Rock paintings on El Hierro

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The rock carvings on El Hierro were created by the Bimbaches , the indigenous people of the island. Up until the beginning of the 2nd millennium, most of the Canary Islands rock art was found on El Hierro . These are exclusively petroglyphs . Rock paintings have not yet been discovered on El Hierro.

Types of rock art

At the places where the petroglyphs were found, there are often different types of characters on a panel. These do not necessarily have to be created at the same time.

Differentiation of the rock paintings according to motifs

Geometric shapes are common in El Hierro's rock art. Lines are shown that are rectangular, square, cross-shaped, triangular, diamond-shaped, oval , elliptical , as well as concentric circles and semicircles, spirals , meanders , labyrinths , etc. In the northern part of the island these motifs appear less often, in the southern part of the island they appear against them more often.

Figurative representations on the petroglyphs allow the depicted motif to be identified. There are anthropomorphic (depicting people), zoomorphic (depicting animals) petroglyphs. The depiction of footprints ( Podomorfos ) was found in the El Julan area .

Rock inscriptions are the most important part of the petroglyphs on El Hierro Island. In at least 19 places on almost 100 panels, characters from a script known as the Libyan-Berber script of the Canary Islands have been found .

Differentiation of the rock paintings according to production technique

Most of the petroglyphs on El Hierro Island were made using a technique in which the lines were created by hitting the ground with a stone. With this technique, the line consists of many small indentations. This makes it easy to create rounded lines. In some cases an attempt was probably made to connect the individual points by scraping. It is difficult to determine whether this connection of the dots was already used in the production of the petroglyphs or was added later.

Another method involves carving V-shaped indentations into the stone. Very pointed or sharp tools were required for this. Some rock inscriptions were created using this technique, especially in the north of the island.

References

Most of the petroglyphs on El Hierro are found in the north of the island. The archaeological site of El Julan, one of the most important sites, is located in the southeast of the island. Most of the petroglyphs are in the open air. Some significant finds were made in caves, especially at their entrances. Petroglyphs have been found on the island at all altitudes. The site of La Restinga is only 100 m from the sea at an altitude of about 25 m. The Cueva del Agua is about 1080 m above sea level. The vertical walls of the Barrancos in the north of the island were primarily chosen as the underground for the petroglyphs. In the south, the more horizontal, flat surfaces of the cooled lava flows form the subsoil.

A large part of the petroglyphs was found in places where other archaeological finds indicate a social or religious significance of the petroglyphs. The large number of panels in different styles at the Archaeological Site of El Julan suggest that they were made at different times by different people. There is reason to believe that these petroglyphs were created in a ritual that was repeated. With rock art stations that consist of only one or two panels, social connections are less likely.

At other places where petroglyphs are found, there are no links to finds such as festival sites, sacrificial sites, houses, caves or burial sites. This leads to the fact that the archaeologists are not able to develop a hypothesis at some sites why the petroglyphs were placed exactly at this point, far from other finds.

Scientific research into the rock art of El Hierro

While the figurative motifs of the North African petroglyphs can provide indications of their time of origin, the conveyed content of the rock art with figurative motifs that can be found on the Canary Islands is low. The scientific research on El Hierro focuses increasingly on the area of ​​the great variety of rock inscriptions and considers the connection to the petroglyphs with geometric and figurative motifs.

In 1870 the cleric Aquilino Padrón y Padrón became aware of the petroglyphs of Los Letreros in the south of the island of El Hierro. He informed various domestic and foreign experts about his findings and published a report in 1873. The French consul on Tenerife , Sabin Berthelot , recognized the scientific importance of the illustrations made by Don Aquilino and wrote a written statement. The French general and colonial administrator in North Africa, Louis Faidherbe, published a statement. He found a great similarity between the characters of El Hierro and the characters in North Africa described in his book "Phoenician Inscriptions" (Epigraphie phénicienne). In the following time more and more rock inscriptions were found on the other Canary Islands. An intensive scientific study of these findings did not take place. Until 1964, there was no comprehensive account or study of the inscriptions found in the Canary Islands. The information was limited to descriptions and short notes on the sites. In 1964 the monograph "Inscripciones líbicas de Canarias" (Libyan inscriptions of the Canary Islands) was published. For the first time in the island's history, almost a century after the first information emerged, a book was devoted entirely to this subject

Collection of characters from the island of El Hierro (without variants)

Many of the inscriptions were already drawn in the last decades of the 19th century. The results were often unsatisfactory. When drawing the same object, the characters were usually rendered differently. In 2008, a project initiated and financed by the Monument Authority of the Canary Islands (Dirección General de Cooperación y Patrimonio Cultural del Gobierno de Canarias) began on El Hierro to inventory alphabetical inscriptions in the area of ​​Canarian rock art (Inventario de inscripciones alfabéticas en el ámbito rupestre canario). As part of the project, all known rock inscriptions on El Hierro were documented using modern techniques. This enabled a detailed analysis of the historical material. An attempt was made to create an "Alphabet from El Hierro" in which all characters and their variants were recorded that appear on the almost 100 panels of Libyan-Berber inscriptions on the island.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Renata A. Springer Bunk: Origen y uso de la Escritura líbico-bereber en Canarias . 2nd Edition. Centro de la Cultura Popular Canaria, Tenerife, Gran Canaria 2003, ISBN 84-7926-395-4 , pp. 26 (Spanish).
  2. ↑ Renata Ana Springer Bunk: The Libyan-Berber inscriptions of the Canary Islands in their rock painting context . Köppe, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-89645-942-8 , pp. 23 .
  3. ↑ Renata Springer Bunk: La escritura líbico-bereber de las Islas Canarias ¿uno o varios alfabetos? In: Tabona: Revista de Prehistoria y de Arqueología . No. 21 , 2016, ISSN  0213-2818 , p. 31 (Spanish, [1] [accessed June 11, 2018]).
  4. ↑ Renata Ana Springer Bunk: The Libyan-Berber inscriptions of the Canary Islands in their rock painting context . Köppe, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-89645-942-8 , pp. 24 .
  5. ^ Consejería de Turismo, Cultura y Deportes: Grabados Rupestres de la Restinga. Bienes de Interés Cultural. Gobierno de Canarias, accessed May 26, 2018 (Spanish).
  6. ↑ Hartwig-E. Steiner: Old Canarian sites in Las Playas / El Hierro I. The "Cueva del Letime" or "Cueva del Agua" - cave sanctuary or place of refuge? In: Almogaren . No. 33 , 2001, p. 333 ( [2] [accessed June 10, 2018]).
  7. ↑ Renata Ana Springer Bunk: The Libyan-Berber inscriptions of the Canary Islands in their rock painting context . Köppe, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-89645-942-8 , pp. 23 .
  8. ↑ Renata Springer Bunk: La escritura líbico-bereber de las Islas Canarias ¿uno o varios alfabetos? In: Tabona: Revista de Prehistoria y de Arqueología . No. 21 , 2016, ISSN  0213-2818 , p. 31 (Spanish, [3] [accessed June 11, 2018]).
  9. ↑ Renata Ana Springer Bunk: The Libyan-Berber inscriptions of the Canary Islands in their rock painting context . Köppe, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-89645-942-8 , pp. 42 .
  10. ↑ María de la Cruz Jiménez Gómez, Renata Springer Bunk, Maria Teresa Ruíz González, Sixto Sánchez Perera: La estación rupestre de Los Saltos (La Restinga, El Hierro) . In: Tabona: Revista de Prehistoria y de Arqueología . No. 17 , 2008, ISSN  0213-2818 , p. 111-140 (Spanish, [4] [accessed June 12, 2018]).
  11. ↑ Renata Springer Bunk: La escritura líbico-bereber de las Islas Canarias ¿uno o varios alfabetos? In: Tabona: Revista de Prehistoria y de Arqueología . No. 21 , 2016, ISSN  0213-2818 , p. 32 ff . (Spanish, [5] [accessed June 11, 2018]).
  12. ↑ Renata Ana Springer Bunk: The Libyan-Berber inscriptions of the Canary Islands in their rock painting context . Köppe, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-89645-942-8 , pp. 17 .
  13. ↑ Juan Álvarez Delgado: Inscripciones líbicas de Canarias: ensayo de interpretación líbica . J. Regulo, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1964 (Spanish, [6] [accessed July 24, 2018]).
  14. ↑ Renata A. Springer Bunk: Origen y uso de la Escritura líbico-bereber en Canarias . 2nd Edition. Centro de la Cultura Popular Canaria, Tenerife, Gran Canaria 2003, ISBN 84-7926-395-4 , pp. 49 (Spanish).
  15. ↑ Renata Ana Springer Bunk: The Libyan-Berber inscriptions of the Canary Islands in their rock painting context . Köppe, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-89645-942-8 , pp. 62 .
  16. ↑ Werner Pichler: Report on the current state of research and preservation of the Libyan-Berber rock inscriptions on the Canary Islands . In: Almogaren . No. 39 , 2008, p. 118 ( [7] [accessed June 11, 2018]).
  17. ^ Sixto Sánchez Perera, Teresa N. Ruíz González: Nuevas perspectivas en el estudio de las manifestaciones rupestres de El Hierro . In: Cabildo de Lanzarote (ed.): VII Congreso de Patrimonio Histórico. Inscripciones Rupestres y poblamiento del Archipiélago canario . Cabildo de Lanzarote, Arrecife 2010, p. 1 (Spanish, [8] [accessed June 11, 2018]).
  18. ↑ Renata Ana Springer Bunk: The Libyan-Berber inscriptions of the Canary Islands in their rock painting context . Köppe, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-89645-942-8 , pp. 62 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ “When taking stock of the rock art, the smallest units given by nature, the panels, are taken as a starting point. This designation means a coherent surface that can be understood as "writable". " Renata Ana Springer Bunk: The Libyan-Berber inscriptions of the Canary Islands in their rock art context . Köppe, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-89645-942-8 , pp. 5 .

literature

  • Renata Ana Springer Bunk: The Libyan-Berber inscriptions of the Canary Islands in their rock art context . Köppe, Cologne 2014, ISBN 978-3-89645-942-8 .