Niède Guidon, the archaeologist who discovered hundreds of cave paintings in Brazil, dies at 92

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Niède Guidon, the Brazilian archaeologist known for discovering hundreds of prehistoric cave paintings successful northeastern Brazil and for her probe challenging theories of past quality beingness successful the Americas, died Wednesday astatine 92, the Serra da Capivara National Park announced.

Guidon archetypal documented the reddish ocher cave paintings successful the semi-arid authorities of Piaui successful the 1970s. These past artworks, made with earthy pigments specified arsenic robust oxides and charcoal, picture cervid and capybaras, but besides scenes of mundane beingness including hunting, childbirth, dancing and kissing.

Guidon fought for the preservation of the area, starring to the constitution of the Serra da Capivara National Park successful 1979. In 1991, UNESCO recognized the astir 130,000-hectare park, with its sprawling valleys, mountains, and plains, arsenic a satellite taste practice site.

Guidon’s discoveries shook accepted theories connected erstwhile and however humans arrived connected the American continent, according to a 2024 connection by Brazil’s National Council for Scientific and Technological Development.

It was antecedently believed that humans had reached the Americas astir 13,000 years agone via the Bering Strait betwixt Siberia and Alaska.

Based connected the exploration of archaeological sites successful Piaui — which uncovered 15,000-year-old quality bones, cave paintings estimated to beryllium astir 35,000 years aged and grounds of fires dating backmost 48,000 years — Guidon argued that humans had arrived connected the American continent from Africa via the sea, and overmuch earlier than antecedently believed, the connection said.

The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation and the National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage commended Guidon’s contributions successful a associated connection Wednesday.

“If Serra da Capivara is contiguous recognized arsenic 1 of the astir important concentrations of archaeological sites successful the world, with a profound interaction connected the statement and knowing of the past of quality concern of the Americas, it is supra each acknowledgment to Niède Guidon’s imaginativeness and tireless defence of subject and culture,” they said.

“Professor Niède is 1 of those unforgettable figures who person inscribed their sanction successful our history,” Mauro Pires, president of the Chico Mendes Institute, was quoted arsenic saying, describing her publication to planetary archaeology arsenic immeasurable.

“Brazilian subject is saddened by the passing of Niède Guidon, who helped america recognize the origins of antheral successful the American continent,” Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said successful a statement.

Guidon was calved successful the interior of Sao Paulo authorities successful 1933. She graduated successful Natural History from the University of Sao Paulo successful 1959, earlier moving to France to prosecute her studies. She completed her doctorate astatine Paris’ Sorbonne University successful 1975, aft presenting a thesis connected the cave paintings successful Piaui state.

Guidon went connected to recovered the Foundation Museum of the American Man, a non-profit dedicated to the taste and earthy practice of Serra da Capivara National Park, which she led betwixt 1986 and 2019.

“For decades, she and her squad fought to unafraid backing and infrastructure for the park, firmly lasting against authorities neglect,” the nonprofit said connected Wednesday, adding that her enactment was marked by “passion, persistence, and a generous imaginativeness of subject arsenic a instrumentality for societal transformation.”

In 2024, Brazil’s National Council of Scientific and Technological Development asked Guidon astir the obstacles she faced arsenic a pistillate and a scientist.

“I ne'er disquieted astir people’s opinions astir me," she said. “I worked hard, created a precise qualified team, and past was made.”

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