Long-lost art of a vanished civilization found on uninhabited island in Caribbean

Greetings, just popping in to leave you this to those interested.

The Caribbean Taino culture was the first people that Columbus encountered, and were subsequently enslaved and nearly decimated by the explorers.
Not much of their art had survived, but according to this archaeologists have found thousands of paintings in the caves of a small island called Mona.

Independent article

British and Puerto Rican archaeologists are now rediscovering the spiritual heart of that culture – the world’s largest concentration of Taino art, located on a tiny and remote uninhabited island called Mona, midway between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. So far, literally thousands of previously unknown Taino drawings and paintings have been found in 30 caves on the island. More than 100 caves have yet to be explored – and it’s likely that many more artworks will be discovered.

Mona’s cave art is not just the largest concentration of Taino art in the world. It may also reveal much about the role of this remote island in pre-Columbian times.

Caves were absolutely central to Taino religion and society. According to Taino mythology, caves were where the first humans came from. They were also the places where the sun and the moon were originally born. Additionally, caves were frequently used as human burial places – and were seen as locations were ancestral spirits and deities could be communed with. It is perhaps significant that the island of Mona not only has the largest single concentration of Taino art, but that it also has one of the largest and densest concentrations of caves in the entire Caribbean region. It is therefore probable that the island had a much wider cultural importance beyond its shores – and likely had a religious, ceremonial and ritual importance for people in a broader stretch of the central Caribbean, especially what is now Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Interestingly it has precolombian archaeological evidence linking it culturally to both places.

The surreal – indeed often dreamlike – nature of Mona’s cave art could well be courtesy of ancient hallucinogenic drugs. One very early 16th century Spanish observer described Taino ceremonies in which participants went into trances through the consumption of special plant seeds. During these hallucinogenically-powered proceedings, Taino shamans sought to communicate with their community's ancestors and deities.

For those familiar with Graham Hancock's work it's interesting to note that last bit, here's another ancient culture among others all over the world that participated in hallucinogenic rituals and represented the visionary art in their cave art.
Entoptic patterns, symbols, and human- animal hybrids and monsters are to be found in caves all over the world.

Knowledge about the Taino civilisation is also important for the rest of the world – not least because of the largely unappreciated Taino contribution to modern international culture. Europeans first learnt about rubber, tobacco, sweet potatoes, sweet corn and many fruits from the Tainos – and indeed the modern English words canoe, hammock, tobacco, hurricane, maize, potatoes, guava, papaya, savanna and barbecue are all loan words from the Taino language. What’s more, the names of many towns and cities in the Caribbean are Taino (including the Cuban capital, Havana) as are the names of several countries including Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti. The name of the region itself – the Caribbean – is also of Taino origin.

I didn't know all these words came from Taino, learn something new everyday.

Catch you later!

a reply to: athousandlives

Kool find, the name for Jamaica was Xaymaca, meaning land of wood and water , the Spanish named it Haimaca, when the English took over they called it Jamaica.

Great food stuff like you said including BBQ, with those Scotts Bonnet peppers, which helped put Jamaica on the map known as Jerk. the coat of arms gave a shout out to them.

In Jamaica they were known as Arawaks ,they lived on the coast, but could not adapt to the mountains, as a kid on a school trip I remembered, their last holdout as a group, I remembered feeling sad when the tour guide told this was where they died.

None exist in Jamaica as a people, but some Jamaicans may carry their DNA,..Cuba and Haiti/Dominican Republic still have populations of them.

a reply to: athousandlives

And then the Europeans came:

With the establishment of La Isabella, and the discovery of gold deposits on the island, the Spanish settler population on Hispaniola started to grow substantially, while disease and conflict with the Spanish began to kill tens of thousands of Taíno every year. By 1504, the Spanish had overthrown the last of the Taino cacique chiefdoms on Hispaniola, and firmly established the supreme authority of the Spanish colonists over the now-subjugated Taíno. Over the next decade, the Spanish Colonists commenced a brutal genocide against the remaining Taíno on Hispaniola, who suffered poor living conditions, disease, massacres, rapes, and enslavement at the hands of the colonists. The population of Hispaniola at the point of first European contact is estimated at between several hundred thousand to over a million people, but by 1514, it had dropped to a mere 35,000.[5] By 1509, the Spanish had successfully conquered Puerto Rico and subjugated the approximately 30,000 Taíno inhabitants. By 1530 there were 1148 Taíno left alive in Puerto Rico.

- Arawak

-----

I wish I were living back then hanging out half naked in the Caribbean doing entheogens. That be the life. Minus any fighting, conflicts and bad stuff of course.

a reply to: athousandlives

according to this archaeologists have found thousands of paintings in the caves of a small island called Mona.

Probably their last redoubt trying to hide from murderous, slaving Spaniards.

It didn't matter, Spain was on a 'Mission from God'.

a reply to: athousandlives

That art is beautiful--I so adore the simplicity of the art of ancient cultures (at least in things like cave art). The double-lined style is really nice in that 'crying face'...I wish that there were more pictures. I'll research it more later, but thanks for posting this. Ancient cultures on this side of the world have a bit more intrigue to me because there seems to be so much more that is unknown compared to Eurasian and (north) African counterparts.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: athousandlives

according to this archaeologists have found thousands of paintings in the caves of a small island called Mona.

Probably their last redoubt trying to hide from murderous, slaving Spaniards.

It didn't matter, Spain was on a 'Mission from God'.

Sorry to say this, but at least in the case of Jamaica the Afro Spanish, contributed to their demise, as the Island was severely lacking in women, the Africans would at times killed the men and take the women, in this they were no different than the Spanish.. By the time the British took over from the Spanish there were less than a hundred, the Anglo Africans under the Brits would not have met many.

This may be the first Taino artwork I have ever seen. It bears a slight resemblance to Australian aborigine art in it's simple use of line. The second picture they call a crying face appears more like a Sun figure to me. Not much to go with for pictures unfortunately. I believe most of the art was done on objects which time has destroyed; beadwork, shells, wood, etc.

Nice, but the title says "civilization" whereas the OP says "culture."

I'm not nit-picking here, but that's a large contradiction and I felt it necessary to say something, given the posters in this section that will jump at the title.

Harte

a reply to: athousandlives


Cue the ancient alien idiots

originally posted by: norhoc
a reply to: athousandlives


Cue the ancient alien idiots

As of yet, no one has thrown that out there you ass hat.

If anyone is gonna muddy this thread it’s you with your limp rhetoric.

How about just appreciating a thread for its subject matter rather looking for drama..?

a reply to: athousandlives

Nice but from thousands of paintings we get to see 2? Where is the rest? Also fresh water lakes in the caves so good place to hide from the Spanish how deep would they have gone underground to survive? More questions then answers ..

Nice!

love too see more of the Paintings

Hybrids & Monsters ohh My!

from the Article,
what I did see is a Face a Tearful face with something representing flares points
around it more like a Drawing of the Sun




typical Sun Worshiping symbol in Pre Columbia
from the indigenous People .

originally posted by: Harte
Nice, but the title says "civilization" whereas the OP says "culture."

I'm not nit-picking here, but that's a large contradiction and I felt it necessary to say something, given the posters in this section that will jump at the title.

Harte

LOL

I BET,

that you don't get invited to parties Much , do you Harte ?

Ohh boy

Culture ( way of life ) and Civilization (* advancement of Man aka Tech )
both in the zone of Gathering



but for a Stance .



as usual too me Harte it blends together.

gotta have a culture before you can have a civilization
Right?

Although a Civilization can change , Alter, bend a Culture



better then the Architects of fear I guess ,

a reply to: intrptr

Wow - you need to go back to History Class if you believe that.

originally posted by: Steak
a reply to: intrptr

Wow - you need to go back to History Class if you believe that.

You may want to rethink giving out advice on topics you don't seek to know as much about as you personally believe you do.

The major European powers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries took very different approaches to American Indians. For the French, the Indians were potential trading partners. The English were interested in Indian land and therefore the Indians were simply in the way. For the Spanish, the situation was more complex. On one level the Spanish viewed Indians as a form of labor which could be exploited and the success of the Spanish colonies in the Americas was based on this exploitation. On another level, they viewed the Indians as having souls which could be brought to their God.

One part of the Spanish conquest of the Americas focused on religion: on their need to convert Native Americans to the one true religion. The Spanish viewed Indians as heathen savages who worshipped devils. Therefore, Indians would spend eternity suffering the tortures of hell unless they were saved. The Spanish viewed baptizing someone in the true faith, even forcibly, as an incomparable act of love; an act which could save that soul from an eternity of excruciating torment; an act which would provide an opportunity for everlasting ecstasy. From the Spanish perspective, any Native resistance to conversion was seen as the work of Satan.

Different European cultures viewed the indigenous people of the Americas quite differently. The Spanish were very focused on conversion or death because it was their mission to bring all of gods childrej to the one true religion under Christ. It's why we see an estimated populations of 10-12 million Arawak dwindle to tens of thousands at most within a couple of decades and why Franciscans and Jesuits alike were all too happy to destroy the cultural traditions and physical remnants of to his early cultures like when all known Mayan Codices were burned like it was 1937 Germany and the books were authored by Jews.


ETA- nativeamericannetroots.net...

originally posted by: Wolfenz

originally posted by: Harte
Nice, but the title says "civilization" whereas the OP says "culture."

I'm not nit-picking here, but that's a large contradiction and I felt it necessary to say something, given the posters in this section that will jump at the title.

Harte

LOL

I BET,

that you don't get invited to parties Much , do you Harte ?

Ohh boy

Culture ( way of life ) and Civilization (* advancement of Man aka Tech )
both in the zone of Gathering



but for a Stance .

as usual too me Harte it blends together.

gotta have a culture before you can have a civilization
Right?

Although a Civilization can change , Alter, bend a Culture



better then the Architects of fear I guess ,

Yes, I agree with all of that.

However, a "lost civilization" is a FAR more important find than a "lost culture."
Especially when the culture was "lost" within the historical period.

Not to mention that people here base entire belief systems on ancient unknown civilizations, not ancient unknown cultures.

Harte

Really cool find. Made for some very enjoyable reading.

originally posted by: Harte

originally posted by: Wolfenz

originally posted by: Harte
Nice, but the title says "civilization" whereas the OP says "culture."

I'm not nit-picking here, but that's a large contradiction and I felt it necessary to say something, given the posters in this section that will jump at the title.

Harte

LOL

I BET,

that you don't get invited to parties Much , do you Harte ?

Ohh boy

Culture ( way of life ) and Civilization (* advancement of Man aka Tech )
both in the zone of Gathering



but for a Stance .

as usual too me Harte it blends together.

gotta have a culture before you can have a civilization
Right?

Although a Civilization can change , Alter, bend a Culture



better then the Architects of fear I guess ,

Yes, I agree with all of that.

However, a "lost civilization" is a FAR more important find than a "lost culture."
Especially when the culture was "lost" within the historical period.

Not to mention that people here base entire belief systems on ancient unknown civilizations, not ancient unknown cultures.


Harte

right..

Well ..

will in the same page similar cultures lead too similar civilizations even when they are

oceans apart

Especially in the Sun Worship Realm .


what seems too be the case in this great find that the OP
had Posted..

talk about a long lost civilization

Is Puma Punku aka in Tiwananaco

Amazing Site of technology
lost technology.

from a Supposed claim of Indigenous People
that only had a Written Language of Rope Knotting ..
and a similar culture as like the Mayans .

disregard

Fascinating, thanks for sharing.