serra da capivara national park

Serra da Capivara National Park State of Piaui, Brazil

Serra da Capivara National Park State of Piaui, Brazil

Black dot: the State capital Teresina in the northeast of Brazil

Red dot: Serra da Capivara National Park

The oldest inhabited site in the Americas is barely visited by tourists.

The Capivara National Park is not just a major concentration of archaeological sites but a spectacular

national park with a reception center for visitors. Few prehistoric archaeological sites in the world can

offer anything remotely like it.

The earliest known evidence of people in the Americas is here in the south-east of Piaui, Brazil. The park has more rock art than anywhere else in the world, over

30,000 examples have been catalogued so far.

Rock art

Map of the park

The oldest rock art here may date from 26,000BC, which is around six time older than Stonehenge

and the Egyptian pyramids. Most of the rock art dates from 10,000-4,000BC.

Research at the site is led by Dr. Niède Guidon, one of Brazil's leading archeologists. Her work challenges the conventional wisdom that people only arrived in North

America 15,000 years ago.

Dr. Niède Guidon is well-known and respected for her championing of the preservation of archeological sites in a society where their value is not well understood.

In a state where some politicians seem to become wealthy overnight and have endless funds for their own projects, she appears to struggle to get money to keep a project of international significance functioning.

Serra da Capivara has been declared aWorld Heritage Site by UNESCO

There are thirteen trails through the park, ranging from easy to strenuous trails.

The views are breathtaking

There’s wildlife everywhere, all the time

Over 700 rock art sites.

Serra da Capivara - Brazil

Serra da Capivara National Park was created to preserve one of the world’s largest archeological treasures: thousands of pre-historic inscriptions from six to 12 thousand years old, engraved on steep rock walls.

The pictures portray the everyday aspects, the dances, the region’s ancient inhabitants’ rites and ceremonies, as well as pictures of animals, some of which are extinct.

The relief seen today was formed about 240 million years ago.

Researchers found tools, pieces of ceramic utensils and burial sites at the Serra da Capivara excavations.

The cave pictures and the objects found can be seen at some of the sites open for visitation, among the 744 existing sites in the Park.

Today, Serra da Capivara National park is administered by FUMDHAM – Museum of the American Man Foundation, a private center, in partnership with IBAMA – Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources.

It offers an excellent structure for visitation, with delimited trails and specialized guides. The American Man Museum is located in the city of São Raimundo Nonato, a few kilometers from there. It has a collection that consists of pieces found in the archeological digs in the Park.

The fauna and flora are very rich and typical representations of the region’s stunted vegetation, where the climate is semi-arid (the “caatinga”). During the rainy months – between December and May – the vegetation, that seems poor during the dry season, flourishes.

Spotted leopards, armadillos, guinea pigs, crested seriemas, wildcats, margays, serpents, and bats live harmoniously with cereus, cacti, jujubes, and pepper trees. More than 200 species of birds have already been catalogued.

You can visit the Park throughout the year, from 6 AM to 6 PM. The biggest concentration of visitors is during the dry season months – between June and December – when visiting conditions and local fauna observation are better.

It is mandatory to hire a certified guide, and it is advisable to take caps, solar protection and water.

Refer to Trilhas da Capivara Travel Agency. They can pick you up at Petrolina airport.

Basic information

• Climate: The region’s climate is semi-arid. It rains between December and May. The dry season lasts from June to December.

• Distances• To the city of São Raimundo Nonato, state of

Piaui: 30 km• To the city of Petrolina (State of Pernambuco,

nearest airport): 270 km• To the state capital Teresina: 510 km

How to get there

• By Air. Petrolina airport in the state of Pernambuco, 270 km from the Park, receives regular flights from many cities in Brazil.

• By Highway: Take BR-343 to the city of Floriano, then PI-140 to São Raimundo Nonato. Another option for those coming from the South of the country is through Petrolina/PE, which is 300 km from São Raimundo Nonato.

Useful Addresses:

• Parque Nacional da Serra da CapivaraCentro Cultural Sérgio Motta, S/N Bairro Campestre

São Raimundo Nonato – PI Brazil CEP : 64770-000 Phone / Fax : (55 89) 3582-1612 e-mail : contato@fumdham.org.br

• Fundação Museu do Homem AmericanoRua Abdias Neves, 551 — CentroSão Raimundo Nonato, PI, BRTel: (55 86) 582-1612

• Trilhas da Capivara Travel AgencyTel: (55 89) 582-1294Email: trilhascapivara@uol.com.brContact: Rosa Trakalo

Where to stay:

• Hotel Serra da Capivara Rodovia PI-140, s/nº - Santa Luzia Tel: (55 89) 3582-1389/1760 • Camping Pedra Furada Coronel José Dias - PI - Serra da Capivara Tel: (55 89) 9409 1569 / 9405 1907 Email: isailtoncampos@hotmail.com http://campingpedrafurada.com/

References and further information

In Englishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serra_da_Capivara_National_Park http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter54/text-PedraFurada/text-PedraFurada.htm http://sites.google.com/site/piauibrazil/serra-da-capivara http://www.brasilcontact.com/travel/brazil_serraDaCapivara.htmlhttp://www.globalrockart2009.com/principal_eng.html In Portuguesehttp://www.fumdham.org.br/index.htmlhttp://www.saoraimundononato.pi.gov.br http://www.ambiental.tur.br/index.asp

Enjoy your trip!