Lime and blood : the art of the elders (ethnoarchaeology at Azul Pampa, Jujuy Province)

Abstract

Azul Pampa region, Humahuaca Department, Jujuy Province, North West Argentina, is my archaeological and ethnoarchaeological inve"tigation area. Several important rock art archaeological sites are found there, of different periods, dating from ca 10,000 years Bp. to the Spanish conquest. This art is considered by nowadays settlers as made by "ancient people". And some legends are related to those places. At Alto Sapagua (within this region), some inner walls of rooms at the present small village, show paintings. Offspring of the people who made them say alternatively that they were made by "ancient people", or by "the grandparents". This sub-present art, made some 60 years ago, is of great interest, as mythological studies have been made regarding their origin, and offspring still remember which rooms were painted, who did it, which was its purpose, the elements used, and how they prepared them. It seems that in this aspect too, as happens with archaeological and present ceramics (as well as with other ergological element), there is a great technological continuity, which is recognized by present herders, even though they cannot or do not want to consciously register or say that they may have a common root.