ROCK ART CHRONOLOGY in the ORINOCO BASIN of SOUTHWESTERN VENEZUELA a Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate Schoo
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
ROCK ART CHRONOLOGY IN THE ORINOCO BASIN OF SOUTHWESTERN VENEZUELA A Dissertation presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School University of Missouri–Columbia In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by JOHN WILLIAM GREER Dr. Robert A. Benfer, Dissertation Supervisor AUGUST 1995 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is impossible adequately to thank everyone who has contributed to the study, or to the training which made it possible, or to make obvious to the casual reader what those people contributed and why they are listed here. The following list is far from complete. As with any graduate study, numerous faculty members have contributed to whatever the present work has to offer. Members of my committee at the University of Missouri include Robert Benfer (advisor), Deborah Pearsall, Philip Arnold, Hector Neff, and Michael Robbins. Other Missouri faculty members who deserve special thanks for their influence include Lee Lyman, Michael O’Brien, Ralph Rowlett, Raymond Wood, and the late Carl Chapman. More distantly in time and space, E. Mott Davis, Thomas Campbell, and Dee Ann Story, all of the University of Texas–Austin, early on did what they could to instill in me a sense of how things should be, especially when written; even after so long they continue to be most influential. Unusual notes of thanks necessarily go to Bob Benfer and Jim Brady. Benfer pulled me back to school after a rough hiatus following my M.A., and he continues to be both a friend and advisor through many subsequent hard times. And Brady (best known for his studies of prehistoric cave use in MesoAmerica) probably is singularly at fault for my returning to complete my degree; without his forceful encouragement, Mavis and I probably would continue to be inundated in fieldwork and report deadlines. In Venezuela I received assistance, information, and support from various institutions, among them the following: Dirección de Asuntos Indígenas (DAI), Oficina Regional de Asuntos Indígenas (ORAI; Puerto Ayacucho), Universidad ii Central de Venezuela (UCV; Departamento de Antropología y Etnografía), Ministerio de Ambiente y de Recursos Naturales y Renovables (MARNR), Servicio Autónimo para el Desarrollo Ambiental del Territorio Amazonas (SADA–Amazonas), Centro Amazónico de Investigaciones Ambientales Alexander von Humboldt (of MARNR), Instituto Nacional de Parques (INPARQUES), Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC; Departamento de Antropología), Fundación La Salle (Instituto Caribe de Antropología y Sociología), and Dirección de Cartografía Nacional. Numerous individuals in Venezuela deserve special thanks. Kay Tarble and Franz Scaramelli (UCV) have contributed much information, encouragement, and help on the region and the art. Alberta Zucchi and Stanford Zent (IVIC) have been most helpful with archeological and ethnographic information on the middle and upper Orinoco (particularly on the Piaroa and Mapoyo). Jeannine Sujo made available her extensive rock art files and also her insight into regional patterns. Other persons who have helped in various ways include Mario Sanoja, Simón Cabrera and Alejandro Signi (Museo Etnográfico in Puerto Ayacucho), Lelia Delgado (Museo del Arte Nacional), Pedro García and Wilfredo Franco (SADA-Amazonas), and Delkis Bastidas and others at INPARQUES. Thanks also go to library personnel at IVIC, the Biblioteca Nacional, La Salle, and others for their patience and helpfulness. Much of the early fieldwork was facilitated by the field facilities, coordination, and local contacts of Jorge Contreras and many of his previous employees, notably Luís Gonzales, Freddy Vergara, Julio García, Angel “Taba” Mora, Javier Ramírez, Alex Arvelo, Tito Ojeda Ramírez, and Mario Rolle. Antonio Alvarez and Manuel Diez González provided camp areas at El Carmen on the Parguaza. Numerous Piaroa, Guajivo, Panare, Mapoyo, Yanomamï, Ye’kuana, and Baré iii informants and guides helped in many ways. Likewise, Puerto Ayacucho and numerous small villages were full of people — local residents, visiting shamans, antiquities dealers, ethnographic artifact collectors, resident and intrusive researchers, missionaries, military, tourists, and orchid collectors — all always had useful information and suggestions. Useful information particularly has come from Delfin Sánchez, José Gregorio Silva, and Freddy Vergara. Numerous North Americans helped with data gathering and processing. Particularly, Winrich (Rick) Kolbe, Mark Charleville, and Jean Sewell deserve special thanks for their long hours of recording and longer hours of walking and climbing. Jessica Christie, Jim Bollemeyer, Warren Cullar, and Gibbs Milliken have freely shared their data, photos, and drawings on sites in the area. Other useful information is attributable to many people through correspondence and brief to extended conversations. Among these are Bill Barse, José Oliver, Napoleon Chagnon, Darius Chagnon, Stanford Zent, Mary Melnyk, Paul Oldham, Russell Greaves, Stephen Beckerman, Alex Patterson, Charles Spencer, Joanna Overing, Erika Wagner, Omar González, Licet Fernández Figueredo, Anna Roosevelt, and many others. Partial travel funds were provided by the University of Missouri. Trimble Navigation provided GPS units (Global Positioning System) for site locational recording. Other funding was through private donation. As always, nothing could have been done without the family. Mavis and I share our fieldwork, degree programs, and problems. Brian always accompanies us in the field (though now more interested in football, girls, and guitars), and in Venezuela his companionship was most welcome (when not off playing and swimming with the Piaroa boys). iv And finally, Gibbs Milliken, Professor of Art at the University of Texas– Austin, first introduced me to the rock art of Venezuela and has since offered continued assistance in many ways. Without his influence and encouragement, I certainly would now be doing something radically different. v ABSTRACT A framework for the future study of rock art in the Puerto Ayacucho area of the middle and upper Orinoco of southwestern Venezuela is based on a tentative, initial chronology of periods in the painted cave art of the area. Seven relative time periods are defined according to superpositional relations and described by technological attributes and content from a sample of 38 sites. The art is believed to cover at least 5000 years, but it has not been directly dated. Tentative associations have been made with the Archaic, late preceramic hunters- collectors, and Saladoid, Cedeñoid, Barrancoid, Arauquinoid, and Nericagua ceramic series and complexes. These associations provide tentative absolute ages for the proposed periods. Project approach consists of locating sites, photographing the art, and gathering related cultural information from local indigenous people. Sites are more numerous and diverse than previously assumed, and the art is geographically and temporally complex. It occurs in all geographic settings and occupies a variety of site types. Various social and historical themes are identifiable, and temporal changes between styles may be due mostly to changes between populations, such as inter-ethnic pressures or replacement. Some art may be associated with early Sáliva groups (ancestors to the present Piaroa), although multi-ethnic origins and associations are obvious. This study establishes the necessary initial chronological framework for subsequent more intensive attribute analyses of content which, in turn, will explain relations between periods, help better define developmental branches in the art, and provide better explanation of proposed stylistic change within periods and between areas. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments..........................................................................................................ii Abstract............................................................................................................................ vi Table of Contents..........................................................................................................vii List of Tables ................................................................................................................xiii List of Figures ............................................................................................................... xiv Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................1 Purpose of the Project...........................................................................................1 Theoretical Approach...........................................................................................2 Methodology .........................................................................................................2 Importance of Study.............................................................................................3 Chapter 2. THE STUDY AREA ....................................................................................6 Chapter 3. PREVIOUS ARCHEOLOGICAL RESEARCH....................................14 Previous Attention and Orientation.................................................................14 Archeological Research......................................................................................16 Rock Art Research...............................................................................................18 Synthesis and Needs...........................................................................................22