Protecting La Lindosa for the future
Discover how these precious paintings are under threat, and what is being done to protect them.
Panoramic view of the Dantas Panel (2022) by ERC LASTJOURNEY projectUniversity of Exeter
The Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH) has designated La Lindosa's rock art as a local, national, and international treasure.
Local people are especially important in preserving this unique heritage in the face of the dangers that threaten the Colombian Amazon more broadly. Local communities, such as Vereda de Cerro Azul, have taken ownership of the paintings thanks to a tourist association that has benefited dozens of families, resulting in an alternative biodiversity-friendly source of income and better protection of the paintings.
Government action
In 2018, ICANH officially designated the Serranía de la Lindosa as a Protected Archaeological Area, with the goal of providing a tourist-friendly buffer zone for the restricted UNESCO World Heritage site of nearby Chiribiquete National Park.
Community action
Today, local communities including indigenous groups take an active role in defending the rock art sites at La Lindosa, organising together in tourist associations and working alongside academic researchers to interpret the sites.
Indigenous people, such as shaman Ulderico Matapi of the Upichia ethnic group from the lower Caqueta River, do not view the paintings through the lens of scientific research. For his people the paintings are a source of knowledge required to live in and manage their territory. Matapi believes the paintings were carried out by Upichia ancestors in mythical times and contained all the shamanic knowledge of his people.
Tukano Ismael Sierra explains to archaeologists that the paintings are not a dead place, but a place where ancestors lived: “it is a maloca (house)”. They have openings, or portals, through which shamans can enter the spiritual worlds of the ancestors.
"Behind the walls, these paintings are alive."
- Tukano Ismael Sierra
José Noé Rojas, guardian of Cerro Azul: "...Today there are 30 families that benefit from this site. We have a very big task, we have a tourism association, and we all work hand in hand. Our biggest task is to continue conserving this place, because we see that it is deteriorating more and more. Our task is to conserve it… and not allow some people who do not value the site to damage it, because that has happened and continues to happen."
Hope for the future
The indigenous makers and guardians of these paintings have relied on the rainforest for survival, and passed down expert knowledge of its plants and wildlife, for thousands of years. Hope for the future of the Amazon depends on indigenous knowledge and ways of life.
The rock art of La Lindosa is an integral part of the Amazonian cultures which developed in these unique and precious habitats. It is essential that the world protects and honours the people, the environment, and the paintings.
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