Activity: Lecture
Co-ordinator: Moray House Trust
Date: Friday 24 August 2012
The timeframe an archaeologist routinely contemplates should give us all pause. In this talk, George Simon offers evidence of habitation in parts of Berbice from thousands of years ago, well before the dawn of Western civilisation. Mr Simon is part of a distinguished line of Guyanese artists and writers (such as Dennis Williams, Wilson Harris and Aubrey Williams) who have spent a considerable part of their professional lives contemplating Guyana’s pre-history. As a Lokorno Arawak who was raised at St Cuthbert’s Mission, Mr Simon is, arguably, particularly well-placed to do this.
An archaeologist is often likened to a detective.
In this talk, Mr Simon describes using armadillo
holes in the savannahs and fallen trees in the
forest in his hunt for ‘clues’ to ancient patterns
of settlement and cultivation.
‘Our Archaeology and the Imaginary’: Video Clips
Part 1: An Overview
Mr Simon began the talk with a look at the occurrence of pre-Columbian raised fields in the Amazonia generally and then in Guyana. Raised fields and ‘mounds’ provide evidence of cultivation thousands of years ago. One mound excavated at Dubulay in Berbice in 2011 has a dating of 3000 BP (before present). Another at Fort Nassau dates from 1800 BP.
http://youtu.be/F5CFwQytbDk
Part 2: Pre-historic settlements in Guyana
George Simon showed local examples of circular mounds and long mounds and gave a fascinating account of the ancient practice of fish cultivation associated with the mounds (still practised in some Amerindian settlements).
http://youtu.be/IxeHM8dfAx0
Part 3: The Dubulay Dig
A detailed look at the stages and processes involved in the archeological dig at Dubulay in 2011.
http://youtu.be/iieUaEWvp60
Part 4: Art and the Environment
George Simon is also a renowned artist. In this section he describes how his archaeological work has influenced his paintings and shows a selection of his paintings from three series, ‘The Shamanic Journey’, ‘The River Journey’ and ‘From Movement to Metamorphosis’.
http://youtu.be/zIwroa4wCFo
Part 5: Questions from the floor.
http://youtu.be/iPYIZgUCI0E
Note: We apologise for the uneven quality of these video clips.