Page 14 - AHATA

Wednesday 20 January 2021 LOCAL
A10

Indians

out of stones and shell were found in Savaneta
(carcó). The oldest exca- and Santa Cruz, amongst
vations, those of Canashito other spots.
and Malmok, are of Indians The Indians of Aruba made
who have lived around or drawings on rock walls,
shortly after the beginning mostly in caves. The Indians
of our Christian era (500 – did not live there, so these
800 AD). The arrangement were supposedly religious
of their graves and burial places. They can be found
sites show a clear hierar- in the caves of Fontein,
chy, dominated by males. Guadarikiri and at Arikok.
The finds of about 900 BC The drawings were made
belong to the Ceramic with red dye and they rep-
period; the Indians made resented geometrical fig-
pottery and they toiled the ures where a human or a
soil. In this period, the Indi- kind of animal (a fish, may-
ans had fixed settlements. be a (now extinct) Carib-
Excavations and finds on bean Monk Seal) appears
the Venezuelan continent, to be depicted.
around Coro, show a lot Archeological research
of resemblances to those has taken place since the
of Aruba. In Venezuela the end of the 19ty century,
Indian called themselves when the Dutch priest Van
Caquetios, according to Koolwijk discovered Indian
the Spaniards, and most drawings and made exca-
probably, the Indians from vations from 1880 till 1886.
the islands were Caque- The first archaeologist who
tios too. They lived in family performed excavations on
settlements, in huts locat- Aruba was De Josselin de
ed in groups around one Jong in 1923 in Santa Cruz.
another. A burial mound P. Wagenaar Hummelinck
ORANJESTAD — There are from the 16th and 17th entrance to caves. More- was part of it too. The In- studied and made an in-
different theories about the century, names like Oruba, over, the dead were buried dians slept in hammocks ventory of locations with
origin of the name Aruba. Ouraba, Uruba and Arou- in large urns, like it was the and they used stone tools rock drawings. After those,
Most probably the name is ba are to be found. case in Amazonia. like axes, chisels and grind- several amateur archeolo-
of Indian origin, two words Very little is known about stones. They used these to gists made finds and reg-
joined together like ora the original inhabitants of In the fourteenth century, grind the corn. Most fre- istered them, like Ringma
(shell) and oubao (island), Aruba. Excavations show the Caribs conquered Aru- quent finds are of ceram- (1957, Canashito), Ma-
so that would mean Shell Is- that the island has been ba; they themselves had ics, mainly fragments. The rio Odor, Thomas Angela
land. Another explanation populated for hundreds of been driven out before Indians made their pottery, (Sta Cruz), Johnny Dania
would be the combination years before it was discov- by South-American tribes. pans and plates them- (idem), Huib Bongers (1962,
of uru (canoe) and oubao ered by the Spaniards. This By the time the Spaniards selves, without a potter's Savaneta) and Ewald Bie-
(island), which could be period is called the pre-Co- came to Aruba, the Indi- wheel or an oven. These mans.
explained by the fact that lombian era. The primitive ans still lived in the Stone were formed by hand and In the eighties, archeolo-
the Indians used canoes on population of Aruba con- Age; they lived scattered in baked in a fire pitch. Often gist Egbert Boerstra was di-
the sea and that's how they sisted of Arowak Indians. small groups in simple mud they were painted or or- rector of the Archeologic
have populated Aruba. Archeological research huts. They lived of catching nate with heads of animals Museum Aruba (AMA). He
has demonstrated that our fish and collecting natural or humans. Jewelry has performed excavations in
But other theories claim the island was populated by food. We know from exca- been found too, made out Santa Cruz, Tanki Flip and
name Aruba comes from Indians who had the same vations that they lived in of pierced shell. Malmok. In 1988 coop-
Spanish, oro hubo (there culture as the inhabitants of Savaneta, Santa Cruz and eration was established
was gold); however, this the South-American con- Tanki Flip. The Indians of Aruba buried between the University of
contradicts the findings of tinent. Further evidence their dead mostly in buri- Leiden and the AMA. Dr.
the Spaniards when they of the supposition of the The oldest Indians must al pits, sometimes in urns, A.H. Versteeg performed
discovered Aruba. South-American origins of have lived on Aruba as of in which the dead were several large scale projects,
The first mention of a name the Indians is to be found in about 2500 BC. They were placed in squatted posi- amongst which the one at
that resembles Aruba is on the primitive drawings that fishermen, hunters and col- tion. A few times objects, Tanki Flip (1994). Source
a map from 1562, where it have been discovered in a lectors of food and they like little pots or plates, were (text & pictures): www.his-
says Orua. On other maps lot of places, mostly at the used primitive tools, made added to the grave. Those toriadiaruba.aw. q