Page 31 - bon-dia-aruba-20200728

locAl Tuesday 28 July 2020
A31

Pictographs & petroglyphs Episode LXIV - (64)

ORANJESTAD — Our weekly column ‘Island Insight’ reveals and un-
covers interesting information and amazing stories along the way. In
this episode we are going to refer to rock art, ancient native Aruban
rock art. Yes, Aruba is scattered with these amazing monuments which
are generally divided into two categories: carved (petroglyphs) and
color pigmented (pictographs). Pictographs are paintings that were
made by applying red ochre or, less commonly, black, white or yel-
low dye on the desired surface.

Weburi Art
In total 301 pictographs and petroglyphs (3) have been found so far, a
considerable quantity for such a small island. Petroglyphs and pictographs
represent two distinctive methods for producing rock art. Petroglyphs are
carved or pecked into an exposed rock surface, while pictographs are
painted onto the rock surfaces. Although the majority of the pictograph
images were traced with the finger, some could be executed with brush-
es made of animal or vegetal fibers. Petroglyphs are powerful cultural
symbols that reflect the complex societies and religions of the surround-
ing tribes. Petroglyphs are central to the monument's sacred landscape
where traditional ceremonies still take place. The context of each image
is extremely important and integral to its meaning.
Arikok, our national park, contains one of the most beautiful rock art col-
lections of Aruba. During the study of the pictographs at Arikok, four clus-
ters of drawings turned out to be situated on one straight line, more or less
north-south over a distance of 415 m. Of course one drawing can be as
little as a point or line that may be meant as a separate drawing by the
ancient artist. Still, by counting every separate representation that every-
body would call a drawing one reaches at a total of approximately 270 to
331 separate drawings representations over 17 sites. Drawings that are at
tens of meters distance of each other are considered one site, one clus-
ter. In fact, ‘sites’ within a radius of 500 meter are considered one cluster.
Weburi is another very interesting place situated south of Piedra Plat`s
Protestant Church. Weburi, as we are told stands for; boulders standing in
the blowing wind. This pictograph site can also be reached going north
from out the Hooiberg hill or Hay stack. After climbing the 500 steps you
should look for some particularly round boulders. In one of them, a cove
has formed due to erosion with a west-facing entrance and this is the rock Arikok National Park
containing a fantastic collection of red pigmented ancient drawings. This
amazing site might be a bit difficult to find its entrance, however, once the
entrance is located and one has made it inside the hollow rock bolder,
the mystical drawings are all over the interior wall and can be observed.

Etnia Nativa shares its island knowledge, considering the status and
value of Aruba’s archeological and rock formations sites, historical
and natural monuments, the island’s endemic flora and fauna pres-
ervation, sustainable waste management and demographic im-
pact on the natural environment in relation with the calming effect
of the surrounding ocean, morning nature wakeup calls or perhaps
the priceless sound of silence. Get to know more about Aruba’s ori-
gins, its animals and culture. Book your visit; connect to our cultural
session which has been entertaining participants for decades. Mail
us at etnianativa03@gmail.com. q

linda.reijnders@cspnv.com Weburi Rock Formation