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Island`s hunters & gatherers Episode CLXIII -163
Etnia Nativa through Island Insight facilitates cultural conditions such as rain and the season- coast was covered by impenetrable
awareness, education and safeguards Aruba’s heri- al fruits of the sea which contributed to mangrove forests that offered abun-
tage by elevating each reader into an island keeper an easy and sustainable way of life in a dant marine resources, including tim-
state of mind. Be encouraged to discover in every epi- harsh and wild environment. ber. These coastal forests grew so thick
sode the true native effect, live it, discover more rea- and dense that they only gave way in
sons to love Aruba behind our beaches by liven up In those times the landscape and to- places to reach the coast with canoes
your stay in an incredibly wonderful way. pography of the island offered areas dug out of tree trunks. Coastal access
where people could walk for hours un- points that eventually became bays
Our island is a tiny tourist destination with a fragile eco- der a tropical forest where the trees and some are still in use today. Places
system, covering thousands of years of history. Here is blocked the entrance of sunlight. In like the Commanduersbaai in Savaneta
where Etnia Nativa’s main objective comes to mind this exuberant mixed vegetation were or the Spanish Lagoon and Barcadera.
through educating the readers over Aruba’s heritage. ferns, orchids, vines and bromeliads, etc There was an entrance that wnet inland
We believe in when you love and value what you was part of the floral list. Many of these at the lagoen in Oranjestad and a san-
have; ones greatest desire becomes to protect it. plants must be considered extinct vari- dy beach called Taratata. Taratata, is
eties as they disappeared over time. the only place that kept a toponim giv-
In this episode we share a bit of the archaic history of en by our archaic visitors.
our island and evidance of their long ago presence. Who knows what medicinal properties,
Artifacts like stone tools, projectiles heads and objects food source, color pigment, or even Taratata probably stands for the place
belonging to these peoples and part of oursalvidge an effective insect or vermin repellant of arrival, and related to Taratara in Ven-
collection at Etnia Nativa. qualities some of those plants might ezuela which means place of depar-
have had? Although being a small is- ture in the paleolithic language. Unfor-
Aproximatly twelve thousand years ago nothing stood land, there were also open grasslands or tunately, Taratata has been absorbed
in the way of the hunters and gatherers and no part of savannahs covered with cacti and xe- into the expansion of the Paardenbaai
the new world, if it offered enough resources to sustain rophytes, while other areas were made along with his name, today almost for-
life easier, seems to have been too far out of reach. up of natural wetlands and salt pans. gotten.
However, there were no mango trees or
By this time the landscape of Aruba was covered with coconut palms, no tamarind juice, wa- In the early Paleolithic era, the occupa-
a greater amount of flora, so that the general condi- termelons, aloe horses or donkeys but tion of the American continent began
tion in which these ancient marauders found the island the four elements: fire, wind, water and by archaic hunters who were pursuing
upon their arrival were in all respects much more favor- earth were the mother of all things. large mammals such as the North Amer-
able. These hunters and gatherers were able to read ican mammoth, giant slots and prehis-
atmospheric variations and predict favorable weather We must imagine that the southern toric bisons. A possible which they could
reach the Caribbean was from the pan
handle of Florida hopping from island
to island until reaching the south of the
continent or jumping from the Yucatan
peninsula to Cuba and back, while the
most likely route of access to Aruba has
been from the South American conti-
nent. Where the distance form out of
the isthmus of Paraguana where sea
levels must have been probably much
lower extending the land closer to the
island and may be even that the island
joined the continental mass of South
America beyond sea level.
If you love Aruba its origins and its cul-
tural heritage, be part of the exclusive
visitors of Etnia Nativa: a cozy museum/
home.
Etnia Nativa a private residential houses
collections of native art, archaeologi-
cal artifacts and historic furniture, while
the facilities themselves are the result of
the transformation of recycled materi-
als. Meet Anthony Croes, our columnist
at his home! Book your visit Whatsapp
+ 297 592 2702- or mail: etnianativa03@
gmail.comq
