petroglyphen im valle del encanto - StoneWatch

4. Some motifs, common on the mainland, do not occur in the
Lesser Antilles but are found in the Greater Antilles; e.g. sun
with rays, concentric circles, anthropomorphs with a frog-like
body, anthropomorphs with a body formed by concentric diamonds.
Conclusion:
According to the history of the populating of the Antilles, similarities
in petroglyph designs can be expected. On the other hand,
the dissimilarities mentioned above point to cultural contacts of
the Greater Antilles with other regions than the Lesser Antilles, or
to autochtonic developments. The fact that in both regions anthropomorphs
constitute by far the largest part of the petroglyphs, in
our opinion emphasises the cultural correspondency.
RELATIONS BETWEEN LESSER ANTILLES AND
NORTH EAST SOUTH AMERICAN PETROGLYPHS
The Lesser Antilles were populated from N. E. South America
(see the paragraph; Archaeology of the area). Presuming that the
Immigrants were the (principal) authors of the petroglyphs,
which is probable but not certain, a relation in petroglyph shape
may be expected between Lesser Antilles engravings and those
of the Lower Orinoco, northeastern Venezuela, or the Guianas.
Indeed, some similarities exist:
1. A special type of anthropomorphic drawing, which we called
„Elaborate Type petroglyph“ exists in the N. E. part of the continent,
especially in four of the five Guianas (Venezuelan,
British, Dutch, and Brazilian Guiana). In St Vincent a drawing
of this type occurs (Yambou no 2) which has its counterpart at
the Wonotobo Falls, Corentijn River, Suriname (Fig 2).
Fig. 2
Elaborate type
Drawing in St.
Vincent
Fig. 2a
Elaborate Type
Drawing
at Wonotobo
Falls, Corantyn
River, Surinam
2. The „body“ of a large anthropomorph may show parallel or
crossing lines, connecting the sides. These body fillings occur
frequently in both regions (Fig. 5).
3. „Simple faces“ (Fig. 3 which take up 37 % of Lesser Antilles
petroglyphs, are also familiar in most parts of the mainland.
7
Fig. 5. Line Fillings in the Bodies of Anthropomorphs
Only these few cases of similarities could be noted down. On the
other hand, figures which are common on the mainland do not or
hardly occur in the Lesser Antilles. Motifs which we call curled
shoulders, double spirals, double reversed spirals, frogs, human
footprints, sun with rays (to be distinguished from human faces
with a rayed hairdress or beard), etc (Fig. 3), which abound on
the mainland, are lacking in the Lesser Antilles. In the preceding
paragraph we already mentioned spirals and matchstick figures
(Fig. 3). In our opinion, the spiral is the most common motif in
South America. Matchstick figures also occur all over South
America in our area, these figures do not appear, except for some
spirals between the scrabbles of Buccament Bay, St Vincent or in
cases where they are part of a larger drawing, e, g. on a boulder
near the sea, South of Victoria, Grenada.
On the other hand, typical motifs occur in the Antilles which are
very scarce or totally absent on the mainland, eg.: eye and ear in
one piece, head-feetpeople, double ears, head on rope (Fig. 3).
Conclusion:
People from South America settling down in the Lesser Antilles
in prehistoric times seldom transferred the petroglyph motifs
from the regions they originated from to their new surroundings.
They developed their own rock art figures, which at best have
some general properties in common with the drawings of the
„old country“. These figures are predominantly anthropomorphic.
Note. It shout be clear that the names we use for the various
motifs are not meant in an interpretative way.
INTERPRETATION
A. General
The term Interpretation covers three notions: 1. Pictorial interpretation,
i. e. recognizing the figure itself; e. g. a jaguar, a boat,
the sun, 2. Symbolic interpretation; e, g. a frog symbolizes rain
or fertility. 3. Social interpretation, i.e. determining the function
of petroglyph making in the community of the makers.
Petroglyphs are more than products of playful pastime, considering
the time, energy, inventivity, artistic skill, etc. which they
required and considering the sometimes nearly inaccessible
spots where they are located. They cannot be considered as a
writing system (neither alphabetic, nor syllabic or pictorial), the
separate figures in most cases do not show a recognizable order,
and repetition of figures in a coherent complex of drawingsis
extremely scarce. This does not mean that we deny them a communicative
aspect. The opinion that petroglyphs had a religious
or mythical meaning sounds plausible, but is noncommittal as