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Ancient
figures engraved on rocks puzzle scientists
Images
from the spirit world? – Hundreds of figures engraved on rocks in
Southern Basse Terre, the easterly of Guadeloupe’s two main islands,
pose an unfathomable mystery for scientists. Ethno-archaeologist David
Laporal can only speculate: "They probably represent visions of
Indian shamans". By
Bernhard Grdseloff (C) 2005 |
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Laporal
is the scientific officer for "Parc des Roches Gravées", a
5-acres large public park near Vieux Fort on the southern tip of Basse
Terre. The site is studded with man-high boulders, on which human-like
figures have been carved. "So far we have discovered 1,200
petroglyphs in and around the park," says the scientist. "That
accounts for 90% of all known Indian rock carvings in the whole
Caribbean".
The
reason for this high concentration remains unclear. "Maybe this was
a holy place or the site of a very large settlement," guesses the
33 year-old archaeologist. "We do know from old records that the
carvings were already here when the first Europeans came to
Guadeloupe". But conventional scientific techniques cannot
establish who created them, or when.
Laporal
explains the dilemma: "Determining the age of the rocks is no
problem, but that does not tell us anything about the origins of the relief's".
In addition, "archaeological finds discovered in the surroundings
do not take us any further, because they come from many different
settlement periods, and we have not yet been able to identify a tool
that was used to make the carvings".
The
meaning of the images is cryptic as well. The ceramic archaeological
finds from the area represent only animals, while the petroglyphs
portray people. Producing them involved a great deal of work:
"First the lines were chipped out from the rock point by point, and
then carefully smoothed," says the scientist, who has experimented
with the technique himself. "It is possible that we will be able to
deduce something about their age by examining the development of the
patina and fungi growth in the chinks." |
Archaeologist
Laporal: Amerindian
petroglyphs defeat conventional scientific techniques |
