Guara (plug sword)

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Sketch by FE Paris (1841) shows a construction of a balsa raft with lowered and raised guara

Guara (plug swords) are used in connection with a sail to control ocean- going rafts from Peru and Ecuador . Without a sail, guara have neither a function nor an effect. The art of being able to carry out all directional and turning maneuvers, including crossing against the wind, was developed by the Peruvian coastal Indians.

application

The correct interplay between handling the sail and raising and lowering the guara fore and aft is crucial for steering.

distribution

Outside of South America, guara and the knowledge that a raft can be steered perfectly is unknown. In some museums guara with the wrong designation as "ceremonial spade", "rudder" or "special form of a paddle" are exhibited. guara are the most common wooden artifacts found in pre-Hispanic tombs on the Peruvian coast.

nature

The guara are rectangular boards without a stem. They are made of hardwood, mostly from the Peruvian Algarrobo wood. The normal length is 1.75 to 2 m, the width 10 to 25 cm. But there are also larger ones, 3 to 3.5 m long and up to 50 cm wide, these were mainly found in Ecuador. At the top there is a kind of button or handle.

art

As a rule, they are raw, but there are also artistically designed and carefully decorated pieces. The most beautiful are in the Pisco , Paracas and Ica areas in the south of the central coastal section of Peru. Ornate guara from the Chimu area on the north coast often have a free sculpture above the handle. z. B. a bird or an animal figure. The most beautiful Paracas guara have handles with carved and painted birds, fish, people or symbolic ornaments in two or three rows one above the other. Sometimes there are six or eight men standing next to each other in the top row, holding hands.

A few, very elaborate pieces were probably purely ceremonial signs of dignity, but all could have served their practical purpose. The carvings never hinder handling, they are always limited to the end of the handle. The rest of a guara is smooth so it can be easily raised and lowered.

Rediscovery

In 1953, the archaeologists Emilio Estrada (Ecuador), EK Reed (USA), Arne Skjølsvold (Norway) and Thor Heyerdahl (Norway) succeeded in practical experiments in front of the Bay of Playas in Guayaquil (Ecuador) to restore the forgotten art of raft control discover. Later relevant projects include the "Illa-Tiki" and "La Manteña" expeditions from 1994–98.

swell

  • Indians and ancient Asians in the Pacific. The adventure of a theory , Thor Heyerdahl, Wollzeilen, Vienna 1966.
  • La navegacion maritima en el antiguo Peru con éfasis en Tucume y el Valle de Lambayeque . University Press, Lima 1996 (English-Spanish)
  • American indians in the Pacific. The theory behind the Kon-Tiki expedition . Allen & Unwin, London 1952.
  • Kon-Tiki . Ullstein, Frankfurt / M. 2000, ISBN 3-548-36261-3 .
  • Paths across the sea. Migration in the early days . Goldmann, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-442-08977-8 .
  • Between the continents. Archaeological adventure . Heyne, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-453-00892-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Prehistoric Coastal Navigation: The Illa-Tiki and La Manteña expeditions. Retrieved on August 19, 2020 (English).