The Ingá Stone
The account
The symbols carved into the rock would be Phoenician writing, a star map or a message left by visitors.
What investigators found
It is one of the most important rock art sites in Brazil, made by ancient Indigenous peoples. The age and meaning of the symbols are still unknown.
The story
In the interior of the Brazilian state of Paraíba, beside a stream, a rock face about 24 meters long is covered with carved symbols: spirals, circles, lines and figures no one has been able to decipher. It is the Itacoatiara do Ingá, a Tupi word for "scratched stone."
In 1944, it became the first archaeological site to receive protected status in Brazil. Over the years it has been presented as Phoenician writing, an astronomical calendar and even an extraterrestrial message. Archaeologists treat it as Indigenous rock art, of still uncertain age, made with tremendous skill. What its authors meant to say remains one of the greatest puzzles of Brazilian prehistory.