Territorializing/decolonizing South American prehistory: Pedra Furada and the Cerutti Mastodon. Issue 1 (1st January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Turnbull, David
• Is Part Of: Tapuya. Volume 2:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 127
• Page End: 148
• Publication Date: 2019-01-01
• Subjects: Serra da Capivara -- rock art -- narratives of prehistory -- performativity -- theater of knowledge; Serra da Capivara -- arte do rock -- narrativas da pré-história -- performatividade -- teatro do conhecimento; Serra da Capivara -- arte en piedra -- narrativas de la prehistoria -- performatividad -- teatro del conocimiento; Science -- Latin America -- Periodicals; Science and state -- Latin America -- Periodicals; Technology -- Latin America -- Periodicals; Technology and state -- Latin America -- Periodicals; Economic development -- Latin America -- Periodicals; 338.98
• DOI: 10.1080/25729861.2019.1647759
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2572-9861

Abstract

ABSTRACT: South American rock art and prehistory with all its controversies is a rich site for exploring the processes of territorialization through which humans shape their understanding of the world in their earliest movements through the environment, and also for examining how narratives of prehistory are woven. The paper examines the debate over the Cerutti Mastodon and why Serra da Capivara, one of the largest rock art complexes in the world, remains in analytic limbo. It suggests that rethinking these two examples may offer a possible way out of some of the analytic difficulties in South American prehistory through a decolonizing approach to understanding the reasons for the rejection of the Cerutti Mastodon, and the lack of recognition of Serra da Capivara's most important site – Bocqueirã da Pedra Furada (PBF).