The mud glyphs are over 1,000 years old and include humanoid figures, abstract shapes, and an 11-foot-long serpent.
A team of researchers scanned the roof of a limestone cave in Alabama and discovered several massive Native American mud glyphs that are estimated to be about 1,500 years old.
Because the glyphs are in the cave’s dark zone, they would have been made by torchlight, by burning bundles of river cane. That makes Simek suspect the glyphs were made by groups of at least two people, as holding a torch while incising symbolic glyphs on the ceiling of a cramped cave would be difficult.
The newly discovered glyphs are so massive that they weren’t previously noticed as discrete artworks. By scanning the entire cave ceiling, the researchers were able to stitch together images of artworks that cannot be observed in their totality in person, given the cave’s low ceiling. Not all the glyphs have been catalogued, Simek said, so the cave has yet more secrets to divulge.
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