Anchoring the landscape: human utilization of the Cerro Gavilán 2 rockshelter, Middle Orinoco, from the Early Holocene to the present

Abstract Initial archaeological investigations at Cerro Gavilán 2, a rockshelter located in the Bolívar State of Venezuela, reveal evidence for human activity that spans the Early Holocene to the present. This report summarizes the information obtained through surface collection, limited excavation, and documentation of the surface features and rock art in the cave. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C analysis established dates from excavated strata that range between 9250 ± 60 BP to 3440 ± 40 BP, and are associated with a unifacial flake technology and charred faunal and floral remains, whereas surface remains span the known ceramic sequence for the area. Rock art corresponds to distinctive superimposed styles that indicate continual repainting of the cave through time, serving to anchor the site to the landscape for multiple societies inhabiting the region. It is suggested that the shelter may have fulfilled different functions over time and a sequence of seasonal residential, ritual, and funerary activities is proposed. The rich cultural context found in Cerro Gavilán 2 contributes to advances in Amazonian archaeology that are redefining our knowledge of early developments and the complexity of human/environmental interactions in tropical America

Predation, Propitiation and Performance: Ethnographic Analogy in the Study of Rock Paintings from the Lower Parguaza River Basin, Bolivar State, Venezuela

Rock art sites located in areas inhabited by indigenous peoples offer extraordinary opportunities for interpretation using ethnographic analogy. Nonetheless, we must examine the pertinence of a direct historical approach when dealing with sequences of rock art that may extend back several millennia. Recent decades have witnessed increasingly sophisticated ethnographic analyses that reveal the intimate relations between human and non-human entities and the generative role of myth, music, dance, artifacts, and physical settings in the enactment of creative contexts of lowland South America. This literature has led to a reassessment of the meaning of rock art images, the significance of context, and the place of sites in the landscape. In the pictographs found in several rock shelters on the lower Parguaza River of Venezuela, depictions of a wide variety of human and non-human figures offer insight into the relations between predation, propitiation, food, illness, and the different paths to spiritual knowledge that prevail in the myths and practices of local indigenous populations to this day. In this contribution we explore the promise and limits of ethnographic analogy in the study of sites from this area and offer an analysis of the development of the sites through time, with an eye on both disruption and continuity

Cueva de Amalivaca: Tradición y Memoria

En el municipio Cedeño, estado Bolívar, se encuentra un abrigo rocoso conocido con el nombre de Cueva de Amalivaca. En el presente trabajo, haremos un resumen de las referencias históricas existentes sobre el sitio y sus topónimos. Ofrecemos una descripción del abrigo y de las pictografías y petroglifos hallados, y el contenido arqueológico se compara con el de otros sitios a fin de establecer una cronología relativa. Finalmente, se ofrece una breve discusión sobre el posible uso del recinto, con base en referencias documentales y etnográficas.</jats:p

Episodios de la transculturación: aportes de Miguel Acosta Saignes para el estudio de la dinámica del contacto cultural

En la obra de Miguel Acosta Saignes se utiliza el concepto de la transculturación para dar cuenta del proceso multifacético y multidireccional que subyace al surgimiento de las culturas latinoamericanas actuales. Siguiendo al ejemplo de Fernando Ortiz, Acosta Saignes rompe con el enfoque aculturacionista en boga entre muchos antropólogos de su día, para destacar el aspecto dinámico de las relaciones interétnicas que surgieron con la llegada de los europeos a América. En este sentido, resalta la dinámica creativa de la confluencia, competencia y choque entre diferentes sectores, que resultó en la aparición de nuevas formaciones que no pueden ser explicadas como una simple mezcla de elementos anteriores, ni por la dominación unilateral del uno sobre el otro. Este artículo explora la concepción de la transculturación esbozada en la obra de Acosta Saignes, destacando sus aportes al estudio de las relaciones interétnicas en el área orinoquense y su impacto en estudios posteriores