Re-thinking the Migration of Cariban-Speakers from the Middle Orinoco River to North-Central Venezuela (AD 800)

Abstract

Moving back in time from the early colonial to the late pre-colonial period we evaluate the hypothesis asserting the migratory movement of Cariban-speaking groups from the Middle Orinoco River area towards north-central Venezuela. The explanation in vogue maintains that the migration followed fluvial routes and occurred between 1350 and 1150 BP (AD 600-800). We examine archaeological, linguistic, ethnohistorical, genetic, and ecological data seeking similarities between the Orinoco emigrants and their northcentral Venezuelan descendants. As a result, we propose an alternative terrestrial/fluvial route and suggest these events occurred between 1150 and 1050 BP (AD 800-900). The route first proceeded upstream along rivers of the central llanos and later followed a natural terrestrial geomorphological corridor into the Lake Valencia Basin. We argue that, while future interdisciplinary (especially archaeo-linguistic and bioarchaeological) research is needed to further assess the results of these analyses, the Orinocan descendants in northcentral Venezuela emerge as one of the most dynamic sociopolitical Cariban-speaking entities in all northeastern South America and the insular Caribbean on the eve of the European Conquest.

Patterns of Style, Diversity, and Similarity in Middle Orinoco Rock Art Assemblages

“…This permitted us to identify, in detail, how the stylistic content of the assemblage varies in both geographical and topological space and, in particular, how diversity apparently does not correlate with connectivity. We have also highlighted some elements of the assemblage that resonate strikingly with parts of the ethnohistorical and archaeological records, in line with other recent scholarship in this area (see Pereira 2001;Antczak et al 2017). We hope cross-disciplinary and cross-regional discussions become a more prominent feature of the rock art studies landscape in lowland South America.…”

“…We do not presume to be authoritative or preclude the validity of prior findings. We hope our work may eventually be compatible for integration with relative chronologies or models of language spread in the Orinoco (see Greer 1995b;Antczak et al 2017;Paez 2018). Regarding taphonomy, we have noted very few direct correlations between the setting of a site and its level of preservation beyond the obvious case of painted art not surviving open air or direct exposure to flowing water.…”

“…We have previously noted the extent to which the Orinoco River itself has altered the petroglyph record, in some cases destroying it (Riris It is worth noting further correlations drawn between the archaeological cultures of the Middle Orinoco and its rock art record. Recent work has highlighted stylistic links between rock art and dated material culture, especially ceramics (Tarble de Scaramelli and Scaramelli 2010;2012;Antczak et al 2017). Notably, the artefacts found at the Cerro Gavilán rockshelter in stratigraphic association with the earliest dates include ochre similar in coloration to the pictographs in the rockshelter.…”

Vibrant pasts in museum drawers: Advances in the study of late precolonial (AD 800–1500) materials collected from north-central Venezuela

“…By AD 800, purported Cariban-speaking migrants from the Middle Orinoco (the Arauquinoid culture) either had absorbed or had been absorbed by the indigenous population of Arawakan-speaking background (the Barrancoid culture) who had dwelt in north-central Venezuela since ca AD 200. 3 The Barrancoid were heirs of barely known ancestors whose cultural history goes back to the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene (13,000-10,500 BP). 4 All these groups settled mainly in the inland Lake Valencia Basin which features the largest permanent land-locked freshwater reservoir in lowland South America north of the Amazon.…”

De quiasmos y perspectivas: encuentro entre mundos y lógicas visuales en la América Tropical

“…Puede pertenecer por tanto a dos ramas culturales distintas: a la andina, asociada comúnmente a los pueblos Timotes, Mucus o Cuicas (Clarac 2017); o bien a culturas que se asentaron en diversos territorios como los Andes, el piedemonte andino y las costas noroccidentales, asociados a los pueblos Arawak, cuyo origen se remonta a las regiones amazónicas (Oliver 1989). En cualquier caso, diversos estudios arqueológicos y etnohistóricos han podido comprobar que antes de la Colonia, las redes de comunicación interétnica eran numerosas y estas culturas mantuvieron constantemente contacto e intercambios entre ellas, haciendo así posible el trasvasije de imaginarios y formas de representación visual (Antczak et al 2017, Gassón 2000.…”