Ancestral messages

A book by Carlos Etchevarne, the archeologist who won the 2006 Clarival do Prado Valladares Award, reveals the rich trove of prehistoric rock graphics found in Brazil

Petra is the Latin word for rock, and hence, the Bible says that Man built the Roman Catholic Church on the “rock” of St. Peter (Petros in Greek and Petrus in Latin). Humans also left the first tentative “sketches” of their ideas and impressions on the solid surfaces of rock shelters, caves, bluff faces, slabs and other rocky outcrops, recording their adventures and leaving their first messages. As a result, when the Portuguese first arrived in Bahian territory, it already contained an “archive” – an extraordinary collection of drawings, engravings and paintings – on and in its rock formations. They are invaluable records of the presence and activities of the earliest inhabitants of that area, who were probably the ancestors of the indigenous groups that came to occupy it.

Part of that ancient history is now being retold in the book Written on Stone: Color, Form and Movement in the Rock Graphics of Bahia, by archeologist and Federal University at Bahia (UFBA) professor Carlos Alberto Etchevarne. It resulted from the research project titled Homem e Natureza – Imagens da Arte Rupestre na Bahia (Man and Nature – Images of Rock Art in Bahia), the winner of the 2006 edition of the Odebrecht Group’s Clarival do Prado Valladares Award (see box). Thanks to the funding provided by this award, which covered both the research and the publication of the book (profusely illustrated with color photographs and published in a luxury bilingual edition in Portuguese and English), Etchevarne was finally able to realize a long-held dream: mapping and classifying the numerous archeological sites he had already located in an ad hoc, unsystematic fashion in different parts of the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia, which is the size of France.

Traveling from the spectacular rock formations of the Chapada Diamantina area to the São Francisco River Valley, as well as covering the “western tablelands” and areas of arid brushland called caatinga, Etchevarne and his team spent nearly nine months traveling, measuring, photographing and recording data about a pre-selected group of known sites. For all of them, this experience was a source of endless discoveries and surprises. “This work was done with enchantment, enthusiasm and passion,” says the archeologist. “It is fascinating to be able to delve into an unknown universe that is thousands of years old, in pursuit of information about people who were just like us – our brothers and our peers.”

Originally known as “rock art,” because these images are painted on or carved in stone (paintings are called “pictographs” and etchings are “petroglyphs”), their real purpose is a source of long-standing debate: are they artistic expressions, or do they represent the beginnings of written communication? To get around this, the preferred term among specialists nowadays is “rock graphics,” which Etchevarne has also adopted. Nevertheless, he cannot help “taking sides”: in his view, these signs and symbols are a form of written communication. However, the archeologist also makes a point of observing in his book that these graphic systems are, above all, mental and symbolic representations that ancient populations produced intentionally and with a clear idea of what they were doing: “The basis of all pictographs and petroglyphs is the act of symbolizing or externally representing individual or collective knowledge, which has been stored or built up through experience.”

Visiting 110 sites in 54 municipalities
Etchevarne’s strategy for determining the underlying basis for the symbolic codes used in communication by discovering common elements and repetitions involved visiting and analyzing 229 locales containing rock paintings (pictographs) and engravings (petroglyphs), in a total of 110 sites in 54 previously surveyed municipalities. Among the most important sites, due to their historic significance and beauty, the archeologist lists Toca da Figura, Toca do Pepino, in Morro do Chapéu, Pedra da Figura, in Utinga, and As Paridas, in the municipality of Lençóis.

Some of the names that local residents have given to certain spots already give a clue as to the indigenous origins of these inscriptions: Pedra do Índio, Toca do Índio, Lapa dos Tapuias, Pintura dos Caboclos, Toca dos Caboclos, and Lapa do Caboclo. Curiously enough, other place names reinforce the idea that rock graphics are actually a form of writing: Pedra Riscada, Pedra Escrita, Pedra Escrevida and Pedra do Letreiro. While some members of the research team were studying and measuring these sites, others were scouring the archives and libraries, searching for books and documents that could provide additional historical and geographical data. Of course, making contact with the rural and urban communities that live in the vicinity of rock graphics sites was also a vital source of information for this project, as it helped explain the origins of some place names and sometimes led the archeologists to discover new and unsuspected treasures. “On every field trip, during each visit to a locales, we came across some 10, 20 or 50 new sites,” says Etchevarne.

Apart from the challenges involved in any kind of scientific research, Etchevarne’s team faced some difficulties during their field expeditions that were all too real, including the risk of catching sandfly disease (Leishmaniasis), or being bitten by poisonous snakes. But their grit and can-do spirit overcame these obstacles and, by looking for the most concrete elements identified in each site (size, features, architectural structure, shapes and proportions, and mineral pigments used), the archeologist and his team were gradually able to confirm a pattern of intentionality and finally determine the main styles (“traditions,” in archeological terminology) that were repeatedly found in several different areas.

By comparing variations in geographic and geological conditions, Etchevarne was able to develop some theories about the uses and objectives of rock graphics: “Some of them were probably linked to ritual practices,” he says. “Others may have been used to demarcate territory, honor people or perform rituals, or even to record an important event.” Factors such as the size or location of a graphic depiction can also help suggest its objective: “There are enormous bluff faces where graphics can be seen from miles away. They were certainly intended for display. Other figures, however, are tiny and hidden away, which suggests that they were part of a secret code that was intended to be seen by few.”

Etchevarne chooses his words carefully, and the doubts implied by his use of non-absolute terms like “probably,” “may” and “suggests” are deliberate and justified: since we lack a key to decipher this code, it has so far been impossible to arrive at the exact meaning of any pictographs or petroglyphs. “We have managed to identify some styles and partially establish the language, but not its meaning. We have yet to find our Rosetta Stone,” explains Etchevarne, alluding to the famous block of granite that the archeologist Jean-François Champollion used to decipher the principles of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing in the 19th century.

According to French Romanticists, the purpose of all things is to end up in a book, and in this case, the final objective of Carlos Etchevarne’s research project was to produce an art book that would become part of Odebrecht’s Cultural Works collection. Published in a luxury edition, Written on Stone: Color, Form and Movement in the Rock Graphics of Bahia (launched on November 27 at the Palacete das Artes museum in Salvador), contains a representative sample of the archeologist’s work. Its chapters provide a combination of information, theoretical reflections and photographic records (including aerial views) of the 12 most important rock graphics sites in Bahia.

However, Carlos Etchevarne’s work is not done. In addition to seeing Written on Stone published, he and his team are also intent on preserving these sites. To that end, they have carried out a number of projects that look to the future of rock graphics, as well as their past, by including the communities in which those sites are located. One of these measures was an agreement with Odebrecht to publicize and distribute the book in the Bahian countryside, particularly in the areas that Etchevarne and his team visited while the project was underway.

> Award was created in 2003

Classes, educational lectures and prospectuses are helping inform and guide local communities about decisive aspects of eco-tourism and sustainable preservation. In addition to ensuring that the sites remain intact, they will also improve the living standards of local residents. Through these initiatives, Etchevarne wants to consolidate the historical continuity between the ancient and current inhabitants of the region, while reinforcing people’s awareness that both groups are part of the same human adventure.

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