CUBIERTA TENSIL PARA EL AREA DE EXCAVACION DEL MUSEO ARQUEOLOGICA IN SITU DE TAIMA-TAIMA

Abstract

The site of Taima Taima was discovered by Jose Maria Cruxent in 1961 and it is located in the northwest of Venezuela, in the Falcón State. This archaeological site has great importance in American Prehistory, because it constitutes the first slaughter house of mastodons with important associations with human activity. On the other hand has a series of confirmed dates of radiocarbon that locate the beginning of the sequence of slaughter around 30,000 years. Due to its importance for the development of archaeological, geologic and paleontological knowledge, Taima-Taima, is declared in 1996 "GOOD OF CULTURAL INTEREST", by the Institute of Cultural Patrimony, that works the idea of transforming the excavation area into a Museum In Situ, making of the same place of the findings a space for the interrelation and mutual understanding of the investigation, where the visitor can become part of the process of searching and finding. In order to achieve a structural unit that will seem to be floating in the space, the design of the roof focus towards a very light and transparent structure. That derived in a structure that worked in traction. This type of structures can obtain an optimal use of the materials - showing a very high relation between mass and strength. Extreme climatic conditions were also taken into account when choosing the materials.