Prehistoric Art in Bolivia
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ScribdTranslationsPrehistoric Art in Bolivia
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ScribdTranslationsPREHISTORIC ART IN BOLIVIA
There are 300 registered prehistoric art sites specifically rock art.
in Bolivia, among these stand out: Cala-Cala (a few kilometers from the city
from Oruro), Carabuco (Lake Titicaca), Betanzo (Potosí), Mojocoya (Chuquisaca)
and Banquete Hill (in Santa Cruz).
Department of Santa Cruz: Red Straw
The cave of Paja Colorada is
find in the Municipality of Moro
Moro, Vallegrande. It was reported by
first time in 1997 by Roland Félix,
This site is considered by experts
as one of the most
important rock art in Bolivia,
due to its sequence of paintings and
recordings that belong to different
pre-Hispanic periods and the Colony.
One of the panels is dominated by
a white anthropomorphic figure
who carries a staff, perhaps with an axe, and
an object in the other hand. It seems that
wears a kind of hat or
mask and a tunic with appendage
downwards. In addition, it is noticeable -
partially overlapping on
the human figure - painted animals
in red and white.
Due to the unique importance of the cave and the damage caused by
visitors who left graffiti, the World Monuments Fund included Paja
Colorada in its list of 100 cultural sites at risk of destruction,
selected worldwide for the year 2004. The SIARB and the Municipality of
Moro Moro signed an agreement for the preservation of rock art and its
rational use for tourism, they closed the entrance of the cave with
a fence and they have prepared a broad project that includes the construction of
a visitor information center, the organization of a tour
tourism and the training of ruin guards and guides.
Department of Santa Cruz: SC 079 (Sincho de Gallo)
This eaves is located in the Mairana region of the Department of Santa Cruz. It was
documented in 2002 by Renán Cordero (SIARB) with the support of the H.
Municipality of Mairana, the Center for Archaeological Research and
Anthropological Center of Samaipata (CIAAS) and the Foundation Friends of Nature
(FAN).
The site Sincho de Gallo is located in a ravine, 100 m above a river.
Although it is referred to as a cave, it is more of a shelter that measures 5.50 m
wide, with a height (at the entrance) of 3 m. The paintings reach a
height of 1.45 m.
On the eaves of Gallo. Photo by Renán
The forward Sincho de Gallo. Photo by Renán Cordero.
Lamb.
Inside the eaves, on the back wall, there are paintings in the colors
red, ochre-yellow and white, see the drawings. They can be classified in the
following types:
Four "tripartite" zoomorphic figures (with limbs that end in
three fingers).
Two anthropomorphic faces or masks, one in red, the other in color
yellow-ochre.
Two figures of possible ceremonial axes.
Several geometric compositions, two of which were made.
in two colors (red and yellow-ochre).
Other poorly defined remains.
Department of Beni: Susi, Rurrenabaque
Near Rurrenabaque, on the edge of the Beni River, there is a rock.
big in the locality called Susi or Suse, with engravings that have been
mentioned by various scholars since the 19th century. It has on the face
angular, towards the river, the figures of two serpents, scrolls and a motif
phytomorphs, so deeply carved – up to 3.7 cm – that they form reliefs.
visible from afar.
The locals attribute the engravings as signals for navigation. They say that
when the water covers these snakes, navigation is not advisable,
why are there then whirlwinds that have already caused the death of many
people. It is also believed that a monstrous animal with a long tail lives in
this part of the river.
According to German researcher Karin Hissink, Takana indigenous people reported
that their ancestors had created the engravings of Susi, which they
they identified with Suse Nai Bacua (suse: duck, nai: downpour or rain, bacua:
viper), the rainbow serpent that has a zigzag body and two
heads, one at each end of the body. It was also said about this snake
that had erected the sky.
Another tradition of the Tacana identifies the engravings with the snake called
Biuquey Bacua (biuquey: toucan, bacua: serpent), which watches over 'the world of the south' and
it tries to devour anyone who wishes to reach that mythical region. But
Hissink also collected reports indicating that in Susi's whirlpool lives
a serpent with seven heads, one in the center of its long body and the
others on both sides. The snake is standing erect with its central head.
upwards. When a man in his boat is caught by the whirlpool, the
the snake opens the mouth of its central head and devours it.
In other versions, there is talk of a mermaid, half woman and half fish, who lives
in the whirlpool of Suse and enchants men. According to a narration of Saint
José, a priest from San Buenaventura who used to fish in Susi's place was
attracted by the siren who played a mandolin. The priest jumped into the water and
he disappeared. Hissink assumes that these versions are already due to influences
European.
View of Susi's engraved rock. Photo: Matthias
Strecker.
Detail of the petroglyphs of Susi.
Photo: Matthias Strecker.
Detail of the petroglyphs of Susi. Photo: Javier Escalante, DINAR
Department of Oruro: Calacala
Calacala, an Aymara toponym that means 'region of many rocks', is the
name of a mountainous valley 21 km southwest of the city of Oruro. The
National Archaeology Institute surrounded the main site of rock art of the
region, whose great importance was recognized by Supreme Decree of 1970
declaring the area National Monument.
The rock art of the site is distributed across three sectors: a
small cave and two sections of the rocky wall forming a kind of
refuge. The vast majority of the figures are painted in red, reddish, white, and
Black. However, there are also a number of recorded reasons,
In addition, there are series of artificial round depressions ('domes' or small cups); they
unknown its function - possibly, these are cavities to receive some
offering liquid. A clear theme predominates: flames, mostly
represented in groups, sometimes connected by a rope to their shepherds.
Felines also appear.
Recent archaeological research shows a long sequence of
occupation in the Calacala basin. According to this data, the first
establishment would have already taken place in the Archaic period (approx. 10,000 B.C.), following
the occupation during the Formative (1500 BC). However, it is the development
local that presents the greatest evidence of intensive use of the basin. This
it continued during the Late Horizon (around 1400 AD) until the colonial period.
In 1999, the SIARB began a project to improve the archaeological park, in
collaboration with the H. Mayor's Office of Oruro, supported by German Cooperation
for development (GTZ), the embassies of Germany and the Netherlands and the Foundation
Bradshaw. In October 2002, the SIARB and the Mayor's Office inaugurated a
bridge for visitors.
Department of La Paz: LP 072
In the Bolivian highlands, numerous sites with paintings or engravings were documented that
belong to the Colony or to the Republic. They verify that the tradition of art
rock art did not end with the Spanish conquest and offers very rich data for the
ethnohistory of our country.
The site LP 072 is part of a group of
places with pre-Hispanic paintings or engravings
or colonial in the surroundings of the lake
Titicaca. In two walls forming a
figures of humans were depicted in angle
battle formation. These are paintings
polychromes using the colors red, yellow,
black and white. We can distinguish between two
panels or units, each from a set
of men who are heading to meet with the
another. The meeting point is the corner of the
rock. There is a certain difference between both groups
What suggests that there are two sides?
different.
Counting the people
represented, among riders and
foot soldiers, it is clear that in
both panels exist 180
persons. Regarding weapons
represented, the curved line in
the hands of men can
to be interpreted as deep, the
isolated point in front of such line
it would be the stone thrown; while
a 'stick' in the hands of others
people can represent a
firearm. These paintings
they may be related to the
indigenous rebellions of Tupac
Catari and Tupac Amaru of the century
Eighteen.
