Gruta 15 de Março by Christopher Davis

The first acrchaeological excavation at "Gruta 15 de Março" (Grotto "15th of March") at Serra da Paituna (Sierra of the Black-Water Lake) in the hinterland near the city of Monte Alegre (Happy Mountain) along the Amazon River in Brazil. Excavations at this cave revealed a few ceramic sherds, stone tools, stone vessel fragments, mud and conglomerate sculpture fragments, charcoal and carbonized seed remains, and ancient rock art of still unknown age. The rock art images are mostly stick-figures in red, yellow, and black colors. They resemble animals but also astronomical and anthropomorphic images, as well as truly abstract images. The caves current inhabitants include bats, cutia (cuchilla- a type of rodent), possibly capivaras (capybears) and veados (small dear), bat-eating frogs (to my incredulous surprise), and curious Capuchin monkeys.