MORE ROCK ART FROM MONA ISLAND, PUERTO RICO:

Image made with finger markings.

Mona Island, Puerto Rico.

Photo: static.independent.co.uk,

 Public Domain.

On September 17, 2016, I posted a column about Taino rock art discoveries on Mona Island, Puerto Rico titled Caribbean Rock Art - Puerto Rico. Now, an article in Live Science by Dan Robitzki on November 6, 2017, outlines discoveries of further rock art on Mona Island. In his article "On An Uninhabited Caribbean Island, A Trove Of Pre-Columbian Art", Robitzki wrote "to analyze the cave drawings, the archaeologists took x-rays and used (radio) carbon dating. They were surprised to find that all of the artwork discovered in about 70 winding caves predated Christopher Columbus arriving in the Americas."(Robitzki 2017)

Mona Island, Puerto Rico.

Photo: www.archaeology.org,

 Public Domain.

The newly discovered petroglyphs include a large percentage of anthropomorphs. "Many of the drawings on the cave walls, some of which depict religious and ceremonial symbols - animals, faces wearing headdresses, and various designs dotted the cave wall - were made using simple techniques, such as rubbing or scraping into the rock walls. Because the cave walls were coated with a softer surface, rubbing or scraping at the surface revealed a different-colored mineral beneath." (Robitzki 2017)

"Other images in the caves were made with advanced paints that varied based on the unique components of each cave, according to the research. These paints contained varied levels of charcoal, bat droppings, plant gums, different minerals like iron and plant material from native trees like Bursera simaruba, also known as the turpentine tree. The researchers concluded that the paintings were likely prepared in advance, and then charcoal from torches were likely added to the artwork afterward." (Robitzki 2017) I fear that I draw a different conclusion here. It sounds to me as if the ingredients are highly random and depended upon whatever the painter could pick up in the location.

Mona Island, Puerto Rico.

Photo: ancientorigins.net,

 Public Domain.

""Most of the pre-colonial pictographs are in very narrow spaces deep in the caves, some are very hard to access, you have to crawl to get to them, they are very extensive and humidity is very high but it is extremely rewarding," Victor Serrano, an archaeology doctoral candidate from the University of Leicester who worked on the research, said in a statement. "Because the indigenous people of Mona Island were wiped out by European invaders, physical and cultural analysis of the new cave paintings are one way people can learn about what they were like and how they lived. Because the art found in the Mona caves are so well preserved, researchers may glean new insight into the lifestyle of a lost culture."" (Robitzki 2017) In other words, the people are long gone, but we might be able to understand a little of their culture by studying the rock art.

Mona Island, Puerto Rico.

Photo: static.independent.co.uk,

 Public Domain.

Close-up,

Mona Island, Puerto Rico.

Photo: www.archaeology.org,

 Public Domain.

The Taino people barely survived Spanish civilizing. "The Taino became nearly extinct as a culture following settlement by Spanish colonists, primarily due to infectious diseases. The first recorded smallpox outbreak in Hispaniola was either in December 1518 or January 1519. This smallpox epidemic killed almost 90% of the Native Americans who had not already perished. Warfare and harsh enslavement by the colonists also caused many deaths. By 1548, the Taino population had declined to fewer than 500. Starting in about 1840 there have been attempts to create a quasi-indigenous Taino identity in rural areas of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. This trend accelerated among the Puerto Rican community in the mainland United States in the 1960s. At the 2010 U.S. census, 1,098 people in Puerto Rico identified themselves as Puerto Rican Indian, 1,410 identified as Spanish American Indian, and 9,399 identified as Taino. In total, 35,856 Puerto Ricans considered themselves Native American." (Wikipedia)

NOTE: Images in this posting were retrieved from the internet in a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on this report you should read the original at the site listed below.

REFERENCE:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta%C3%ADno

Robitzki, Dan

2017    On An Uninhabited Caribbean Island, A Trove Of Pre-Columbian Art, November 6, 2017, Live Science, https://www.livescience.com/60850-photos-mona-island-cave-art.html

www.ancientorigins.net

www.archaeology.org

www.static.independent.co.uk