Many of the numerous rock shelters in the Serra da Capivara National Park are decorated with cave paintings, some more than 25,000 years old. They are an outstanding testimony to one of the oldest human communities of South America.
The park is situated near the town of São Raimondo Nonato, 220 km south of Floriano and 5,230 km from Teresina. The main body of the park is the Serra do Congo massif and the central Chapada da Capivara in the State of Piauì.
Over 300 archaeological sites have been found within the park, the majority consisting of rock and wall paintings dating from 50,000-30,000 years ago. Certain geological formations and palaeofauna that included giant sloths, horses, camelids and early llamas indicate that the Ice Age environment was quite different from the existing semi-arid conditions.
The site must have been inhabited by the early men who populated the American continents. Fragments of broken wall found in the Pedra Furada shelter appear to be the oldest traces of rock art in South America; they have been dated to 26,000-22,000 BC. In spite of the value of the rich archaeological elements discovered thus far, this site is especially remarkable because of the rock-art paintings that decorate the shelters.
The shelters in Serra da Capivara National Park bear exceptional testimony to the oldest human communities that have populated South America and preserve the oldest examples of rock art on the continent. Moreover, the deciphering of the iconography of these rock-art paintings, which is being carried out gradually, reveals major aspects of the religious beliefs and practices of this people.
Physiographically, the area is connected with the Piaui and Bom Jesus do Gurgeia regions of the north-eastern basin. For 180 km, cliffs up to 270 m high form a border between two contrasting geological zones: a plain to the south-east and mountain massifs to the north-east. Erosion has hollowed out canyons and valleys within the mountain terrain. The landscape is characterized by mountains, valleys and open plains. The area is an important watershed, including the river valley system of Riacho Toca da Onca, Riacho Baixo da Lima, Riacho Bom Jesus and the Gruta do Pinga. Typical of the semi-arid region of the north-east of Brazil, the vegetation is in a transition zone between the central and the Atlantic provinces.
The park largely consists of dense thorny scrubland vegetation, known as caatinga, with a predominance of semi-arid vegetation dominated by succulents, drought-resistant deciduous thorny trees and shrubs, and other xerophytic vegetation. Relict isolated patches of forest cover survive in a few deep, narrow canyons. This vegetation, which includes palaeo-endemic relict genera and families representative of rainforest which were found in the area during the humid Ice Age of over 11,000 BP, is restricted to the canyons that retain moisture during the dry season. Serra de Capivara is recognized as one of the few protected areas within the caatingas biogeographic province which includes a vegetation type endemic to north-east Brazil. It contains unique species of animal and plant unknown elsewhere. Characteristic fauna is scarce in caatinga thorn scrubland, although recorded in the park are notable species including ocelot, bush dog, rocky cavy, red-legged seriema and a species of Tropidurus lizard.
