ANCIENT CARVINGS PROVES EARLY HUMANS KNEW ABOUT DINOSAURS

While it's possible that prehistoric humans didn't know everything we know about dinosaurs, new findings suggest that they were curious about their skeletal remains. In Northeast Brazil, scientists have found ancient human rock carvings, or petroglyphs, next to dinosaur footprints. Even though these drawings were originally discovered in 1975 at the location known as Serrote do Letreiro, more petroglyphs have been discovered recently thanks to drone-assisted surveys. 

Researchers reinterpreted the site in light of the connection between fossil evidence and the artistic abilities of ancient humans as a result of this new information. The dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period, which ended about 66 million years ago, include sauropods and iguanodontids, whose tracks were discovered at the site. Because of their close proximity, the study—which was published in Scientific Reports—argues that the relationship between the footprints and the indigenous drawings is unquestionable. The researchers suggest that the indigenous petroglyphs surrounding the footprints were purposefully made by the artists as a way to acknowledge and incorporate them into their creations.

The co-author of the study, archaeologist Leonardo Troiano, told CNN that "people usually think that Indigenous people weren't aware of their surroundings or didn't have any kind of scientific spirit or curiosity." However, that is untrue. The fact that they were intrigued by the footprints is evident. It's obvious that they were intrigued by the prints and believed they held some sort of significance, even though we'll never know if they were aware of dinosaurs. 

The drawings were diverse, with most of them being circles and including both geometric and organic shapes. The precise meaning of the shapes is still unknown, although the circles frequently had lines or crosses inside of them. The study found that there was an amazing resemblance between the petroglyphs and other drawings discovered in Brazil's northeastern region.