El arte-minería en Amona, Borinquen (Isla de Mona, Puerto Rico)
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Authors
Subject
Rock art
pre-Columbian mining
finger-fluting
mark-making
dating
Puerto Rico
arte rupestre
minería precolombina
grabados digitales
dataciones Puerto Rico
pre-Columbian mining
finger-fluting
mark-making
dating
Puerto Rico
arte rupestre
minería precolombina
grabados digitales
dataciones Puerto Rico
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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC)
El conjunto de arte rupestre de Isla de Mona (nombre indígena Amona), en su mayor parte relacionado con la dilatada ocupación indígena, es uno de los más diversos y abundantes de las Antillas. Desde el año 2013, nuestro proyecto se focaliza en la historia indígena de la isla, reelaborando los trabajos anteriores realizados por el Dr. Ovidio Dávila Dávila durante los años 80 y 90 y el Dr. Irving Rouse en los años 30 del siglo xx. En este artículo consideramos algunos aspectos de las prácticas subterráneas que quedaron marginadas porque difieren de lo que normalmente consideramos como arte rupestre. En Mona la morfología de las cuevas y las características de las superficies subterráneas fomentan actividades ocultas que incluyen las interacciones con sustancias minerales y distintas formas de dejar imágenes y marcas, y de transitar el espacio. En particular analizamos la práctica común de trazar huellas digitales en los carbonatos suaves y pastosos de las paredes usando las manos, una técnica que observamos en las áreas oscuras de 30 de las aproximadamente 70 cuevas que hemos visitados de un total de 230 cuevas conocidas en la isla. Estos grabados hechos con los dedos, a la misma vez que dejaron huellas negativas y blanquitas, el arte rupestre, también removieron sustancias en actividades acordes a la minería, y a lo que nos referimos como el arte-minería. El arte es minería y la minería es arte. En vez de enfocarnos en las representaciones, nos centramos en la mayoría de las marcas que no son imágenes. Este trabajo es un aporte a los estudios de diferentes partes del mundo donde la relaciones entre el arte rupestre, las cuevas, el uso de minerales subterráneas, y los estados ampliados de conciencia forman ensamblajes dinámicos, conectando Mona con otros espacios subterráneos antillanos, además de con las áreas continentales del centro y norte de América.
The rock art on Isla de Mona (indigenous name Amona), the majority associated with the island’s long Indigenous history, is some of the most diverse and dense in the Antilles. Since 2013, our project has focussed on this history, building on previous work carried out by Dr. Ovidio Dávila Dávila in the 1980s and 1990s, and by Dr. Irving Rouse in the 1930s. In particular in this paper we consider various subterranean activities that have remained hidden in plain sight because they differ from conventional understandings of what rock art is. The Mona caves have an unusual geology which lend themselves to certain practices, ways of moving through space, interactions with mineral substances, and mark-making. Here we focus on the widespread practice of making marks using the fingers in the soft and pasty carbonate crusts which cover the cave walls, a technique observed in the dark areas of around 30 of the +/-70 caves we have visited out of a total of over 230 caves on the island. The finger-fluting, at the same time as leaving negative white traces observable as rock art, also removed or mined wall deposits in a practice we refer to as art-mining. Art is mining and mining is art. In this article instead of focussing on the recognisable images, we analyse the majority of non-figurative marks. This work contributes to rock art studies worldwide in which the relations between mark-making, caves, underground substances, and elevated states of consciousness form dynamic assemblages connecting Mona with other Antillean underground spaces, as well as with continental areas of Central and North America.
The rock art on Isla de Mona (indigenous name Amona), the majority associated with the island’s long Indigenous history, is some of the most diverse and dense in the Antilles. Since 2013, our project has focussed on this history, building on previous work carried out by Dr. Ovidio Dávila Dávila in the 1980s and 1990s, and by Dr. Irving Rouse in the 1930s. In particular in this paper we consider various subterranean activities that have remained hidden in plain sight because they differ from conventional understandings of what rock art is. The Mona caves have an unusual geology which lend themselves to certain practices, ways of moving through space, interactions with mineral substances, and mark-making. Here we focus on the widespread practice of making marks using the fingers in the soft and pasty carbonate crusts which cover the cave walls, a technique observed in the dark areas of around 30 of the +/-70 caves we have visited out of a total of over 230 caves on the island. The finger-fluting, at the same time as leaving negative white traces observable as rock art, also removed or mined wall deposits in a practice we refer to as art-mining. Art is mining and mining is art. In this article instead of focussing on the recognisable images, we analyse the majority of non-figurative marks. This work contributes to rock art studies worldwide in which the relations between mark-making, caves, underground substances, and elevated states of consciousness form dynamic assemblages connecting Mona with other Antillean underground spaces, as well as with continental areas of Central and North America.
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Type
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Artículos evaluados por pares
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Artículos evaluados por pares
Source
Science and Society; Vol. 48 No. 1 (2023): Science and Society; 91-110
Ciencia y Sociedad; Vol. 48 Núm. 1 (2023): Ciencia y Sociedad; 91-110
2613-8751
0378-7680
10.22206/cys.2023.v48i1
Ciencia y Sociedad; Vol. 48 Núm. 1 (2023): Ciencia y Sociedad; 91-110
2613-8751
0378-7680
10.22206/cys.2023.v48i1