…sees that his poor brother has returned as wealthy as he is, he asks him how he has become so rich—did he come by it honestly or steal it? He…
Economy
…Quechua community economies vary by geographic zone. The Quechuas of Ollagüe and San Pedro primarily raise livestock and practice limited agriculture, as well as sometimes gathering wild plants and…
Art
Painting was a key element in Tehuelche art and was practiced on different media. Facial and body paints were applied daily as protection from the elements and for…
Mapuche
…Pérez de Arce. Archivo MCHAP. Escuchar Guillatún Comunidad de Weicahue. Abril 1994. Grabación: José Pérez de Arce. Archivo MCHAP. Escuchar Kultrún y canto Kultrún, canto y cascahuillas. Armando Marileo. Cañete….
The petroglyphs of Tamentica
…approximately 200 m2. The petroglyphs cover virtually the entire surface of the blocks and were engraved in relief using a combination of area- and line-percussion techniques. Figures of condors with…
Economy
…of land in the valley bottom, where they cultivate traditional crops and keep orchards alongside their dwellings. Goat herders raise their flocks in the ravines, hills and mountains of Pinte,…
Makemake the Creator
As told by Arturo Teao Tori Makemake was alone, and this was not good. He picked up a gourd filled with water and peered inside. Makemake’s reflection entered…
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…
Social organization
…family; but the women of the tribe governed their own activities and enjoyed equal rights. With no hierarchies, the community had no leader or chief; rather, the entire tribe was…
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…
Art
…of five hundred years, they erected close to three hundred altars, called ahus, and carved more than six hundred stone moaistatues. These monumental pieces expressed the competition for power among…
The story of the Shepherdess
…find that both the shepherdess and his child are gone. Weeping, the condor flies over the hills and countryside without finding any trace of them. Exhausted, he spies a small…
Art
The El Molle people were expert stoneworkers who sculpted and polished stone to produce pipes in inverted-T forms, as well as their characteristic lip ornaments known as tembetás,…
The picture-engravings of Taira
…the Atacama salt flat. Most of these sites are located near freshwater springs. The Taira figures were painted or engraved onto the rock, or applied using a combination of both…
Historia
…Chile’s Selk’nam people were also known as the Ona, a Yamana word meaning “northward” or “northern.” They are completely extinct today. The Selk’nam’s first contact with Europeans was with…