![](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/araucaria-desktop-1.png\")
\n <\/picture>Faded or partially erased by the humid conditions, the cave painting features 13 araucarias, with their typical rectilinear trunks and umbrella- or cone-shaped crowns, and 20 figures with anthropomorphic shapes that resemble human beings. Some of the trees appear to be being climbed by a person or perhaps an arboreal primate. The ascending movement is easily defended: the araucaria\u2019s seeds (pine nuts) are found in the cones located at the tops of the trees and are a food source for Indigenous peoples, as well as animals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe painting is all one piece and shows larger and smaller araucarias that seem to represent old and young specimens,\u201d says geographer Henrique Sim\u00e3o Pontes, from the University Group for Speleological Research at the State University of Ponta Grossa (GUPE-UEPG), the study’s lead author. \u201cOur hypothesis is that the panel was painted by ancient members of Indigenous peoples of the J\u00ea linguistic branch.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the design of the small forest of Paran\u00e1 pines, another 24 panels with paintings made using reddish and black pigments were found along the 16.4-meter continuous surface of the wall that forms the Abrigo das Arauc\u00e1rias <\/em>(Araucaria shelter), as the archaeological site has been named. \u201cMost of the graphics are geometric designs,\u201d comments geographer and tour guide Alessandro Giulliano Chagas Silva, from GUPE, who is one of the coauthors of the archaeological discovery. \u201cWe didn\u2019t find any other drawings with araucaria.\u201d The paintings, whose state of conservation varies considerably, contain fingerprints, dots, geometric shapes, and drawings depicting plants.<\/p>\n There is no estimate of when the images were produced. Excavations have not yet been carried out at the archaeological site but are planned for another research project. There are no longer Indigenous peoples living near the cave shelter. However, before the arrival of European explorers at the beginning of the sixteenth century, this area of Paran\u00e1 was part of a large swath of territory in Southern Brazil that was inhabited by peoples from the J\u00ea linguistic branch, from which the current Kaingang and Xokleng ethnic groups descend.<\/p>\n Archaeologist Rafael Corteletti, from the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel), in Rio Grande do Sul, also considers it likely that J\u00ea people created the painting of araucaria trees, one of the symbols associated with the state of Paran\u00e1. \u201cI don’t know of any other type of rock art or archaeological graphics related to araucarias. That’s why this site has a special significance,\u201d comments Corteletti, who did not participate in the study. \u201cI would say it’s possible that the paintings were made by the Kaingang ethnic group. As the site was not excavated by the team that made the discovery, we don’t have other associated materials, or even an established chronology, to reinforce the hypothesis of authorship attributed to the J\u00ea. To be sure, it will be necessary to look for other elements of their material culture.\u201d<\/p>\n The Abrigo das Arauc\u00e1rias was one of 29 archaeological sites discovered since July 2021 by the EspeleoPira\u00ed project, coordinated by members of GUPE. The initiative looked for caves and shelters that could be of speleological or archaeological interest within a 9,000-hectare area in the Campos Gerais region of Paran\u00e1. According to Pontes, more than a hundred caves have been identified in this region, 36 of which feature cave paintings, generally composed of geometric designs and representations of human figures, animals, and sometimes, plants such as corn. Now, the figures of the Araucaria trees scratched on the hillside’s rocks have been added to these records.<\/p>\n