Portuguese:Gruta do Gentio | |
| Alternative name | Grotto of the Gentio |
|---|---|
| Location | Brazil |
Cave of Gentio is aparietal art-bearing archaeological site situated about 30 km fromUnaí,Minas Gerais, 180 km away from theFederal District.
Its importance was verified byUFMG archaeologists who began their exploration in the 1970s. In one of the stages of the excavations, the body of a naturallymummified child was found, classified as the oldest ever found in Brazil.
The cave is located in alimestonemassif. During the surveys conducted in this area (1973) some technical procedures were taken in order to reveal the evidence of different occupations, which has been confirmed bycarbon-14 dating obtained for the older occupational layers, and also because the high degree of preservation of the archaeological material found there, which has the occurrence ofpictographs andpetroglyphs.
The oldest layers from the site, which yielded lithic, osteological and wooden artefacts associated with hunter-gatherers, is dated to around 8,125BP. A later occupational layer ranged from approximately 3,490 to 340 BP. This later layer yielded wooden art artefacts associated with a ceramic-agriculturalist culture. 36 human[1]coprolites were recovered from this layer.[2] The coprolites yielded evidence ofhelminth eggs fromhookworms andTrichuris trichiura. This layer also yielded evidence for the presence of peanuts, maize,[2] squash and gourd.[3] These domesticated plants were present at the site by around 1,900 BC.[3]