54. Possible Relatives in the Americas
Gruta del Indio cave (Mendoza, Argentina)
by George Weber
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Location of the Gruta del India rockshelter site on the
Ruo Atuel. The site is famous above all for its rock
paintings. The Rincon del Atuel archaeological site a little west of the Gruta del Indio is also of archaeological interest but is much more recent, going back to around 1,700 years before the present. |
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The Gruta del India rockshelter lies near the canyon of the River Atuel |
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Entrance of the tGruta del Indio. |
The Gruta del India is important in two unconnected ways:
1. the cave has some of the oldest, if mostly
indirect, evidence in the area for the presence of humans in the form
of charcoal particles fires and hearth structures, dating back to
11,000 years before the present, and
2. the cave has a much younger but considerable and largely
unexplained and undated number of cave paintings.
Our interesthere is mostly on the first of these two points.
Evidence for the earliest humans in the area
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Plan of the Gruto del Indio with excavation grid and
excavated areas. |
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Far left: Side view of the Gruta del Indio. Left: Site stratigraphy of the Fruta del Indio and the temporary overlap between humans and Milodon ground sloth. (adapted from from Long A., Martin P.S., and Lagiglia A.H. 1998. "Ground Sloth Extinction and Human Occupation at Gruta del Indo, Argentina". Proceedings of the 16th International C14 Conference (ed. Mook W.G. and van der Plicht J.). Radiocarbon, 40(2):693-700) ) |
No charcoal has been found mixed with or overlain by dung. Charcoal is always overlying dung layers. In one case, a firepit intruded into the underlying dung layer. It seems that when humans arrived, the ground sloths were evicted from their cave (except perhaps briefly when humans vacated the cave for some time before returning). The sloths were normally brought back into the cave only in the form of fresh meat to be roasted.
Below is a picture of the oldest of the mastodon dungballs from the Gruta del Indio site coinciding with a human presence: sample AL-75-1 has a calibrated C14 age of 14,200 to 14,600 years before the present. The oldest Milodon dung ball found at the site dates back 25,000 years and a piece of wood associated with dung even goes to 32,000 years before the present, long before the first human appearance in the area. Charcoal particles indicate a human presence between 11,000 and 8,000 years ago when humans vanished from the cave again at the beginning of a period of extreme aridity which may well have made the area uninhabitable.
That the animal shedding these dung balls were mylodontid and/or the megatheriid giant ground sloths, as is also indicated by bone and teeth fragments recovered.
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(adapted from Long A., Martin P.S., and Lagiglia A.H. 1998. "Ground Sloth Extinction and Human Occupation at Gruta del Indo, Argentina". Proceedings of the 16th International C14 Conference (ed. Mook W.G. and van der Plicht J.). Radiocarbon, 40(2):693-700) |
The paintings of Gruta del Indio
The cave of the Gruta del Indio has some fascinating wall painting themeanings of which remains unexplained. Some of the paintings may be as recent as the 16th and 17th centuries while others could be older. That these drawings have anything to do with the first human visitors to the cave is unlikely.
The site http://www.liada.net/universo/digital/Morro%20Azul/Amuedo-Tunguska/Amuedo-Tunguska.pdf has a surprising theory on the paintings.
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Among web sites with further information are:
- http://www.oni.escuelas.edu.ar/olimpi99/interolimpicos/elrioatuel/rioatuel/estudios.htm
- http://www.liada.net/universo/digital/Morro%20Azul/Amuedo-Tunguska/Amuedo-Tunguska.pdf
- http://www.allaboutar.com/ard_mendoza_sanrafael.htm
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Last change 27 April 2007
