The Penard Manuscript: A preliminary study into the unfinished encyclopedia of the Caribbean, and its potential to the archaeology of the Suriname and the Caribbean

In 2002 and 2010 boxes were discovered in the archives of the Ethnology Museum in Leiden. These boxes contained around 7600 lemma’s and numerous books with drawings. These lemma’s and drawings combined make up the unfinished work of two of the Penard brothers. These two, out of four, brothers lived in Suriname and did research into the Kari’na Amerindian society in the coastal area of Suriname. The emphasis of their research was into the cosmovision and worldview of the Kari’na, with which they delivered astonishing work in documenting the cosmovision and belief system of the Kari’na. The Penard manuscript would be their biggest publication, an encyclopedia of the Caribbean, if not for the timely demise of two of the Penard brothers. The Penard manuscript has a great potential for the archaeology of Suriname and the archaeology of the Caribbean in general. Due to the combination of the drawings and the lemma’s, we possess a great body of information about the cosmological belief...Show moreIn 2002 and 2010 boxes were discovered in the archives of the Ethnology Museum in Leiden. These boxes contained around 7600 lemma’s and numerous books with drawings. These lemma’s and drawings combined make up the unfinished work of two of the Penard brothers. These two, out of four, brothers lived in Suriname and did research into the Kari’na Amerindian society in the coastal area of Suriname. The emphasis of their research was into the cosmovision and worldview of the Kari’na, with which they delivered astonishing work in documenting the cosmovision and belief system of the Kari’na. The Penard manuscript would be their biggest publication, an encyclopedia of the Caribbean, if not for the timely demise of two of the Penard brothers. The Penard manuscript has a great potential for the archaeology of Suriname and the archaeology of the Caribbean in general. Due to the combination of the drawings and the lemma’s, we possess a great body of information about the cosmological belief system of the Kari’na. This provides us with a greater knowledge of the iconographic culture of the Kari’na. And since iconographic material is an important part of the material culture of the Kari’na, it can provide us with information about the trade and migration in the Caribbean. But since my research was meant as a preliminary research into the potential of the Penard manuscript, further research has to be conducted to assess the true value of the manuscript.Show less

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The Penard Manuscript: A preliminary study into the unfinished encyclopedia of the Caribbean, and its potential to the archaeology of the Suriname and the Caribbean