It
is with great pleasure that we welcome a select group of new partners and
their adverts to our home page:
Costão do Santinho Resort, Praia do Santinho, Florianópolis
Condomínio Vento Sul, Barra da Lagoa, Florianópolis
Empreendimento Ilha de Porto Belo, Porto Belo
Pousada Maré de Lua, Ilha do Campeche, Florianópolis
Pousada do Papagaio, Ilha do Papagaio Pequena, Palhoça
Ilha do Coral Ecoturismo, Ilha do Coral, Garopaba
Buana Aventuras, Garopaba
ACIG – Associação Comercial e Industrial de Garopaba
Pousada da Lagoa, Garopaba
Pousada do Panelão, Urubici
It is with great pride that we announce the creation of a network of the above
concerns, all perfectly prepared to host visits from researchers, teachers,
students, artists and lovers of Rupestrian or Rock art. The above operations
offer all that a visitor to the Rock Art sites in Santa Catarina might need
– beds, transport, guides, boats, excellent food, all at low cost, certainly
when compared to US or European tariffs. Please have a look at the adverts
and see for yourself how much the state of Santa Catarina has to offer.
As of August, we will be taking reservations and bookings for the Santa Catarina Rock Art Tour which will take part in November 2002. The main sites for local Rock Art will be visited in the company of researcher Keler Lucas and his team whilst food, overnight stay, transport and guides, as well as other attractions, are all included in the prices.
Meanwhile, 54 new photos have been included on the site and can be found in the following sections: Ilha da Santa Catarina, Florianópolis (Gruta das Pinturas), Barra da Lagoa, Galheta, Mole, Pântano do Sul and Ilha do Coral. Also, the Gaspar and Urubici photos have been substituted.
The discovery of a shelter featuring Rock Paintings on the Island of Santa Catarina (Florianopolis), complete with geometric symbols similar to those seen on the Island of Campeche and other sites on our local coast, is of major importance. Apart from the fact that they are unique in the state, they are big! They cover the whole '‘ceiling’ of the cave, forming an impressive panel alligned in a west-to-east direction and permitting exact dating – the precise whereabouts of this Lascaux or Altamira cave will not be revealed for security reasons but you can see the photos and read a related text by clicking on the Island of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis.
Barra da Lagoa, Galheta, Mole
We have included new photos showing Rock Art and Eco-Tourism
Our project for a future Archaeological and Ecological Park of Barra da Lagoa
and the Galheta Reserve is still running (If running is the right word given
the slow progress being made). Aside from the research done on the archaeological
importance of the area carried out in 1999, in which we registered 64 sites,
the geodetic mapping-out of the megalithic monuments was recently completed.
The theory we were working on, regarding the astronomical alligning of monuments
in the park – solstice and equinox marked by the megaliths -, has been
confirmed by the astronomer Germano Afonos of the Parana Federal University.
Ilha do Campeche
We hoped that the decision to make the island National Historical and Ecological
Patrimony would lead to more care being taken with the Rock Art present, protecting
it from sun, lichen and water erosion, but we were mistaken. Our political
authorities take no interest in rupestrian art and have so far taken two years
over a study into the number of tourists flocking to the island and their
opinions of the place, forgetting the reason for making the island National
Patrimony.
Ilha do Coral
Despite our calls warning of the danger to the
Rock Art on this island in the absence of caring long-term inhabitant Joao
Zeca, who passed away recently after 40 years of good work for this ancient
culture and modern-day treasure, the authorities have not lifted a finger
to ensure continuing protection for the artwork. There were around 50 people
camping on the island over the last weekend of February 2002, every one of
them an unwitting threat to Rock Art.
Operators of ecological tourism and Garopaba- and Pinheira-based fishermen
should get together to impose certain norms on tourism on the Ilha do Coral,
the most vital of which would be the compulsory presence of guides.
We recommend the operator Ilha do Coral from Garopaba, our site partner, if
you want to see the island at its best without harming history.
Garopaba
Ridiculously, the Garopaba council has permitted the opening of a bar and
restaurant in a small fishing-shack on the Ilhote (small island) da Barra.
This decision means the shack has been tripled in size, covering a nearby
sambaqui and destroying the lithic station grinding markings by levelling
the surface of the nearth aroundabouts. The sambaqui is called the Morro do
Indio Carijo (the Carijo Indian Mount) sambaqui, registered by IPHAN and recommended,
in our research of the local area’s archaeological potential in 1999,
as a perfect spot for an outdoor museum/park. The restaurant functioned throughout
the Brazilian summer and has remained in place, its cooking and rubbish disposal
‘blessing’ the sambaqui.
On the famous Casqueira Coastline, between Garopaba Beach and Silveira Beach
– the area which contains the best archaeological sites in the municipality
-, the old path through the Mata Atlantida used by the local fishermen has
been converted into an ‘avenue’ equipped with lighting posts.
It was one of the last remaining APPs (Areas of Permanent Protection).
How long must we put up with these examples of personal gain that ride roughshod over all legislation and affect all of us adversely, destroying our dream of a world ecology governed correctly?
What can be said in favour of a leader in his second legislation who has yet to do anything positive to protect and add value to the 50-plus archaeological sites in the municipality when state law 228/55 and federal laws 3.924/61 and 9.605/91 demand that a council leader must act to conserve the sites?
Seeing as fiscalisation is inefficient, we must exercise our rights as citizens and report this fact to the public ministry responsible, demonstrating how the authorities are not doing their duty!