SCANZ2013:Logics of nature

Logics of nature-driven technologies in a place Called America

Author: Gabriel Vanegas

Abstract

The incomplete and misleading version of American history built from a Western perspective and post-colonial Americans, with its neglect of the rich history of pre-Columbian civilizations, has led me to deep research of possible logics and media-archeological evidence, that will give us a more generous understanding of nature-driven technologies and media of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, prior to European contact.

Archeological findings involving megalithic architecture, transoceanic exchanges with Asia and Oceania; tactile method of writing with the Incas’ Quipus, the three dimensional geometry and mathematics of the Yupana Inca; nano-structured materials such as Maya Blue pigment, the Mayan calendar, highly accurate astronomy; and other technological apparatuses and advanced developments, evidence the existence of a highly advanced and sustainable cultural, social and environmental system, that may give us alternatives and ideas for a more stable relationship with our environment and technological developments.

Did the tribes of the 15th century developed this technologies, or did they inherit them from a lost civilization?