. Scientific studies confirm that the Capivara mountain range was densely populated in the

Era. A newer site is Toca da Tira Peia, where the stone tools found may date to as early as 22,000 years ago. The site has been dated through

optically stimulated luminescence In physics, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) is a method for measuring doses from ionizing radiation. It is used in at least two applications: * Luminescence dating of ancient materials: mainly geological sediments and sometimes fired pott ...

. Other important archaeological sites in the area are Toca da Pena, Baxao da Esperanca, and Sitio do Meio. Lapa do Boquete site is located directly south.

Sítio do Meio

Sítio do Meio is the second most important rock shelter in the area after Pedra Furada. It features fully

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

dates and artefacts. The stone artefacts are better preserved because of the absence of waterfalls here. At least 98 stone tools seem older than 12,500 BP. They belong to the Upper Pleistocenic phase of Pedra Furada 3.AIMOLA, Giulia et al. ''Final Pleistocene and Early Holocene at Sitio do Meio, Piauí, Brazil: Stratigraphy and comparison with Pedra Furada.'' Journal of Lithic Studies, .l. v. 1, n. 2, p. 5-24, sep. 2014. ISSN 2055-0472. Available at: . Date accessed: 16 Apr. 2016 Image:Serra da Capivara - Painting 7.JPG Image:Serra da Capivara - Painting 8.JPG Image:Serra da Capivara - Several Paintings 3.jpg Image:Punições_(14205232887).jpg Image:Sítio_Arqueológico_Serra_da_Capivara_IV.jpg

References

Bibliography

*Eric Boëda, et al. (2014)
Les Industries pléistocènes du Piaui. Nouvelles données
academia.edu

External links