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- Title
EL ARTE-MINERÍA EN AMONA, BORINQUEN (ISLA DE MONA, PUERTO RICO).
- Authors
Samson, Alice V. M.; Cooper, Jago E.
- Abstract
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 Anti)lles. 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 prac)tices, 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 prac)tice 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, under)ground 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.
- Subjects
ROCK art (Archaeology); HUMAN fingerprints; UNDERGROUND areas; CAVES; WALL coverings; SHAMANS
- Publication
Ciencia y Sociedad, 2023, Vol 48, Issue 1, p91
- ISSN
0378-7680
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.22206/cys.2023.v48i1.pp91-110