A cave with rock paintings in Cerro Ací (Colombia, Vaupes) as the dwelling of the Master of animals and object of ancient rock art

Abstract

The article examines rock paintings in a cave in Cerro Aci, a sacred place of indigenous peoples living in the Cananari river basin, a left tributary of the Apaporis (Colombia, Vaupes department). Residents of the nearby multi-ethnic community, where taiwano, cabiyari and tatuyo live together but taiwano predominate, consider the cave in Cerro Aci to be the first maloka – a communal dwelling, the home of the Master of animals, one of the key characters in the traditional religion of the autochthonous population of the Vaupes region. Research interest in this object of ancient rock art is due to the lack of scientific information about it. I record the location of rock paintings in the interior of the sacred cave, describe them, analyze the interpretation of the symbolism of rock paintings proposed by taiwano informants, and evaluate the possibility of determining the ethnic identification of this object. I further compare the pictorial motifs of the sacred cave in Cerro Aci and another nearby rock art monument, Cerro Morocco. Special attention is paid to changes in the attitude of indigenous peoples of the region toward giving the strangers access to sacred places, such as the dwelling of the Master of animals in Cerro Aci.