Ways of Life
…What are ways of life? A simple way to distinguish and classify human societies is to consider how people organize themselves to survive, certain technology they use, and the…
The Southern Cross
…The Southern Cross holds special significance among all cultural traditions of the global South. The Tehuelche believe that this constellation was created by the ostrich Kakn, when he left…
Three-beamed raft
…Dozens of miniature replicas of the ancient three-beamed raft have been found in ancient tombs near the desert coasts of southern Peru and northern Chile, especially near Arica….
Implements for Inhaling Hallucinogenic Substances
…The nasal inhalation or ‘snuffing’ of hallucinogenic substances was a very common practice among the pre-Hispanic peoples of northern Chile. The substances inhaled were usually made from the…
Leather Armor
…Before going into battle, Andean warriors altered their state of consciousness by using hallucinogenic substances that allowed them to imagine themselves as jaguars, pumas, mountain lions, foxes, hawks,…
The Sacrificer
…The Sacrificer is an Andean figure who carries an axe in one hand and a severed head in the other. He appears in rock art and on dozens…
Pre-hispanic music of Chile
…We have little direct knowledge of the pre-Hispanic music of Chile—just a few instruments found preserved at archeological sites, where conditions allowed. Few such instruments have been discovered in…
Social Organization
…Traditional Quechua communities are organized into groups based on extended family or friendship ties, and their members live in both urban and rural settings. The community comes together for…
History
…of Argentina for Tarija. Since then, the term “Colla” has been used to refer to the indigenous herding peoples living on the Altiplano in the present-day Argentinean provinces of Jujuy,…
Economy
…as part of the “Estancia Diaguita de los Huascoaltinos”. In this vast territory they grow crops, raise livestock, mine for minerals and collect plant resources. Families live on small plots…
Language
…It has been proposed that the Diaguita’s mother tongue is Kakán, as that was the language spoken by the so-called Diaguita groups inhabiting Argentina’s Calchaquíes valleys. Very little is…
Agricultural-pastoralists absorbed by the inca state
…Beginning in 1400 A.D., the societies inhabiting virtually all of the territory in the northern half of Chile, whether agricultural-pastoralist or nomadic hunter-gatherer, faced a dramatic change in their…
Horticulturalists of the southern zone
…As part of the same spread of ideas that brought ceramic making to the El Molle and Llolleo peoples, the lives of hunter-gatherers in the south underwent a…
Agriculturalists of the semi-arid north
…Around 900 A.D., the El Molle people, who were the traditional inhabitants of the semi-arid North, would feel the need to shift from a horticulturalist to an agricultural…
Social Organization
…Traditional Diaguita society tended to be was organized around family and extended family ties. But the modern Diaguita indigenous community has only recently emerged, under the auspices of Indigenous…
Organización Social
…The El Vergel people lived in small family groups and maintained social relations with other nearby groups, with whom they formed larger socio-cultural units….
History
…1973 the Yaghan language was the only significant indigenous trait still surviving, and it was dwindling towards extinction. The tribe’s first sporadic contact was with European sailors in the 16th…
Selected Pieces
…This section reveals the history, uses and meanings of important pieces found in different parts of the Chilean territory, made by anonymous artisans, either pre-Columbian or their modern descendants….
Social organization
…While the members of the Aconcagua culture may have felt a sense of belonging to the same society, they had no extended political units or marked social differences. Leadership…
Social organization
…The Arica people lived in small kurakazgos or chiefdoms, in which certain individuals with authority or prestige held a special social status that distinguished them from regular members. Their…
Social organization
…Before the introduction of the horse, Tehuelche society was based on the nuclear family unit, with a dozen of these forming a band. This voluntary multi-family grouping dwelt in…