Brazilian geologist and archaeologist Maria Beltrão did not only find evidence of Homo erectus presence in Brazil at the Toca da Esperanca site (mentioned in one of my recent posts), she has also uncovered remains at other sites in Brazil. In this post we will deal with the findings at a site next to the mega city of Rio de Janeiro, on a minute island.
Boa Viagem Island
This Island is located across the Bay of Guanabara, right in front of the famous Sugar Loaf mountain, in Rio de Janeiro. It is a minute island very close to the shore (it is linked to it by a pedestrian bridge) and it is next to the beach that bears its same name (which in Portuguese means: “Good Voyage” or “Good Trip” : safe journey). The map above gives the general location of the island, and this is the link to google maps
The portuguese built a fort on it, to protect the harbour in the seventeenth century. It is a hill that juts out of Guanabara bay, covered with a thick jungle. The fort was destroyed during a naval revolt in 1893, it is now being recovered as a natural reserve.
Ancient stone tools were uncovered during a dig in the ruins of the old fort. [2], and based on these tools,” Maria Beltrão belives that she can support her theory that tribes of Homo erectus arrived to the [American] continent over one million years ago, from Africa” [1] .
The stone tools are made from quartz and are very primitive choppers. Beltão has no doubts: “They is no doubt that they are stones flaked by man”[2]
These tools are dated at about 130,000 years BP based on the “geologic and topologic correlations” [2]. The team will dig deeper to see if there are fossils in the soil.
According to Beltrão the hominids “probably chose Boa Viagem to protect themselves from the attack of the large Mid Pleistocene animals”[2] such as bears; since there are no caves on Niteroi, they chose islands.
See my two previous posts on Maria Beltrão and her discoveries in Brazil: Toca da Esperanca cave and the Itaboraí Site.
Sources
[1] Ilha de Boa Viagem. Nas ruinas de um forte colonial, ferramentas usadas pelo Homo erectus.Visão magazine. pp. 22, 1992.
[2] Sonia Regina Lomardo, (2008). Homem viveu em Niterói há 130 mil anos 24.10.08.
Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2012 by Austin Whittall ©
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