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Amórtegui Sánchez, Andrea. (2021). The historical graffiti in San Fernando de Bocachica Fort, Cartagena de Indias, as primary sources for historical archaeology. Bol. Cient. CIOH, 40 (1). pp. 9-18. doi https://doi.org/10.26640/22159045.2021.558

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Abstract

This article is based on a research project in initial stage, formulated to be developed as a degree work until the first semester of 2021; it will aim to present in a summarized way the most important elements of the project and additionally, to emphasize the potential that historical graffiti (its object of study) has for historical archaeology, particularly, for the study of San Fernando de Bocachica For, Province of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. Historical graffiti are understood as archaeological artifacts and more importantly, as acts of communication from their creators. Because of their spontaneous, informal and popular nature, graffiti has the potential to be a valuable primary source of information about people from the past, more precisely, about ordinary people, of whom much is sought in archaeology and in most cases, little is found. Despite this, and the fact that their existence has been reported in different times and places around the world, historical graffiti has not always been seen as an object of archaeological study, and when it has been, research has concentrated on ship graffiti and the information they provide about naval technology, leaving aside other questions related to its symbolic and semiotic dimension. This research focuses on a very particular set of historical graffiti located at San Fernando de Bocachica Fort, an 18th century fortification located at the southern tip of the island of Tierrbomba. Due to its use as a military fortification and as a prison, the study of graffiti is proposed as evidence of the days spent there by its former inhabitants: soldiers, prisoners and possibly, black slaves, all social groups whose history has tended to be relegated. Considering this, the question arises, what was the purpose of making graffiti for these people? In order to answer this question, it is proposed to analyze historical graffiti based on the theory of material culture information exchange and the notion of style, with the aim of establishing the communicative function that these may have had. Based on a previous inventory and conservation work done in 2018 by the restorer-conservators Alvarez, Segura Escobar and Vernaza Hoyos, we seek to advance in the interpretation of the motifs through three methodological phases: phase of description and classification of graffiti according to their formal characteristics, phase of stylistic analysis, and finally, a phase of interpretation linked to contextual aspects.

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Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Grafiti histórico. Arqueología histórica. Arqueología marítima
Geographical coverage :	Colombia. Cartagena de Indias. San Fernando de Bocachica
Depositing User:	Dirección General Marítima
ISSN:	2215-9045
Official URL:	https://ojs.dimar.mil.co/index.php/CIOH/article/vi...
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.26640/22159045.2021.558

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