Serra da Capivara National Park

More than a thousand archaeological sites have been recorded in these canyons, with over six hundred carrying paintings - red figures of hunts, dances, sex, childbirth, fights and animals, crowded onto shelter walls in compositions that show scenes rather than isolated marks. The Boqueirao da Pedra Furada panels are the best known. The park is also the centre of a long dispute: excavations directed by Niede Guidon produced dates suggesting human presence far earlier than the accepted settlement of the Americas, and while many archaeologists dispute the evidence, the argument has run for four decades and is unresolved. The park was largely built by Guidon's institute, which also runs the museum at Sao Raimundo Nonato and trained local guides.

History

The park was created to protect the prehistoric sites and paintings of the Capivara hills, the largest and oldest concentration of prehistoric sites in the Americas, and it became a World Heritage Site in 1991, with the archaeologist Niède Guidon at its head. Its best-known site is Pedra Furada, and at the newer site of Toca da Tira Peia stone tools dated by optically stimulated luminescence may be as old as 22,000 years; other important sites include Toca da Pena, Baixão da Esperança and Sítio do Meio (Wikipedia, Serra da Capivara National Park).

The main sights

• Over six hundred painted sites - crowded scenes rather than isolated figures.
• Boqueirao da Pedra Furada - the panels at the centre of the dating dispute.
• Canyons in caatinga - the dry-forest gorges the shelters open onto.
• A museum in Sao Raimundo Nonato - the collection and the interpretation.

When to go

May to September, the dry season. Three days.

What to expect

Getting here is the hard part - the nearest useful airports are hours away and flight connections are poor. Guides are compulsory and vehicles must be arranged. Heat is severe and circuits involve walking on rough ground. Funding shortfalls have periodically closed parts of the park.

Nearby

Sao Raimundo Nonato has the museum; Serra das Confusoes is south through the corridor.