A team led by the professor of the University of Paris-La Sorbonne, Benjamin Ballester, discovered paintings that date back 1,500 years ago to the El Médano archaeological site in the Atacama desert.
The drawings depict hunting scenes of marine animals, such as whales, sharks and dolphins.
This finding has attracted the attention of international media such as the newspaper El Observador, which highlights that the paintings are made in a reddish tone, showing the harpooned animals.
The author of the research, published in the Antiquity magazine, explained that they have identified 12 areas with paint concentrations: 24 blocks, 74 panels and 328 motifs.
In as much, Ballester maintained that the drawings were in bad state due to the erosion caused by the camanchaca (coastal fog).
“The hunting scenes are always represented in the same perspective, from the outside, giving a complete view of the act and never showing in the foreground or as the main protagonist the harpooner. The dam, in addition, always represents oversized compared to the rafts and their crew, “he said.
“The prehispanic inhabitants of this coast used linear strokes of an intense red color to create naturalistic images of whales, swordfish, squid, sea lions, turtles and sharks,” he added.