The first settlers of ARUBA

(see note at the bottom of the page ) When in 1499 Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda Landed on this

19,000 hectares of sand and cactus off the coast of Venezuela, he wrote in his logbook that "I came to an island of giants"

Archaeological investigation started around 1880 by a Roman Catholic priest, Van Koolwijk.
He was the first one to make excavations and documenting his finds. He lived on Aruba from 1880 to 1886.
As to date many amateur and professional Archaeologists contributed, in finding most of the Indian's living grounds. In total there are about 109 sites on the Island. From all this information and data the Archaeologists here have concluded that there where different Indian cultures established here, living in different periods.It was chronologically divided in the following periods:

-1 The pre ceramic period (4000 B.C)

-2 The ceramic period (1000 - 1500 A.D.)

-3 The colonial period (1500 - )

The pre ceramic period This period was noticeable by the fact that there was no remains of

pottery, as these Indians did not make any pottery work. Typically a lot of sea shells and oysters where found in these sites. Most of them are near the coast except for one or two, which were more inland, maybe used as a cemeteries (Canashito). They lived in small groups of abouth 10 to 15 people and was constantly moving around. Theire main source of food was from the sea, This was concluded from the amount of sea shells, fish bones, sea turtle carapaces found on the sites and the fact that the soil was not good for agricultural purposes.
Theire dead were covered with lime stones and some were also covered with Sea turtle carapaces, Some stone tools were similar to the ones found on the coast of Venezuela. Was it possible for these Indians to travel from Venezuela, and by which means?. Or was the canal between Aruba and Venezuela one solid land millions of years ago?

The ceramic period

This period was noticeable by all the pottery that was found in the sites, and the lack of sea shells.

Most of the pottery was painted or had some kind of drawing on it, which was also found in sites in Venezuela, belonging to the Dabajuro population belonging to the group of the Caiquetio, who lived in Falcon, in front of the coast of Aruba.
It was also concluded that these Indians in this period were very active in agriculture, and lived where there was a lot of threes. The 3 large and 2 medium size ceramic sites are situated at locations where nowadays good agricultural soil is still found. The ceramic period ended at around 1515 after most of the Dabajuro populations was deported to Hispaniola to work there.

The colonial period

This period has a similarity wiyh the ceramic period, there was the

presence of indian pottery, coral tools shells and 18th century glass beads and shreds of 18th century bottles. There was also evidence of other Indian cultures, most probably new immigrants from Venezuela or Colombia.
In this period Aruba was used by the Spanish and then by the Dutch as a breeding place for cattle and a source of valuable wood such as kwihi, to repair ships. The cattle was herded by the Indians, Under the Dutch ruling there was a ban on settlements of non Indians. In this way the Indian culture was kept until around 1750. After this the Indians moved to the north side of Aruba, so they would be far from the white inhabitants. There was also a yearly visit of priests from Coro (Village in Paraguana, Venezuela) to convert the Indians to Catholicism. In 1750 the first church was build at Alto Vista which was more in the north of the island where the Indians moved.
The permanent presence of the priests on the island led to the destruction of the Indian culture and the way they lived, and they completely disappeared. What still remains is the name of several places that are derived or are indian words, like Arashi, Huliba, Hudishibana.

Pictograph/Petroglyph sites

There are about seventeen sites known today with Indian drawings,

from caves to boulders, In total about 300 pictographs including 2 petroglyps. Most of these sites if plotted on a map, are all linked together in a straight line. It seems not to be randomly chosen. They are chosen for a reason, until today it cannot be explained.
These places are considered as ceremonial places, where they made offers and adored their gods the sun and moon. The colors are usually white or red or brown. From the red color examination revealed that it consisted of an iron oxide, and the white was chalk.

NOTE:
This page on the " first settlers of Aruba " was done for information purpose only. The conclusions or remarks are based on the research done by the author who is not an Archaeologist. Obviously, there is a lot more that needs to be explained, It will take me years to make a precise and detailed research. I will leave this for the experts in this field.
For more detailed information on the Indians of Aruba, contact the local,

ARCHAEOLOGY MUSEUM OF ARUBA
J.E. Irausquinplein 2-A
Tel:297-8-28979 Fax:297-8-38267

Thank you for visiting my page

J. Maduro

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