University of the Free State
Geologists and archaeologists are working to examine ancient drawings found in the world’s largest impact crater, Vredefort Crater, in South Africa.
A number of ancient animal carvings were miraculously discovered inside South Africa’s Vredefort Crater, which is the largest confirmed impact crater on earth at 55 miles wide.
Scientists believed that the crater is a result of a giant asteroid impact from some two billion years ago. At the time of impact, the crater is believed to have been closer to 190 miles wide but has since shrunk due to erosion.
An international group of researchers has been studying how the crater impacts the geology of the nearby areas. They now think that this crater holds importance not just for insights into geology and planets, but also because it can help us understand the earliest human inhabitants of the region.
Newsweek
It was reported that the engravings discovered within the “Rain Snake” portion of the Vredefort Dome show images of a hippopotamus, a horse, and a rhinoceros—animals that frequently roamed the region approximately 8,000 years ago. Studies confirmed these etchings were created by the Khoi-San, who are recognized as South Africa’s indigenous inhabitants. These depictions are thought to have been integral elements used during rituals aimed at invoking rainfall.
“As scientists, we acknowledge the distinctive character of the impact crater; however, this feature was equally noted by the region’s early residents,” stated Matthew Huber, a geographer from the University of the Free State in South Africa.
Huber mentioned that due to the markings being deemed an important archaeological discovery, he and his team have sought assistance from nearby archaeologists to investigate “precisely what transpired at these locations and how it affected the inhabitants.”
University of the Free State
The granitic dikes within the Vredefort Crater where the marks were discovered.
The old engravings can be found on the outside of stone buildings within the region called The Granophyre Dykes. This area extends for six miles in length and has a width of 16 feet, having been created following an impact event.
The 8,000-year-old markings appear faded on the dyke’s red stone surface yet still clearly depict the shape of the region’s animals. Interestingly enough, the dyke itself had formed a shape similar to that of a rain snake deity, an important figure in Khoi-San culture with powers to summon rain.
Based on research conducted by archaeologists Shiona Moodley and Jens Kriek at the Vredefort Crater site, Khoi-San mythology envisioned a cosmos divided into three levels. At the highest level was where they placed their deity along with the souls of deceased individuals; the intermediate layer stood for the tangible earthly realm; meanwhile, the lowest stratum was thought to contain departed spirits. It was commonly accepted among them that snakes inhabited these three cosmic zones and were revered as beings associated with rainfall.
The asteroid responsible for forming the crater was probably about six to nine miles in diameter and was moving at nearly 43,500 miles per hour upon collision with Earth. The impact site lies southwest of what is now Johannesburg and reaches a depth of half a mile.
“If we imagine that the initial impact crater resembled a wide, shallow dish used for serving food, then slicing through this dish horizontally layer by layer from top to bottom would reveal that the diameter of these layers decreases as you move downward,” explains impact processes specialist Roger Gibson from the University of the Witwatersrand.
explained to NASA’s
Earth Observation
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Gibson states that the exposed rocks at the impact site “offer an almost uninterrupted chronicle covering nearly a third of Earth’s existence,” and they also seem to encapsulate a segment of human history.
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