ROCK ART AND ARCHAEOASTRONOMY

RESEARCH AT MONTE ALEGRE DO PARÁ, BRAZIL. NEW ART DISCOVERIES 2009-2010 FIELD SEASON

ARTE RUPESTRE E PESQUISA ARQUEOASTRONÔMICA EM MONTE ALEGRE, PARÁ, BRASIL. DESCOBERTA DE NOVAS PINTURAS NA ETAPA DE 2009-2010

Resumo

Este relatório se refere à pesquisa de campo realizada de 19 de dezembro de 2009 a 1° de março de 2010. Os objetivos eram registrar medições arqueoastronômicas das pinturas rupestres na Serra da Lua e Painel do Pilão, que poderiam coincidir com o solstício de inverno em 21 de dezembro, localizar e registrar todas as pinturas rupestres antes registradas e publicadas na região, e localizar e escavar sítios relacionados à pintura rupestre na Serra da Lua e Gruta 15 de Março, para produzir mais datas que coincidissem com a idade das pinturas. No entanto, durante esta etapa de campo, os resultados mais surpreendentes foram a descoberta de arte rupestre até então desconhecida. Apesar de as datações para a nova arte não serem ainda conhecidas, parecem ser autênticas e antigas, não grafites ou imitações recentes, tendo em vista sua localização remota e condições prístinas nas quais foram encontradas.

Palavras-chave: arqueoastronomia, arte rupestre, Amazônia.

ARQUEOASTRONOMÍA Y LA INVESTIGACIÓN DEL ARTE RUPESTRE EN MONTE ALEGRE, PARÁ, BRASIL. EL DESCUBRIMIENTO DE NUEVAS PINTURAS EN LA ETAPA DE CAMPO DE 2009-2010

Resúmen

Este informe se refiere al trabajo de investigación llevado a cabo del 19 de diciembre de 2009 al 1 de marzo de 2010. Los objetivos eran registrar mediciones de arqueoastronomía de las pinturas rupestres de Serra da Lua y Painel do Pilão, que podrían coincidir con el solsticio de invierno en 21 de diciembre, localizar y registrar todas las pinturas rupestres ya conocidas publicadas de la región, y localizar y excavar sitios relacionados con las pinturas rupestres de Serra da Lua y Gruta 15 de Marzo, para producir más fechas para coincidir con la edad de las pinturas. Sin embargo, durante esta etapa del campo, los resultados más sorprendentes fueron el descubrimiento del arte rupestre hasta entonces desconocido. A pesar de que data de la nueva arte no se conoce todavía, parece ser auténtica y antigua, no grafiti reciente o imitación, dada su ubicación remota y condiciones prístinas en el que se encontró.

Palabras-clave: arqueoastronomia, arte rupestre, Amazonía.

FIELD SEASON SUMMARY

Due to the archaeoastronomy objectives of the winter solstice, research began shortly before December 21st, 2009. The crew revisited the sites of Painel do Pilão and Serra da Lua each day from December 19th until December 23rd to observe the movement and position of the sun in relation to the landscape and art images suspected to depict the same. Measurements were taken with a Brunton compass, video, and camera recordings. These positions were later verified by astronomy software StarryNightTM

The last day before the holiday break, the crew sought to find the art locations published in Edithe Pereira’s (2004) book, Arte Rupuestre na Amazônia, particularly the locations she labeled as Abrigo do Irupuá, Gruta da Baixa Fria I and II, and Painel da Baixa Fria. In search of these locations, the crew encountered several caves without art, including Caverna dos Gêmeos (also referred to as Caverna do Miritiepé in Milhomens et al. 2008) and Caverna dos Morcegos. Finally, we found Abrigo do Irupuá. However, we never found the art of the Baixa Frias, as forest overgrowth was too thick to see beyond a few feet.

After the Christmas and New Years holidays the crew went to work immediately with the excavation at Gruta 15 de Março. The objective here was to excavate underneath a rock art panel located inches above the ground. The logic was that perhaps we would find rock art that had been subsequently buried by stratigraphic layers that we could date accurately. A 1 x 1 meter unit was opened near the wall in a location relatively flat, dry, and not easily disturbed. However, due to a hole in the ceiling and two large cave openings, much of the cave would not have been ideal for excavation otherwise.

Finally, after all the excavations and mappings were done, we made several new discoveries in Serra da Paituna and Serra do Ererê, which appear on the maps (Figures 1and 2). Those areas include Pedra Sozinha, and the geological areas of historical significance, Pedra dos Seixos, Pedra Cruera, and Pedra Melado (see Figure 2). These three geological features are large flat ground formations with peculiar stones. A local informant claimed that Pedra Cruera was an area that Indian women like her grandmother used nearly a century earlier to dry out manioc. The other two areas were probably similarly utilized. The rocks in this area have a melted sandstone appearance, as if they were exposed to intense heat. The actual processes that affected the stone, however, might have been some sort of chemical reaction that took place with the manioc juices, sunlight, and prolonged periods of time.

ARCHAEOASTRONOMY

For five days, from December 19th to December 23rd the crew visited Painel do Pilão in the afternoon between 3 and 5 PM to try to observe if and when the sun would pass through a rock-window precipice near a panel of art that might have been a calendar demarking such an event (Figures 3a, b). From there,

Figure 1 - Google earth view of Serra do Ererê with site locations superimposed.

Figure 2 - Google earth view of Serra da Paituna with site locations superimposed.

the crew would then head over to Serra da Lua to try to observe the exact location that the sun would set in front of the art panel there (Figure 3c, d). The rationale for both locations is that the winter solstice marks the position furthest south that the sun can set on the horizon (and across the sky). For any ancient culture observing a renewal of a solar cycle (a year), the winter or summer solstice would be the most important dates to physically track the position of the sun. This might be particularly true at Monte Alegre which, at 2° south, is essentially on the equator, and thus cannot rely on a more obvious change of the seasons or shortening of daylight.

At Serra da Lua the crew discovered that indeed the southernmost sun image on the wall was positioned to face the sunset on the winter solstice, and even appears to be physically representative of the sun dipping below a rocky platform (Figure 3d). At Painel do Pilão the crew was less successful. On the solstice, the sun dipped too far below the mountain before it reached the rock-window. However, the observations taken at Painel do Pilão allowed the crew to better understand the movements of the sun there, and by using StarryNightTM astronomy software I subsequently was able to determine that the sun passes through the rockwindow approximately from November 1st to November 17th ± 1 to 3 days, and as the sun moves north across the sky again from January 24th to February 10th ± 1 to 3 days. Although those days don’t seem in-sync with the “calendar” art, those days do roughly correlate with the coming rainy season (at least in recent years) in this region. Many streams and rivers begin to fill up shortly after this time frame.