The natural aboriginal civilizations of a region, in this case Venezuela, are known as native

cultures. These are their typical plastic expressions:

- Ceramic creations of utilitarian items such as vessels and glasses, decorated with geometric
figures, lines and points.

- Anthropomorphic sculptures (both women and men) or animals (related to local fauna such
as alligators, monkeys, birds, snakes, jaguars)

- Cave paintings in the form of pictograms developed with simple, unicolor strokes.

- Ornaments such as necklaces made of gold, pearls, bones, stones or mother-of-pearl shells.
Also crowns made with feathers. Within the clothing ritual they used body paints.

indigenous art

Plastic expressions.-

When dealing with the plastic expressions of our aborigines, it is necessary to clarify that, for
indigenous people, everything is linked to their own culture.

This culture has been conditioned by the environment, its economic needs, beliefs, rituals and
ways of life. We must, therefore, respect this particularity of artistic manifestations: they depend
on other Western cultural aspects and we must value them in their functional, practical, magical-
religious, ideological, symbolic, ceremonial or festive content.

CERAMICS AND SCULPTURE

In the aboriginal plastic expressions of Venezuela, the one that offers the greatest quantity,
value and quality is ceramics. It is also said that the material most studied by Venezuelan and
foreign archaeologists is ceramics.

In the excavations of the different sites, immune pieces have been found; and the findings from
Caño de Oso (Llanos de Barinas), say that the polychrome ceramics found there are the oldest in
Central and South America (more than 1,000 years BC).

Currently, archaeologists continue to excavate to find remains of ceramics, which are said to be
very old.

Variety

For the study of ceramics, we are going to divide it into two parts: The containers and the
anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures or pieces.

Types and shape

Since containers are of many types, they are identified globally with generic names:

Most are called vessels, others are called bowls, glasses, bottles, fountains. Each ceramic has
very varied “shapes”, such as: Global, Semi-spherical, With handles or without handles, With one
or two spillways, With three or four legs (tripoids, retropods), With various bases, edges, necks
and sizes.

Ornamentation

The ornamentation systems are also varied, and are: Modeled, Applied, Embossed, Fluted,
Incised, Excised, Dotted, Painted.

Decorative motifs

The decorative motifs can be: Human figures (anthropomorphic), Animal figures (zoomorphic),
This ornamentation can be represented by zoomorphic or anthropomorphic decorations. Other
decorations are: Geometric figures, Bands, Various lines or points.

The surface can be smooth or rough without polishing. The color: either that of the clay or mud,
or also that determined by the slip. (Slip is a surface layer of fine clay jean, dissolved with water
applied to the surface). This gives it a white, beige or light brown color.

Anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures

“Anthropomorphic”: they are figures that present women and men. Most of the male figures are
represented standing or sitting. Women stand with their knees bent back. “Zoomorphic”: refers
to the regional fauna. The most common animals are: Jaguars, Monkeys, Cachicamos, Chigüires,
Caimans, Snakes, Frogs, Bats, Different birds, Snails.

In a female figure whose name “Venus” was applied by association to the ironically called “Venus
of the Paleolithic”. The adjective “Tacarigua” corresponds to the fact that it was found - by Dr.
Antonio Requena around 1930 - in excavations of Lake Valencia, whose indigenous name is
Tacarigua. An important woman wearing a large ceremonial mask in a ritual dance. According to
others, a woman with an artificial frontal-type cranial abnormality. The statuette is made of
modeled clay. The rectangular head like a canoe and small body.

ARCHITECTURE

There are substantial changes between pre-Hispanic Venezuelan homes and current ones. They
have preserved the original technical and formal characteristics.

A. Homes in the Andean region

The indigenous people of the Andean regions were the only ones who used stone as a
construction material. Remains of walls, platforms for crops, enclosures, perhaps of a defensive
nature, and stone paths are preserved.

The floor plan of the house was rectangular. The walls were made of stone up to the ceiling; just
a one-meter-high stone plinth and bahareque walls. The roof, gabled and with a great
inclination; a single door and no windows.

B. The stilt houses

The type of stilt dwelling built on logs nestled in the water, at the entrance to Lake Maracaibo,
belonged to the culture of the primitive Guajiros.

Currently, both the Paraujans of the Sinamaica Lagoon (Edo. Zulia) like the waraos of the Orinoco
delta, still live in stilt houses.

The Waraos call their home “yanoko”. The logs that serve as piles and the structure are made of
a wood called “cachicamo”.

C.- The Bohío de los Bari

These indigenous people built large multi-family homes, with capacity for 100 people. They were
oval in plan, elongated in shape, with a royal palm roof reaching to the ground. There are no
longer any of these homes left in Venezuelan territory.

D.- The Churuata Yekuana

The Yekuana build large communal houses that house several extended families (members of 3
generations) up to 120 people.

In the Yekuana churuata, the roof symbolizes the vault of heaven, and the central post, the axis
of the world around which the celestial vault rotates.

E.- The churuata piaroa

The roof is conical in shape, and ends in a kind of elegant pointed dome. Unlike the churuata
yekuana, the ceiling reaches to the floor (without walls).

The main symbolic element is the tall central pole, which represents the union of heaven with
mother earth.

F. The Yanomami Shapono

This house, although it looks like a large construction, more or less circular in shape, is made up
of several constructions with a single-slope roof, joined together until the circle is closed around
a large open central space.

The inhabited shapono represents, symbolically, a large upper shapono where the “hekuras”
(spirits) live.
PAINT

Another plastic manifestation of our indigenous culture are cave paintings, also called
“pictography”.

The paintings represented are anthropomorphic, zoomorphic and geometric, with simple lines, a
single stroke or composed of several parallel strokes. Most have a single color.

The figures are isolated or disconnected from each other. Only two sets have been identified
that appear to be hunting scenes.

The sites with the greatest quantity and variety of cave paintings are: “La Cueva del Elefante” in
Edo. Bolívar, “The Cave of the Virgin” in the Edo. Aragua and among others, there is “La Gruta
del Corral Viejo”.

A. The Elephant Cave

It receives that name because it is near a large stone (60 to 80 meters high) which is shaped like
an elephant. The pictographs are on a 40 meter wall. long by 3 meters. wide, which lights up only
once a day, at sunset. It is composed of anthropomorphic (incomplete) and zoomorphic (highly
stylized) figures, along with abstract signs, such as concentric circles, hand prints and
representations of utilitarian objects such as weapons and baskets.

B. The Virgin's Cave

The stone wall (outside the cave) is 10 meters. high by 31 meters. wide, and is covered with
about 80 red figures, painted with reddish or iron oxide, and another 20 engraved figures
(petroglyphs).

BODY GARMENTS

Feather Crowns:

Chroniclers, missionaries and expeditionaries wrote about the showy plumes of feathers of
various colors, whose use as decoration they observed in the indigenous people.

Other crowns have hawk or macaw feathers arranged on the edges of rays: these were typical of
shamans or captains.

Necklaces:

In addition to those described by chroniclers and missionaries, various necklaces have been
found among the archaeological material of indigenous tombs.

They were made of pearls, gold, seashells, bones and semi-precious stones, such as malachite,
jasper or serpentine.
The current indigenous people also make necklaces like this, but the beads preferred by our
indigenous people are beads of different colors, although this glass material does not belong to
their traditions.

Ornament and face paint:

Some indigenous people painted their eyelids, teeth and bodies with onoto and jagua.

Currently, the indigenous people who make the most effort to decorate themselves are the
Yanomami.

The art of painting among indigenous people represents a special symbolism related to their
ancestral customs and myths.

Myths and religion:

Some indigenous people were monotheistic (believing in one God) and others were polytheistic
(believing in several gods).

They had many gods, such as: The Sun and the Moon, The River of Wishes, The Rain, Thunder
and Lightning, etc.

Rituals and Magic:

The shamans of the indigenous tribes used to perform magical spells, either for the members of
the tribe themselves; or when one dies, they perform a ritual so that their soul rests in peace.

Fabrics:

They made two types of fabrics: cotton and fibers. With cotton they made belts, sashes,
guayucos, mosquito nets, hammocks, etc. With the fibers they made bags, baskets, hats, fans,
etc.