Afterword=Epílogo

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective Volume 5 Number 1 Archaeological Encounters with Georgia's Spanish Period, 1526-1700: New Findings and Perspectives Article 9 June 2011 Afterword/Epílogo Isabel Simó Rodríguez General Archive of the Indies, Seville Spain, [email protected] Julián Bautista Ruiz Rivera University of Sevilla, [email protected] Fernando Amores Carredano University of Sevilla, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jgi Part of the United States History Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Recommended Citation Rodríguez, Isabel Simó; Rivera, Julián Bautista Ruiz; and Carredano, Fernando Amores (2011) "Afterword/Epílogo," Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective: Vol. 5 : No. 1 , Article 9. Available at: https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jgi/vol5/iss1/9 Society for Georgia Archaeology, Special Publication Number 2 Journal of Global Initiatives 5(1)(2010) pp. 113-116 Afterword M' Isabel Sima Rodriguez,Julian B. Ruiz Rivera, and Fernando Amores Carredano It is fortunate that memoryexists. In untoldcases onemustbethankfulthatsomeone remembers the appropriate things in order to recall them again and again. Such is the currentcase of the Spanish missions in Georgia. If memoryhad not existed,wewould not knowtoday the complex actions of some of the Franciscan friars in the challenging lands of orth America, where they dedicated their lives to the education and the conversion of the inhabitants thereby makingpossible their knowledge of the Christian faith. It also stands to reason that withoutmemoryhumanitywould notexist,much less the awareness of oneself or of any possible human life beyond the vegetative. Memory allows us to engage in the copious stream of knowledge that began when humankind settled in this world, and it develops within us an individual and collective conscience, as well as the ability to identifY with one another and live ashared experience. Nonetheless, memory could also be used in asectarian and partisan way without any intention to seek the past as it occurred, but as an instrument of indoctrination or means to transmit fabricated truths far from the actual facts, as totalitarian regimes are so fond of doing. Memory has been frequently altered because facts contradicted a given ideology that had to prevail above all else. Those of us of acertain age have lived for decades the pernicious consequences of the totalitarian acts of the twentieth century, which certainly have not been exclusive to the contemporary era as they have occurred since thebeginning of humankind.Placedwithin theformer context of accurate memory, this segment of the Spanish past in North America is even more admirable, not merely due to dealing with explorers and missionaries from Spain in interactionwithindigenous groups, but also because it is as much an American past, having motivated agroup of expert historians and archeologists in the United States to unearth evidence from the heart of their inherited land.This transgenerational-transcultural union sheds atwo-fold light that shines on the deeds of the sixteenth and seventeenth century figures, as well as on the equally substantive performance by those who undertook the responsibility to recapture this memory. Our own personalmemory, in this case that ofM' Isabel Sirna Rodriguez,Fernando Amores Carredano andJulian B. Ruiz Rivera, leads us to remember convivial workdays experienced jointly in Kennesaw and Atlanta during the second week of December 114 Afterword 2006 that will never be forgotten. We participated in different events at Kennesaw State University and the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta, where we were fortunate to get to know those who contributed to the restoration of the memory of Spain's presence along the Atlantic Coast of Georgia, at once very remote in time and almost forgotten, at places such as St. Catherines, Sapelo, and Cumberland Islands. The first day of our visit, we visited Kennesaw State University, where our hosts, Dennis B. Blanton and Robert A. De Villar, placed us in contact with alarge group of professors, showed us the university and some of its rare bibliographic treasures, and provided us with the opportunity to debate common topics corresponding to the realities of life in ourcountries,whichwhile different, are also alike in their approach and attitude towards worldtopics such as peacekeeping, and the tools to secure it. Evenwithin theconventions of professional conversation, we experienced great human warmth and true mutual appreciation that remain engraved upon our collective memory. To reciprocate what we experienced in the Kennesaw-Atlanta area during our intenseworkdays,the GeneralArchive of the Indies in Seville organized ayear and ahalf later, during the summer of2008, acomprehensive exhibition under the expert direction ofFalia Gonzalez Diaz and Pilar Lizaro de la Escosura, titled "TheThread of Memory: Three-hundred Years of Spanish Presence in the Present-day United States."Through a plethora of documents, maps, drafts, drawings, arms, and paintings, the territories that currently are part of the United States, but that from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century formed part of the dominion of Spain, are characterized. The purpose of this exhibition was to present some facts that not everyone in the United States or Spain knows or is aware of, in order that some will be able to witness these facts through the exhibition, which will set out next fall beyond Spain's borders to New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana. This is also agreat initiative in pursuit of memory, amore elaborately documented memory of events such as the founding of the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Fe, or Saint Augustine, among others, where important archeological work is being developed by unearthing remains that help us to restore the long-pastimprints of Spain's presence. We are confident that the exhibitionwillenjoygreat success, particularly as the documents will travel to the very same sites where historical events transpired, and also because this will be the first time that the Archive of the Indies sends acomplete display to another country. Thevisitto Georgiarevealed much more thanthe archeologicalandnaturalrichness of the areas visited. We experienced many feelings on tour from Atlanta to Brunswick, with its stretches of unusuallytall pines that growrapidlydue to the heightened moisture of the soil.The boat crossing to the wharf on St. Catherines Island, surrounded by athick fog among creeks that were hard to tell apart, was especially eventful. What adifference between our crossing and the one by the Spanish friars in the sixteenth century! It is astonishing to imagine that after the Franciscanmissionaries,we were possibly the only,or one of ahandfulof, Spaniardswho had returned to setfoot on theisland,theveryone that the friars themselves had described three centuries ago in the same manner that we were beholding.The tour we took around the island among leafY trees covered with moss and untouched byhumans,because even those that have collapsed due to old age or the effect of the winds,lie there decomposing. It was in the middle of this wilderness,one in which animals rule-those playfullemurs--and birds live and whose care is the responsibility of the biological station, that it was necessary to discover [by the superb work of David Sim6, Ruiz, Amores 115 Hurst Thomas of the American Museum of Natural History] the exact location of the mission in order to excavate and analyze what occurred until its disappearance. Looking back four centuries ago, measuring the distance to travel, pondering thegreatspirit of the missionaries and explorers in amisty, mildly rainy morning-all became integrated with the detailed explanations of Dennis Blanton next to the field where the Spanish church or chapelwas built. No matterhowpowerfultheimpact of naturewas on ourfeelings,themostenriching part of our joumeywas the contacts with the people from Kennesaw State University (we rememberfondly Dalila Coll-Flores from the then-named Centerfor Hispanic Studies), the Fembank Museum of Natural History, and the other scholars that participated in the workdays at the field sites, as well as the experts and caretakers of the biological center of St. Catherines Island. The purpose of our driving tour was to appreciate the work done by the archeologists, especially Dennis Blanton, Curator of Native American Archeology at the Fembank Museum of Natural History, and Frankie Snow of South Georgia College, at Santa Isabel de Utinahica and the Ocmulgee River, where proof of the Spanish presence is being found from as early as 1550, and at the excavation site of the mission of Santa Catalina de Guale.The explanations given, regardless of how clear, complete,andvisual they were--and they were-could notcompare to physicallyvisiting the locations. Our initiation to the visit to the island and its itinerary consisted of adisplay of objectsobtainedduringtheexcavation of themission of SantaCatalina,whichrepresented the great abundance of discovered objects found at the site and housed in the Fembank Museum, the collection's conservatory. It is avague memory, remote in time, hidden and buried by the more recent Anglo-Saxon culture, which makes even more valuable the task of these academicians that somehow against the odds embarked on the road less traveled. All this came to light in sessions by the archeologists of Georgia as well as those from South Carolina and Florida. Apioneer and leader in these pursuits was Dr. StanleySouth,excavator of SantaElena,whose textbooks also circulated in Seville among archeology students. Dr.Amores took advantage of the opportunity to delve further into the details of the discovered pieces, some of which, to his eye, had adistantorigin, at least from Mexico, deducible by the type of ceramic. We could observe among other objects amedallion from the Virgin of Guadalupe,worshipped in the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. In any case these were very enriching sessions for those of us who are not experts in excavations, supported and complemented by the precise explanations that were devoid of technical terms and any archeological jargon. The fact that the sessions were held at theFembankMuseumamongthereplicas of enormous dinosaurs,frequently enlivened byvisits from young schoolchildren,gave them avery natural and spontaneous feel; and we were surprised by the participation of adults, now retired, who acted as guides-all in all lending the museum amore highly charged atmosphere than the one found in many museums in Spain. What remains is the recollection, the sustained memory, and the bonds that were established,which bore initialfruit in avisit to Seville,the city of Guadalquivir,by Robert A. De Villar and his wife BinbinJiangduringthe aforementioned exhibition in Seville of "TheThread of Memory,"visited by 160,532-a considerable figure, when one takes into account that the Archive of the Indies is not amuseum, which means that the selected theme attracted adiverse audience. It is our hope that this is just the beginning of even 116 Afterword more fruitful collaborations, so that Sain will deserve afew more lines in the history textbooks of the State of Georgia, and likewise that Georgia and the Southern Atlantic coast of the United States be better know in Spain. Society for Georgia Archaeology, Special Publication Number 2 Journal of Global Initiatives 5(1)(2010) pp.117-119 Epilogo Ma Isabel Sim6 Rodriguez,]ulian B. Ruiz Rivera, yFernando Amores Carredano Mortunadamente existe la memoria y en no pocos casos hay que agradecer que alguien se acuerde de las cosas propias para rememorarlas, como es e1 caso actual de las rnisiones espaiiolas en Georgia. Si no hubiera existido la memoria, no conoceriamos hoy los hechos complejos de unos frailes franciscanos en tierras desafiantes del norte de America,donde dedicaron sus vidas ala instrucci6nyla conversi6n de los habitantes para que tuvieran la posibilidad de conocer la fe cristiana. Sin memoria tampoco existiria la Humanidad ni habria conciencia de uno mismo ni vida alguna posible por encima de 10 vegetativo. La memoria nos perrnite conocer e1 torrente de saber desde que e1 hombre se aposent6 en este mundo ynos facilita tener conciencia individual ycolectiva, asi como identificarnos yasociarnos. No obstante, tambien la memoria puede ser utilizada de forma sectariaypartidista sinanimodebuscarelpasadotalcomoocurri6,sinocomoinstrumentodeadoctrinamiento omedio de instrucci6n en verdades fabricadas de espaldas alos hechos, a 10 que son tan aficionados los regimenes totalitarios. La memoria ha sido con frecuencia forzada, porque los hechos contradecian unadeterminadaideologia que por encimade todo debia prevalecer. Los que tenemos cierta edad hemos vivido durante decadas las perniciosas consecuencias de los totalitarismos del siglo XX, que tampoco han sido exc1usivos de la epoca contemporanea puesto que los ha habido desde que e1 hombre es hombre. Puesto en este contexto, todavia es mas admirable esta parcela del pasado espaiiol en Norteamerica porque se trat6 de exploradores yrnisioneros de Espana en relaci6n con grupos indigenas, que es igualmente un pasado norteamericano porque ha cabido aunos expertos historiadores yarque610gos de Estados Dnidos desenterrar las evidencias del seno de su tierra heredada. Esta conjunci6n enriquece tanto la gesta de los actores entre los siglos XVI yXVII, como la no menos relevante actuaci6n de los sabios que han emprendido ese rescate de la memoria. Nuestra memoria, en este caso de Ma Isabel Sim6 Rodriguez, Fernando Amores Carredano yJulian B. Ruiz Rivera, nos lleva arecordar las jornadas de convivencia inolvidables, celebradas en Kennesaw y Adanta en la segunda semana de diciembre de 2006. Participamos en diversos actos tanto en la Dniversidad Estatal de Kennesaw como en el Museo Fernbank de Historia Natural de Adanta, en que tuvimos la fortuna de 118 Epilogo conocer aquienes han contribuido al rescate de la memoria espanola en la costa atlantica de Georgia,muyremota en el tiempoycasi olvidada,talycomolas Islas deSantaCatalina, Sapelo, yCumberland. Durante el primer rna, nuestros anfitriones, Dennis B. Blanton y Robert A. De Villar, nos pusieron en contacto con un nutrido grupo de profesores, nos mostraron la Universidad yalgunos de sus tesoros bibliognificos, ynos proporcionaron la oportunidad de debatir temas comunes de la realidad de nuestros paises, que siendo distintos tambien se aproximan en plantearnientos yactitudes ante los temas mundiales del mantenirniento de la pazylos instrumentos paragarantizarla.AI margen de cualquier protocolo en la conversaci6n pudimos experimentar gran calidez humana yverdadero aprecio mutuo que han quedado grabados en nuestra memoria. En reciprocidad de 10 a1li vivido en un as intensas jomadas, el Archivo General de lndias de Sevilla organiz6 ano ymedio mas tarde, durante el verano de 2008, una gran exposici6n bajo la experta direcci6n de Falia Gonzalez Diaz yPilar Lazaro de la Escosura, que llev6 por titulo precisamente "El hilo de la memoria. Trescientos anos de presencia espanola en los actuales Estados Unidos." En multitud de documentos, mapas, pIanos, dibujos, arm as ypinturas se describen los territorios que hoy forman parte de los Estados Unidos pero que en los siglos XVI al XIX estuvieron bajo el dominio de Espana. La finalidad de la exposici6n fue mostrar unos hechos que no todo el mundo en Estados Unidos ni en Espana conoce 0de los que no es consciente, aunque algunos podran ser testigos por medio de esa exposici6n, que esta a punto de partir el pr6ximo otono hacia uevo Mexico, Texas yLuisiana. Tambien esta es una gran iniciativa planteada en pos de la memoria,una memoria mucho mas documentada de sucesos, entre otros muchos, como la fundaci6n de las ciudades de Los Angeles, Santa Fe 0San Agustin, entre otras, en las que se vienen desarrollado importantes trabajos arqueo16gicos exhumando restos que nos ayudan arescatar las viejas huellas de la presencia espanola. La exposici6n estamos seguros que tendra un enorme exito porque los documentos se trasladan alos mismos lugares donde se desarrollaron esos acontecimientos y, ademas, porque es la primeravez que una muestra completa sale del Archivo de lndias aotro pais. La visita aGeorgia nos descubri6 mucho mas que la riqueza arqueo16gica ynatural de las zonas recorridas. Son muchas las sensaciones experimentadas en el trayecto terrestre de Atlanta aBrunswick con extensiones de pinos anormalmente altos, que crecenvelozmentegracias ala elevada humedad del terreno. La travesia en lanchahasta el embarcadero en la isla de Santa Catalina,rodeados de una espesa niebla entre riachuelos diffci1es de diferenciar. iQye diferencia de nuestra travesia con la de los frailes del siglo XVI! iQyeimpresionantepensarquedespuesdelos misionerosfranciscanos,posiblemente eramos los unicos 0de los pocos espanoles que habian vuelto apisar la isla, ala que los propios frailes habian descrito tres siglos antes, de la misma forma que la estabamos contemplando. El recorrido por la isla entre frondosos arboles, cubiertos de musgos yno tocados por la mana del hombre,porque aun los que se desploman de viejos 0 por efecto de los vientos, a1li quedan tendidos pudriendose. En medio de esta naturaleza salvaje, de la que son duenos los animales--aquellosjuguetones lemures-y aves que la habitanyde cuya atenci6n cuidan los responsables de la estaci6n bio16gica, hubo que descubrir [por el trabajo estupdendo de David Hurst Thomas del Museo Americano de Historia Natural] el emplazarniento exacto de la misi6n para poder excavar yanalizar 10 ocurrido hasta su desaparici6n. Volver la vista atras cuatro siglos, medir las distancias arecorrer, ponderar Sim6, Ruiz, Amores 119 el gran espiritu de los misioneros yexploradores en una manana brumosa ylevemente lluviosa se mezclaba con las explicaciones precis as de Dennis Blanton junto ala parcela donde efectivamente fue levantada la Iglesia 0capilla. Pormuypoderosa que fuera la naturaleza,lo mas rico fueron los contactos humanos con las personas de laUniversidad Estatalde Kennesaw (no nos olvidamos de Dalila CollFlores del entonces nombrado Centrode Estudios Hispanicos),del MuseoFernbankyde los demas eruditos que intervinieron en las jornadas sobre los sitios de excavaciones, asi como los expertosycuidadores de St. Catherines Island. El objeto del touren autobus era apreciar la labor realizada por los arqueologos, en especial Dennis Blanton, conservador de 1a Arqueologia Indigena del Museo Fernbank de Historia Natural, yFrankie Snow en Santa Isabel de Utinahica yOcmulgee River, donde esta encontrando testimonios de presencia espanola tan temprana como en 1550, yen la excavacion de la mision de Santa Catalina de Guale. Las explicaciones pormuy c1aras, completasyvisuales que fueran-asi 10 fueron-no teman comparacion con la visita a los emplazamientos sobre el terre no. El aperitivo de la visita ala isla y su preparacion consistio en la muestra de objetos obtenidos en la excavacion de la rnision de Santa Catalina ytodavia custodiados en almacen por su gran abundancia en el Museo Fernbank. Es una memoriafeble, remota en el tiempo,ocultadayenterradaporla mas reciente de laculturaanglosajona, 10 que todavia hace mas valiosa la labor de estos acadernicos que algo contra corriente emprendieron un camino poco comun. Todo ello 10 expusieron en sesiones tanto los arqueologos de Georgia como los de South Carolina yFlorida. Pionero habia sido yadelantado en estas lides el Dr. Stanley South,excavador de Santa Elena, cuyos textos circulaban tambien en Sevilla entre los estudiantes de Arqueologia. El Dr. Amores tuvo ocasion de inquirir los detalles de piezas encontradas, algunas de las cuales tenian procedencia lejana, cuando menos de Mexico deducibleporel tipo de cerirnica. Pudimos observarentre otros objetos una medalla de la Virgen de Guadalupe, venerada en la capital del Virreinato de Nueva Espana. En cualquier caso fueron unas sesiones muy enriquecedoras para quienes no somos expertos en excavaciones, a 10 que ayudaron las explicaciones precis as yalejadas de tecnicismos ycualquier jerga de arqueologos. El hecho de celebrar las sesiones en el Museo entre reproducciones de enormes dinosaurios, con frecuencia animados por visitas escolares de ninos yninas pequenos daban un aire muy natural yespontaneo, sorprendiendonos la participacion de personas mayores, ya jubiladas que actuaban de guias, dandole un aire mas dinamico del que existe en muchos museos espanoles. QlIedo el recuerdo, subsiste la memoria ylos lazos entablados,que han fructificado en una visita aSevilla, la ciudad del Guadalquivir, de Robert A. De Villar ysu esposa Binbin Jiang yen la mencionada exposicion en Sevilla del "Hilo de la Memoria," que fue visitada por 160,532--cifra muy considerable, si se tiene en cuentaque el Archivo de Indias no es un museo, 10 que significa que la tematica seleccionada en ese caso, ha sido capaz de atraer adiferentes tipos de personas. Es de esperar que sea solo el cornienzo de mas fructiferas colaboraciones para que Espana merezca unas lineas mas en los libros de texto del Estado de Georgiaytambien este Estado yla costa adantica meridional de los Estados Unidos sea algo mas conocida en Espana.