[Aztlan] ME, AR: Nicaraguan columns/large statues; Transport speculations

[kevin farley]

Dear Geoff,
            Thanks for your response , and for the articules on the M-P Style , and voyage simulations. (viz. possible water-borne despersal of  Lake Nicaragua large stone statues).
             Their clarafication is welcome , and my enthusiam is undimmed.
             As you say capability doesn't prove actuality.
             What is "Art for Archeology's Sake'"?  I couldn't find it in the N.Y. City's Library catalogue. Seems like something I should be looking into. A book?...periodical?
              Is the S. American area in  the voyage simulations at all related to the Taino culture?
               I've come to feel that the "advanced" development of Taino stone artworks is  somewhat of a mystery! ..and have heard they had the ballgame also !?
            Does anything like the Nicaragua statues turn up in central Pacific  Mexico sculpture ? 
               I ask because so many of the works I saw in Granada looked like they were sketched out "blanks" ,that were waiting to be finished , perhaps elsewhere (?).  OR had weathered down and lost detail(?).                                                    
mccaffer at ucalgary.ca wrote:  Thanks for your views,   Kevin
                 P.S. What is the intent of your up-coming project outside Granada?!?
  Kevin, the studies I am familiar with for currents as aids to water travel
are mainly located on the Pacific coast. I've attached a recent article
by my colleague Richard Callaghan that deals with this.

As with the problem of Heyerdahl, demonstrating a capability does not
necessarily mean that long-distance exchange occurred. Yes, the Rio San
Juan connects Lake Nicaragua with the Atlantic, and the dugout canoes that
are described by early Spanish explorers undoubtedly moved between the two
zones. But there is no reason to believe that they transported huge
stones from one place to another, even if they had the engineering skill
to do so. For one thing, the early mounds described by Gassiot pre-date
the Zapatera sculptures by about 1000 years. And the 'mounds' that were
described were not pyramids but piles of shellfish from coastal camps.

A more likely example for this kind of transport of raw material is the
case of the Olmec moving their basalt sculptures from the volcanic Tuxtla
mountains, where again they probably had to use water-born shipping to
facilitate the transport. There chemical analysis has been used to source
the raw materials to their quarries.

Hope this clarifies without dimming your enthusiasm.

Geoff

       
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