 |
THE ROCK ART OF ARVOREDO ISLAND BY JOHN ROBINSON
|
As part of the Bradshaw Foundation expedition to view the
rock art of Santa Catarina, I was able to visit the Island of Arvoredo. Like the
Island of Campeche in that its coastline is a barrier of pink granite boulders, it is covered in a similar dense tropical vegetation, but it is twice the size, and has no welcoming beach. This means that the island is seldom visited.
Keler Lucas organised a Scuba Dive vessel for the hour long journey out to the northern end of the island. The boat moored about 100 yards off shore as a 4 foot high swell was running. We transferred to an outboard driven inflatable dinghy, and the captain ferried us to within 20 feet of the island. Keler jumped in with a rope around his waist and swam towards the formidable shoreline. The swell washed him up against the great rounded rocks, and then sucked him off again. The landing looked impossible, but on the third attempt he managed to scramble up free of the sea.
The captain put out a stern anchor to hold the dinghy in position, enabling Keler to pull the bow up to the rocks with the outboard going in reverse. As a wave rose, Keler pulled, I jumped, and the boat quickly backed off so that it wouldn't be caught on an angle and tipped over. Was getting back on board going to be so easy?
Like
Campeche Island, Arvoredo has several important works of rock art, notably
The Great Panel of Arvorado, a complex panel of made up circles, dots, lines and manikin like figures, that must rank as one of the most petrogylphs on
Santa Catarina. I was also able to see the
Arvoredo Mask, a particulaly fine example in terms of size and detail.
The Great Panel of Arvorado
Coastline of the Island of Arvoredo
THE ROCK ART OF SANTA CATARINA INDEX
