Page 29 - Demo

29This has been evidenced during field trips and with torrential showers which did not have a direct effect on the paintings.When the location was ready and prepared as a natural canvas, the other condition was the availability of material for painting. In the areas with quartzite outcroppings and wall paintings, the researchers found violet, white and red coloured mineral blotches, similar to those used for the paintings.Inside a cavern at the base of a tepui%u201cTHE NAVEL OF THE EARTH%u201dOne of the most relevant questions from the anthropology and social sciences point of view is %u201cwhy the Serran%u00eda de Chiribiquete has been considered as the sanctuary for ancestral wall and cave paintings%u201d (and why not the largest and very well-preserved plateaus of Venezuela and Brazil)?As a geographical place, the Serran%u00eda de Chiribiquete has a strategic position in the centre of the Amazon for the passing of ancestral communities which travelled from the south to the north of South America and the Caribbean. It represented a sacred and transitioning location.In order to perform painting on the rock, it is necessary for the rock to have certain composition and structure. Geological exploration and analysis of the rock material where the paintings exist determine it is a natural canvas for these paintings.Another important factor that the ancestral communities took into consideration was geomorphology. They looked for high, steep locations with south-north bearing and difficult access places. The rocks chosen by communities to place their paintings had more resistance than other in the area. They are also shielded by angular quartzite blocks chosen as cover zones to protect them from the elements.