I love how folklore and legends weave their way through art throughout our history and into the modern era. Whether you look at modern Japanese anime or ancient cultures showing gods and goddesses on statues it’s part of the human experience. My fascination with ethnographic items (especially masks) originates in the representation of lore in art.
My fascination extends to archeology where I see distinctive artistic themes that connecting ancient peoples. Since I don’t have a degree in archeology perhaps I’ll have to create my own new segment of archeology. I’ll call it Art-Archeology, a new pseudo-archeology category. As a quick reference point, let’s take a look at megalithic art in the Bada Valley in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia versus megalithic art in Chachapoyas, Peru, versus megalithic art on Rapa Nui.
If you take into account the Polynesian expansion of over 10,000 years ago and the DNA origin (Mainland Southeast Asia) evidence, I personally believe that you can clearly see recognizable patterns in the art. I don’t think academia is relating the three cultures and doubt archeologists would agree with my conjecture that the Polynesian reached Peru (I’m fairly sure they did), but the art says that these cultures are likely related. What do you think?
Tropenmuseum, part of the National Museum of World Cultures, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
By Papiermond, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Aurbina, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
If you take into account the Polynesian expansion of over 10,000 years ago and the DNA origin (Mainland Southeast Asia) evidence, I personally believe that you can clearly see recognizable patterns in the art. I don’t think academia is relating the three cultures and doubt archeologists would agree with my conjecture that the Polynesian reached Peru (I’m fairly sure they did), but the art says that these cultures are likely related. What do you think?
