Pintaderas are a form of
stamp
Stamp or Stamps or Stamping may refer to:
Official documents and related impressions
* Postage stamp, used to indicate prepayment of fees for public mail
* Ration stamp, indicating the right to rationed goods
* Revenue stamp, used on documents to ...
used by the
pre-Hispanic
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...
natives of the
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
.
They were commonly made of fired clay.
However, a number of
wooden ''pintaderas'' have also been found. Most ''pintaderas'' come from
archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
sites in
Gran Canaria, although natives from other islands in the Canarian
archipelago used them too.
''Pintaderas'' were usually decorated with ornate
geometric shapes, including
zigzags,
triangles,
rectangle
In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal (360°/4 = 90°); or a parallelogram containi ...
s,
squares and
circles.
These decorative motifs are similar to those found on pre-Hispanic Canarian
pottery. Similar geometric patterns can also be seen in pre-Hispanic Canarian
rock art
In archaeology, rock art is human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type also ...
(e.g.,
Painted cave of Galdar)
The size of the ''pintaderas'' varies significantly, ranging between 2 and 12 cm. They usually have a small
handle, which is sometimes pierced, that allows the owner to hang the stamp from a string.
The function of the ''pintaderas'' is unclear. Perhaps they were used by the natives to apply natural
dye
A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution an ...
s to their body as a form of
decoration
Decoration may refer to:
* Decorative arts
* A house painter and decorator's craft
* An act or object intended to increase the beauty of a person, room, etc.
* An award that is a token of recognition to the recipient intended for wearing
Other ...
.
Alternatively, they may have been used to mark sealed grain
silo
A silo (from the Greek σιρός – ''siros'', "pit for holding grain") is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store fermented feed known as silage, not to be confused with a grain bin, which is used t ...
s with the owner's personal
emblem.
Collections of ''pintaderas'' are housed at the
Museo de la Naturaleza y el Hombre Museo may refer to:
* Museo, 2018 Mexican drama heist film
*Museo (Naples Metro)
Museo is a station on line 1 of the Naples Metro. It was opened on 5 April 2001 as the eastern terminus of the section of the line between Vanvitelli and Museo. ...
(Tenerife),
El Museo Canario (Gran Canaria) and
Painted cave, Gáldar (Gran Canaria).
Pintadera stamps were also used in the first agricultural settlements in Europe and the Anatolian homeland these farmers came from.
[David W. Anthony: The Horse, the Wheel and Language p 146]
References
{{reflist
Further reading
* Franchy y Roca, José. “Las pintaderas de Gran Canaria”. El Museo Canario, t. X, no. 111 (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1901), pp. 61–62.
* Hernández Benítez, Pedro. “Vindicación de nuestras pintaderas”. El Museo Canario, año V, no. 10 (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1944), pp. 15–28.
* Jiménez Gómez, M.a de la Cruz; Arco Aguilar, M.a del Carmen del. “Estudio de los ídolos y pintaderas de la Aldea de San Nicolás, Gran Canaria”. Tabona, no. 5 (La Laguna, 1984), pp. 47–92.
* Martín de Guzmán, Celso. “La serie de sellos de madera procedentes de Gáldar, Gran Canaria”. Trabajos de Prehistoria, 45 (Madrid, 1988) pp. 289–304.
* Peinado Rodríguez, Francisco
Pintadera de bailadero
* Pérez de Barradas, José. “Catálogo de la colección de cerámica y objetos arqueológicos (Salas Grau y Navarro) de El Museo Canario”. El Museo Canario, anexo no. 1 (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1944), pp. 1–72.
* Ripoche y Torrens, Diego. “Las pintaderas de Europa, Canarias y América: comunicación al Congreso de Americanistas celebrado en París”. El Museo Canario, t. XI, no. 138 (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1901), pp. 105–109.
* Rosa Olivera, Leopoldo de la. “Las señales de los antiguos canarios”. Revista de Historia, no. 76 (La Laguna, 1946), pp. 391–398.
* Verneau, René. Las pintaderas de Gran Canaria. Madrid: Imprenta de Fortanet, 1883.
Canarian culture
Seals (insignia)
Guanche