Community Archaeology in Los Roques Archipielago National Park, Venezuela

Authors

  • Andrzej Antczak Simón Bolívar University
  • Maria Magdalena Antczak Simón Bolívar University
  • Gustavo Gonzalez Hurtado
  • Konrad A. Antczak College of William & Mary, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.10.2013.24.13

Keywords:

Community archaeology, pre‑ Hispanic past, ‑ socio cultural identity, Los Roques Archipelago, Venezuela

Abstract

Convinced that archaeology as a past‑ oriented discipline should exert a transformative impact on the present, we discuss a series of initiatives that aim at interweaving the past of the Los Roques Archipelago, located 135 km off the central coast of Venezuela, into its present‑ day community life. Pioneering archaeological research carried out on these islands since 1982 revealed an unexpectedly rich volume of diversified artifacts and contextual information on the Amerindian seamen who seasonally exploited the local natural resources between A.D. 1200 and 1500. We are confident that despite the historical discontinuity between the pre‑ Hispanic seamen and the current population of the archipelago, the vibrant and colorful archaeological past will reach the present‑ day inhabitants, enriching their socio‑ cultural identity and influencing their way of life that currently oscillates entrapped between fishing and tourism‑ oriented activities. We discuss the aims and methodology of community archeology activities that include talks, exhibits, publications, documentary films and – above all – archaeological workshops that bring together the archaeologists and Los Roques schoolchildren in experiential archaeological events.

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Author Biographies

Andrzej Antczak, Simón Bolívar University

Received his Ph.D. in Prehistoric Archaeology from the Institute of Archaeology, University College London in 1999; previously studied Ethnography at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland and Anthropology at the Universidad Central de Venezuela. Currently, Professor at the Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela. With M. M. Antczak he funded and co‑ directs the Archaeology Research Unit at the same university. Since 1982 he has been co‑ directing (with M.M. Antczak) pioneering archaeological investigations on the off shore islands of the Venezuelan Caribbean. His recent books include: Los Idolos de las Islas Prometidas; Arqueología Prehispánica del Archipiélago de Los Roques (Editorial Equinoccio, 2006); Los Mensajes Confiados a la Roca (Editorial Equinoccio, 2007) (both co‑ authored with M.M. Antczak), and Early Human Impact on Megamolluscs (Archaeopress, 2008) (co‑ edited with R. Cipriani).

Maria Magdalena Antczak, Simón Bolívar University

Ph.D. Institute of Archaeology, University College London 2000; anthropologist Central University of Venezuela, Caracas; studied ethnography at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan), is Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology at Simón Bolívar University in Caracas, co‑ founder and co director (with A. Antczak) of the Archaeology Research Unit at the same university. Since 1982 she co‑ directed (with A. Antczak) pioneering archaeological investigations on the off shore islands of the Venezuelan Caribbean. Her academic interests include (re)construction of past social realities both in pre‑ Hispanic (island mainland relations) and colonial north‑central Venezuela, method and theory of meaning attribution and signifying practices applied to the study of representational material culture, using approaches of cognitive, symbolic and contextual archaeology. Her recent publications (with A. Antczak) include the monographs Los Ídolos de las Islas Prometidas: Arqueología Prehispánica del Archipiélago de Los Roques (2006); Los Mensajes Confiados a la Roca (2007) and Their World in Clay: The Art of Pre‑Hispanic Venezuela, in Ancient American Art 3500 BC‑AD 1532: Masterworks of the Pre Columbian Era (2011).

Gustavo Gonzalez Hurtado

Studied Oceanography in La Salle Foundation of Natural Sciences and received his M.Sc. in Development and Environment in the Simón Bolivar University in Caracas in 2007. His interests focus on the social aspects of development and its impact on the natural and socio‑ cultural environment. Since 2007 has been a research associate at the Archaeological Research Unit of the same university, focusing on the social and community aspects of the projects carried out by the unit. He has participated in archaeology and archaeological community projects, and social and environmental management in the Los Roques Archipelago National Park and in the Los Testigos Archipelago.

Konrad A. Antczak, College of William & Mary, USA

M.A./Ph.D. research student in historical archaeology at the College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. He has long‑term experience and interest in the 17th-19th century historical archaeology of the southern Caribbean.

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2013-05-15

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Antczak, Andrzej, Maria Magdalena Antczak, Gustavo Gonzalez Hurtado, and Konrad A. Antczak. 2013. “Community Archaeology in Los Roques Archipielago National Park, Venezuela”. Politeja 10 (2 (24):201-32. https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.10.2013.24.13.

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Vol. 10 No. 2 (24) (2013): Venezuelan studies

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