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Friday, February 27th 2009 [ versión español ]
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Doctor Juan C. Martínez Cruzado coordinated the educational event. |
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The past is the only thing that can be recorded, studied and utilized in order to understand the present and speculate about the future. Conscious of this reality, scientists from different disciplines presented their research on the topic of human beings through the history of the Pre-Columbian Caribbean.
The Second Symposium of Historical Studies took place this past February 13, 2009 at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM), as part of a collaborative effort between various entities, among them the Program of Archaeology Molecular Sciences and Applied Engineering of Historical Studies, the Center for Hemispherical Cooperation in Research and Education in Engineering and Applied Science (CoHemis by its Spanish acronym), the Humanities Department and the Chancellor’s Office.
According to Juan C. Martínez Cruzado, coordinator of the Symposium, the educational event represents a medium that enables the students to become aware of alternate research and allows University professionals to present their work.
“It’s important to know about our past. Due to this necessity, I believe that the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez is the ideal platform for these types of events. Our University has excellent researchers, students and professors that contribute a great deal to the fields of Archeology and Anthropology,” stated the Biology professor.
Doctor Fernando Gilbes Santella, director of CoHemis, mentioned the necessity of promoting interdisciplinary research with respect to the field of Archaeology.
“For CoHemis this event is very natural and necessary, because our purpose is to promote collaborative research, the Symposium carries a message of consciousness about our responsibility,” he indicated.
Renowned personalities in the field of historical research attended the conference, which took place in Room A of the Main Library. Among those in attendance was doctor Robert L. Carneiro, curator of South American Ethnology from the American Museum of Natural History in New York, who shared his findings on chiefs in different ethnic groups in the Amazon.
Before the Symposium, in the Art Gallery of the Carlos E. Chardón Building, the exposition, Archaeological Sample of the Pre-Columbian Cultures in Puerto Rico, a collection owned by José Efraín Irizarry Avilés, was displayed. It’s a representative sample of whole and restored pieces of the indigenous past of Puerto Rico, which has been compiled during a period of 50 years.
“The collection includes pieces of the salaloide tradition, the Taíno culture and the Monserrate style. It’s a rich variety of hatchets, vessels, bottles, necklaces and amulets. For me, it’s very important to present the entire collection of the life and work that has been valued by scholars such as Ricardo Alegría, Loida Figueroa, Enrique Laguerre and Irving Rouse. The collection is in the process of being donated to the UPRM, an Institution considered to be an ideal storehouse for such an effort,” he commented.
Doctor Miriam González, professor of the Hispanic Studies Department, will be in charge of documenting the event. She, along with event organizers, students, and professors will publish the peculiarities of the Symposium.
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Renowned personalities attended the conference. From the left: archaeologist Juan Ortiz Aguiló, and doctors Jalil Sued Badillo, from the Social Sciences Department at UPR Río Piedras Campus; Robert L. Carneiro, from the American Museum of Natural History in New York; Edward Kurjack, from Western Illinois University; and Juan C. Martínez Cruzado, from the Biology Department at UPRM.
The Second Symposium of Historical Studies took place in Room A of the Main Library. In front, doctor Fernando Gilbes Santaella, at an intervention.
The exposition Archaeological Sample of the Pre-Columbian Cultures of Puerto Rico is a collection of whole and restored pieces like this vessel.
The collection includes hatchets, vessels, bottles, necklaces and amulets.
Photographs by Carlos Díaz / UPRM Press.
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