Department of Earth System Science

Pedra Furada in northeastern Brazil represents possibly the oldest known human site in the Americas. Since C-14 dates of 48-32,000 BP were reported in a Nature article (Guidon and Delibrias 1986), the site’s Paleoindian components have been highly controversial, challenged (though not refuted) by many North American researchers (e.g. Meltzer, Adovasio, and Dillehay 1994). Yet the site has solid evidence of non-Clovis, Paleoindian occupations including human remains, plus a unique rock painting tradition from at least 12,000-6,000 BP. In March, 2002, Athena Review (AR) asked archaeologist Niède Guidon and her colleagues to explain the current status of the findings, including both Paleoindian skeletal and subsistence remains, and the abundant rock paintings at Serra da Capivara National Park, which contains Pedra Furada