Page 14 - ARUBA TODAY

A14 LOCAL
Tuesday 12 March 2019

Geo insular patrimony an ancient heritage.

Episode IX:
Landscape character

If we must define Aruba`s landscape today. We can differentiate three
basic geological formations. One is a hilly part, second by an undulat-
ing part and a third part consisting of limestone which embraces these
two zones mentioned before and forming also the coast line.

Pic: 3. floor of limestone Pic. 5. Quartz diorite boulders

like Daimari and Boca Prins are making an axe or chisel. The rock
near outcrops at the northern will easily split along the sheet-
coast. Also, some pottery has lines. The rock type of similar beads
been found in the area of Arikok and pendants found in the area_
hill. This landscape was obviously and described in the literature as
not suitable for long-term habita- greenstone_ is often difficult to es-
tion. A lack of good agricultural tablish since the term greenstone
soil may be the reason for this. The covers a wide range of different
hydrological conditions provided rock types (schist, rhyolite, jade).
permanent freshwater at Fon-
tein, where rainwater is caught by The quartz diorite landscape (the
Pic. 1: Geo map of Aruba limestone and is released at the batholith) from the central part
boundary of the limestone and a of Aruba towards the west and
The central hilly part is where you can find the highest hills of the island. different rock unit. northwestern end of the island,
The highest point of the island (Jamanota 189 m) and most of the other and from the central part towards
hills (Arikok 184m) are situated in the central part of the island. This land- The rocks of the Aruba Lava For- the east and south, the landscape
scape is constituted of the rock unit called the Aruba Lava Formation mation were extensively used by is dominated by a rock unit which
(ALF). This rock unit has two main components, volcanic rock and meta- the inhabitants of the prehistory. the main component is quartz
morphic rock. The hills are made up of the resistant volcanic rocks. The The physical characteristic of the diorite. The landscape here is flat
most common of these rocks is diabase, a hard, black rock. The meta- rocks played a key role in deter- to slightly undulating with quartz
morphic rock, schist, is a less hard, green rock with a sheet-like structure. mining the purpose for which it diorite boulders in it. This rock is
The parts of the ALF landscape which consist of schist are the less resistant. would be used. Diabase was used black and white speckled. It is
It is in these parts where water is transported after rainfall, forms guts or to make axes, chisels, knives and relatively hard. The typical diorite
rooien. These cut across the valleys of the ALF area. Such guts are not the polishers. The hardness and landscape is found near Santa
significantly deep and the weathered material which has accumulated the homogeneous structure of the Cruz. These are all areas with boul-
around them is limited. Outcrops and small hills of the ALF manifest them- rock make it the best raw mate- ders and small or large patches of
selves all along the northern coast of the island. This northern coast is rug- rial for these artifacts available on sand and vegetation. Places with
ged with some small bays cutting through it. The geological processes the island. The polishers were col- few boulders and large areas of
by which these rocks were created are complicated by the fact that lected at the bays on the northern quartz diorite debris are found in
numerous events which took place influenced these processes through coast and were then further pol- the east in Tanki Flip, Noord, Alto
the ages. ished by the Amerindians of the Vista and in the south in Savaneta.
mainland to make similar artifacts. We’ll be back next week for a fol-
The ALF landscape seems to have had a specific function for the pre- The schist was used as material to lowing episode. Now, if you’ve
historic inhabitants. The specific function of this landscape is reflected in make pendants and beads; the liked our stories, book your res-
the fact that both stone extraction camps can be found on, or close to green color was probably the de- ervation for a personal Etnia Na-
this landscape. Coashiati is one of these locations, situated north of Ja- termining factor. No tools of schist tiva experience trough etnianati-
manota hill and is part of the ALF landscape. Dos Playa; two beaches in has been found, the sheet-like va03@gmail.com and take Aruba
Papiamento, is made up of two bays at the northern coast. structure is a limiting factor when home with you.q

The plateau between these two bays is formed partly by the ALF with
much debris of this rock unit scattered around. One small Pre-ceramic
site found is called Daimari. It is situated on one of the outcrops of the
ALF. No ceramic sites are found in the ALF landscape, although several

Pic 2 :Part of Aruba`s North coast consisting of the ALF. Pic.4 : The hilly land scape