…environment. After the extinction of the megafauna, the cornerstone of their early economy, these Paleo-Indian groups reoriented their hunting activities to new, smaller species, giving way to the Archaic Period….
Social organization
…The fundamental unit of Yaghan society was the family, which consisted of parents and children. The family was a closed, independent structure and the only clearly determined social grouping….
Environment and Location
…with few beaches and dense woodlands reaching right to the water’s edge. The sea channels, about 480km (300 miles) long, are generally calm and easily navigable. The climate is cold…
Art
…from guanaco hair) that covered their backs and shoulders; and loincloths made from dried seaweed. Sources also mention that the women wore skirts of bird feathers tied around their waists….
Economy
…The Kawésqar were nomadic seafaring canoeists with a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. According to contemporary sources, their principal vessel was the tree-bark canoe (made preferably from coigüe wood), which was made…
Historia
…which exhibited great social complexity. Although they were incorporated into the Inka Empire around the year 1400, it was the Spanish conquest that dealt a serious blow to the social…
Settlement patterns
…the wood more flexible. They had better heat retention and a vaulted structure, which was formed by burying the ends of wooden poles in the ground and then bending and…
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…
Economy
…The economy of these inland hunters was based mainly on a highly mobile way of life sustained by hunting of guanaco and, to a lesser extent, of deer, foxes,…
Economía
…way to an increasing sedentary and complex society. Evidence shows that the Llolleo people ground their grain into flour and had tame guanacos. On the coast, evidence of Llolleo settlements…
Economy
…The economies of these communities were based on extensive agriculture and livestock raising, taking advantage of the water from ravines by building systems of terraced gardens and irrigation canals….
Beliefs and funeral rites
…themselves often were enclosed with stone walls, leaving a square opening for a window. The burial sites sometimes contained a single individual, but usually included several bodies in what were…
Economía
…The El Vergel people had a broad-based economy in which hunting and gathering on both land and water (rivers, lakes and sea) complemented their agricultural activities. They grew potatoes,…
Environment and Location
…locations for raising the camelid herds that these people kept, while the rivers that flowed down from the high mountains provided enough water to allow the development of intensive agriculture….
History
…While the influence of the State of Tiwanaku faded into memory in the Atacama region, local societies reconfigured themselves into señoríos, each with its own unique features, giving way…
Economy
…The Tiwanaku developed a huge farming and herding economy. Although they grew crops in terraces and large depressions dug out of the ground, the bulk of their farming was…
Prehistory
…For nearly 15,000 years, Chile has been home to a wide variety of indigenous cultures, each with its own unique way of life. Some of these have disappeared forever,…
Economy
…These groups had a very mobile way of life, with an economy based on hunting and gathering of wild plants. They supplemented their diet by dry farming (without irrigation),…
Social organization
…one or more ‘mayor of the waters’ is also appointed. Lower level positions may be held by unmarried men, though never by women, and may include: the artisan appointed to…
Beliefs and funeral rites
…these were created by Nguenechén (“master of Man”). In former times the primary mythical figure was the Pillán, the founding ancestor of the Mapuche lineage. The Mapuche cosmovision is organized…
Environment and Location
…large volume of water, with flooding in winter from the rains and in summer from meltwater. The climate in the north is marginal desert with scant precipitation, which increases to…
Historia
…When they adopted an agricultural and pastoral way of life, the people of the Copiapó Valley differentiated themselves from groups living in the southern valleys of the Norte Chico….
Beliefs and funeral rites
…dead in some way. Collective graves, probably family groups, were common in the early part of this period. Grave goods were uncommon however, except for some notable exceptions such as…
Historia
…In many ways, the Las Ánimas groups broke with the past to begin a new cultural tradition. The formerly common tembetás or lip adornments of the El Molle culture…