Pedra da Gávea (literally Rock of the Topsail), is an impressive rock rising 842 meters above sea level at the highest point, located in Floresta da Tijuca in the city of Rio de Janeiro. It is the world's largest monolith on a coastline. The rock is composed of gneiss and granite, and due to its position, size and coastal location, as well as the lack of purchase for vegetation, has been heavily eroded by the elements. The damage caused to the vertical face of the rock creates the impression of a stylized human face - a pareidolic simulacrum. Several alternative explanations for the appearance of the rock have been forwarded over the years, but there does not appear to be any sound archaeological basis for claims of human shaping.
The formation is visible at sea, and is an ideal reference point for navigation.
There is an apparent inscription carved into the rockface, which is purported to be Phoenician, a Semitic language known to modern scholars only from inscriptions. The transliterated inscription is as follows:
Taking into account that as with Hebrew, a closely related language, Phoenician is written from right-to-left, this inscription is said to read "TZUR FOENISIAN BADZIR RAB JETHBAAL", which is translated roughly as Tyro Phoenicia Badzir Firstborn Jethbaal. This is alleged to correspond to a ruler of Phoenicia named Badzir[1], from around 850 BC.
There are a number of problems with this inscription, not least that the Phoenicians did not refer to themselves as Phoenicians - rather, that is an ancient Greek term for them, or more accurately, a derivation of the Greek term. The brevity of the inscription, as well as a somewhat sloppy appearance, point to a crude forgery intended to explain the rock in terms of Old World civilizations. See Persian Princess for an example of a more complex forgery discovered via similar imperfections.
The inscription was not reported until the 1800s, although it was also suggested at this time that the inscription dated from pre-Columbian times. During the nineteenth century, the study of Phoenician was well underway, and even amateur students of Phoenician in this period would have had a strong knowledge of Biblical timelines. It is notable that the inscription is first described officially during the early years of the independence of Brazil under the Emperor Pedro I: suggesting an attempt at nation-building by the short-lived Brazilian Empire.
