Experts recently discovered a set of large murals created during the ancient years. According to the findings, the artwork includes figures of supernatural tribal entities. This stunning creativity by ancient people was uncovered in the ceiling of a cave located in Alabama.
Data shows that ghostly figures were created inside the cave approximately 1,000 years ago.
Humanoid Figures in Alabama Cave Discovery
The figures show various people, including three unusual humanoids. The bizarre creation is considered the largest ancient mural yet in North America. According to the authors of the research, the standing creatures measure six feet in height.
These unique carvings are known as a type of artwork called glyphs. Ancestors utilized soft mud and sculpted it into shapes to resemble preferred models at the time. Experts believe that the work on the Alabama cave would shed light on the mysterious past and buried traditions of the first natives in America, particularly the groups in the southeastern regions of the United States.
In a Business Insider report, archeology specialist Jan Simek explained that Native American people share complex ideas about the religions they had during their age. Among their beliefs is that the universe has a natural tier system.
Their culture has faith in the existence of spirits, and even if they do not see these entities, they still believe that the creatures walk among them here in the natural world, Simek continued.
The discovery was part of a long-term project that spanned decades. Like other archaeological finds, this discovery was quite hard for the authors. Among their greatest challenges is to take images of the figures from the cave's ceiling. The initial evidence gathering took a while due to the surprisingly tiny gap between the ceiling and the floor.
Ancient Native American Religions and Anthropomorphs and
Photography expert and co-author of the research Stephen Alvarez encountered several glyphs in the past and even collaborated with National Geographic to take photos of the current subjects back in 1999.
The experts finally got a good shot at the bizarre glyphs in the new study. The imaging process was made possible through advanced 3D techniques that could modify the light variations between a series of images taken inches apart from the subject. The authors took over 16,000 images to map out the entire cave ceiling and make a three-dimensional model.
After years of documentation, the research was able to get the first-ever glimpse of the mystifying Alabama cave art.
According to the experts, most figures sculpted across the cave included portrayals of anthropomorphs. These figures might be humans wearing costumes and masks but could also be interpretations of humanoid spirits the natives believe in.
Although their physical features align with other anthropomorphs in artworks across the US, the experts could not link the new figures to any stories of the Native Americans. Simek said that this mural contains characters that the team has not encountered before.
Dating shows that these figures were produced between 1,000 to 1,500 years ago, during the Middle Woodland phase in the Americas.
The study was published in the journal Antiquity, titled "Discovering ancient cave art using 3D photogrammetry: pre-contact Native American mud glyphs from 19th Unnamed Cave, Alabama."
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