…de color café natural. El cuerpo del gorro, hecho con la combinación de tramas de diversos colores naturales o teñidos, según los diseños deseados, se construye con las sucesivas evoluciones…
Economy
…acquired estates in the Diaguita territorial zone. The Diaguita community of Taucán de Chalinga, for its part, subsists by farming small parcels of land in the valley and (in the…
Art
…the Huasco communities of Junta de Valeriano, Chollay, Pinte and Chihuinto. The women spin the yarn from sheeps wool and color it with natural and artificial dyes, and then weave…
Environment and Location
The Aymara are dispersed over a vast area that contains a number of ecological and political sectors: the shores of Lake Titicaca, the Bolivian altiplano, the far north…
Flutes and “Chinos”
…flute music. This complex tube spread through time, space and cultures to leave its mark among the Nasca, Tiwanaku, San Pedro de Atacama, Diaguita, Aconcagua and Araucanía peoples. The tube…
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 pattern
The Alto Ramirez people inhabited permanent settlements, small villages with buildings that were more solid than in previous periods. These were able to accommodate a larger number of…
Economy
The Chinchorro were fishers, hunters, and gatherers, expert at taking advantage of the marine resources available and manufacturing an assemblage of special tools for this purpose. Notable among…
Social organization
…The presence of monuments, in the form of many large burial mounds, tells us something of the social life of the Alto Ramírez people. Building these complex structures would…
Arte
…shape of gourds. Ceramic pipes were common, generally taking the shape of an inverted T. The tembetá (an adornment worn in the lower lip) was a fairly common item, and…
Economy
…The economy of the Cabuza communities was agriculture-based, and they adopted several new farming tools and more complex irrigation techniques to grow maize, several kinds of squash, beans, quinoa,…
Arte
These people were the first to produce ceramics in the region. They crafted thin-walled vessels in simple forms, with dark surfaces that were sometimes polished. Some pieces featured…
Economía
The Diaguita were a farming culture that built irrigation networks to enable them to grow a wide range of crops such as maize, quinoa, beans and squash. It…
Arte
…The ancient inhabitants of Patagonia painted representations of their cosmic vision on the walls of the rock shelters they inhabited, illustrating the high degree of ideological complexity that they…
Art
…Textiles were a basic commodity of the Inka State, and served as status symbols, political gifts and as offerings. The Inka and their subjects wore clothing that differentiated them…
The Spear-thrower
The spear thrower, also known as the atlatl, replaced the lance as the weapon of choice for hunting and personal defense among pre-Hispanic societies. These instruments were…
Art
The earliest evidence of artistic expression during this period includes stones painted with abstract designs. Lumps of red pigment have also been found that were used to color…
Economy
The hunter-gatherer way of life is characterized by an economy based on hunting, fishing and gathering resources for food and other uses. These groups hunted a variety of…
Art
The Alto Ramírez people became highly skilled in textile making. Their designs incorporated geometric and figurative motifs for the first time, including images of human faces with rays…
Economy
…The economy of the Azapa cultural communities was based on fishing, hunting of marine mammals and gathering of mollusks and terrestrial plants. Their diet also included agricultural produce such…
Settlement patterns
As one of the Southern-Chilean Canoe Tribes, the Kawésqar lived a nomadic life, paddling the archipelago’s channels in their canoes, moving from island to island in search of…
Beliefs and funerary practices
…community. Any object, and especially those in the possession of powerful men, could be imbued with this supernatural power. Skulls engraved with designs relating to fertility (vulvas, for example) that…