Archaeological interest of Pedra da Gávea

Some individuals, such as Bernardo de Azevedo da Silva Ramos, have advanced the position that the inscription is of Phoenician origin and possibly proof of pre-Columbian contact from Old World cultures.

[3][4] According to Paul Herrmann in his book Conquests by Man, for many the inscription on the mountain was attributed to "some unknown prehistoric American people" until some began to speculate that the characters were of Phoenician origin.

[7] In the 1930s, Brazilian archaeologist Bernardo de Azevedo da Silva Ramos studied the mountain, hoping that it could provide evidence for his beliefs that "there existed a pre-Columbian civilization on the American Continent contemporary with the apogee of Phoenician and Greek expansion in the Mediterranean.

"[13] Argentinian fringe archaeologist Jacques de Mahieu argued that the inscription was not Phoenician, but rather Nordic runes, which read: "Next to this rock, numerous oak planks for ship are deposited on the beaches of sand.

"[8] In an article for LiveScience, Kim Ann Zimmermann argued that the belief in the inscriptions and "face" at Pedra da Gávea are example of pareidolia, or the psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus being perceived as significant.

"[21] In the book Geomorphological Landscapes of the World, it is suggested that the "face" of the structure is the result of differential weathering at the point where the granite cap of the mountain meets the gneiss layer.

[22] In August 2000, a group of geologists travelled to the summit of Pedra da Gávea with equipment to determine whether the mountain possessed any hollow spaces; their results showed that the structure was solid and that there were no internal tunnels or burial tombs.

[3] In the mid-1950s, the Brazilian Ministry of Education and Health denied that the site featured any writing, declaring "that examination by geologists had proved it to be nothing more than the effect of weather erosion which happened to look like an inscription.

Pedra da Gavea, Rio de Janeiro. The "eyes" of the "face" are looking towards the right-hand of this picture. The etchings that can be seen on the dome of the mountain make up the supposed inscription.
Interpretation of the marks on Pedra da Gávea by Bernardo de Azevedo da Silva Ramos, from his book Tradiçoes da America Pré-Histórica, Especialmente do Brasil . The first row is the supposed inscription in situ , the second row is a rough rendering of the Phoenician characters, the third is a transliteration into Hebrew , the fourth is a rendering of the letters in the Latin alphabet , and the final line is the supposed message in Portuguese . [ 1 ]
Estrada da Gávea, c. 1920–30.
Stone of Gávea at dawn