…included communities as far away as the Atacama Desert, where similar ceremonial practices were already in use. In fact, these two peoples shared a common ritual language that enabled the…
Patrón de Asentamiento
…For thousands of years these people made largely opportunistic use of rock shelters and open air sites, living a highly mobile way of life in the steppe regions of…
Economy
…They also made good use of the forage available, which allowed them to keep large herds of llama. They grew maize in the ravines and quinoa and potatoes in the…
Economy
…people sewed together and inflated to use as seagoing rafts. Sailing on these rafts enabled these groups to obtain food within a larger radius, allowing them to hunt for new…
Historia
…characteristics with early communities in North-Central Chile and Northeastern Argentina, such as the use of the bridge handle, tapered bottle necks, and the crafting of plant and animal figures. But…
History
…has determined that the area was first occupied around 8000 B.C. by hunting-gathering groups that made use of the ravines and salt flats. In the later pre-Hispanic period, between 900…
Languaje
…different words for concepts that in European languages would use a single noun and different qualifying adjectives. This is particularly notable for local plants and animals. For instance, the black…
Pre-hispanic music of Chile
…sound of the antara(another type of pan pipe), which accompanied the ritual of human sacrifices by decapitation, which involved masked individuals and the use of psychotropic substances. Developments in the…
Three-beamed raft
…the middle and performing a collective maneuver with a fishing net, called trawling or “al balseo”. Because of their simple and efficient design, these vessels have remained in use until…
Languaje
…The Mapuche tongue is known as Mapudungu (“language of the land”) or Mapudungun (“the people’s tongue”). Typologically, it is polysynthetic and agglutinative, with frequent use of suffixes. Its nouns…
Economy
…to the resources that they offer, be they for economic, nutritional, medicinal, ritual or technological use. Farming took place at oases, specifically in terraces built on ravine slopes and irrigated…
Economy
…made use of the meat, skin and baleen. They also manufactured spears, clubs and daggers from bone, axes and knives from stone, hooks from wood and nets from the fiber…
Economy
…mammal. Some only hunted sea lions, mainly to supply skins for raft making. They would then either use the rafts themselves or barter them for other goods. The Changos also…
Economy
…to use horses, which became an integral part of what we know today as the “traditional” Mapuche economy. The 17th and 18th centuries witnessed the process known as the ‘Araucanization…
Settlement patterns
…and burn horticulture. Spanish chroniclers used several names to identify local groups, including Levo, Lof, and Rehue, probably because of their cultural differences or their spatial or temporal separation. These…
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…
Horticulturists
…food. In most parts of Chilean territory, this occurred by groups adopting knowledge already in use outside the territory. It was a gradual process, and for some time these societies…
Beliefs and funeral rites
…The use of hallucinogenic substances was a central part of the San Pedro culture. Initially, psychoactive substances were smoked in angular ceramic pipes, but this practice was gradually replaced…
The condor and the shepherdess
…finished her llijlla—which is a blanket that the women use to carry their infants and for other things—and decided to play. The man was very happy, because the shepherdess was…
Aymara
…sacred and profane spheres of life. Instruments particular to Andean cultures—including the flutes called sikuris, laquitas and pinkillos and certain kinds of drums—still remain in use today, but the people…
Settlement pattern
…environment, around 3000 BCE these groups began to make use of different kinds of settlements in different ecological strata, building more permanent settlements in both the dry and salt punas….
Arte
…features of Llolleo ceramics are the so-called “duck-shaped jug” and the use of reinforced rims, two elements that indicate a strong link with southern Chile, especially with the Pitrén culture….
Kawashkar
…this section shall refer to Kawashkar music as it stood around 1950 as the language, songs and customs surrounding their use have unfortunately been lost. Kawashkar music enjoys many similarities…
Culto y Funebria
…a mortar placed face-down upon her body. The earliest evidence of pipes, though very scant, has been attributed to this period, suggesting the social or ritual use of hallucinogenic substances….