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Young World
On a hilltop in Brazil
PHOTO: AP
ROCK CARVING. Ruins of South America's oldest astronomical observatory.
Indigenous people of the Amazonian rainforests may be more sophisticated than earlier thought. Archaeologists now believe that a group of 127 granite blocks along a hilltop in Brazil are the remnants of an ancient astronomical observatory. The blocks are placed at regular intervals around the hill and on December 21, one of the blocks has no shadow when the sun is directly above it. "It is this block's alignment with the winter solstice that leads us to believe the site was once an astronomical observatory," said Mariana Petry Cabral, an archaeologist at the Amapa State Scientific and Technical Research Institute told news agency AP. According to Cabral, the people who inhabited the site were ancestors of the Palikur Indians and artefacts found in the region indicate that they may be around 2000 years old. Earlier archaeologists digging near Lima, Peru, discovered the oldest astronomical observatory in the Western Hemisphere. Giant stone carvings dating back to 4,200 years were aligned to the sunrise and sunset on December 21. While local farmers and fishermen have known of the structure, archaeologists noticed the structure last year while surveying the area. Scientists say this could be a valuable tool to learn more about pre-historic societies in the Amazon.
COMPILED BY R. KRITHIKA
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