…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…
Economy
…Azapa, the local communities grew maize, beans, squash, jíquima and gourds that were sent to the Altiplano by llama caravan. In the Atacama, in contrast, the groups had an economy…
History
…herders of northern Chile, with whom they traded. Later still, these coastal groups may have come under the domination of the Inka empire. Due to the extensive genetic and cultural…
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…
History
…and perfected their ancestral way of life. The increasing complexity of the societies of the Atacameña area, which was closely tied to the traffic of goods with llama caravans, strongly…
Beliefs and funeral rites
Early Tiwanaku religious practices display influences from the Amazon basin, especially in its emphasis on shamanism associated with the consumption of hallucinogens. Later, official State rituals gradually led…
Agriculturalists of the semi-arid north
…agricultural focus would cause the Diaguita and Copiapóto adopt a completely sedentary way of life, with most groups living in villages located near their farm fields. One such Diaguita settlement…
Economía
…by irrigation canals to complement the wild fruit they gathered from the algarrobo and chañar trees. They traveled frequently from East to West, seeking out products for trade—fish and mollusks…
Economy
…In ancient times, the people of Rapa Nui subsisted by growing several varieties of plantain, squash, tubers and sugar cane, and complemented their diet with fishing, hunting and gatheringfood…
Settlement pattern
As seafaring nomads, the Chonos moved around from island to island without having a home base. They spent most of their lives on board their dalcas, moving the…
Language
…and agglutinative; its nouns can be verbalized and subjectivized to form complex words that can be equivalent to a whole phrase in English. Kawésqar vocabulary is rich with terms for…
Toasting, Inka Style
…In the past, toasting with alcoholic beverages was both a central element of Andean celebrations and a political ritual. When the Inka arrived to conquer a region, they…
Historia
…development was occurring in the valleys and on the coast, the last of the Pitrén groups continued to inhabit the lakes region in the foothills. It is possible that both…
Language
…The Aymara language belongs to the jaqi family. It is polysynthetic and agglutinative, with a tendency to employ suffixes. It is both complex and regular, using compound words where…
Language
…know about this language, as it disappeared quickly after the Spanish conquest, according to historians. Present-day Diaguita communities in Chile speak Spanish only. According to scholar Ricardo Latcham, surnames ending…
Culto y Funebria
…These southern inland hunters buried their dead in a variety of ways. The most common type of burial is that of the steppe peoples of historic times, who placed…
Historia
…discoid stones suggests cultural relations with other groups that inhabited the Pacific coast of South America at roughly the same time and who inhabited sites such as the Huentelauquén complex…
Marine hunter-gatherers
At almost the same time that the terrestrial hunter-gatherer way of life emerged inland, along Chile’s extensive coastline other groups relied on the coastal environment as their…
Settlement Pattern
…in ravines or near small plots around highland wetlands. Settlements in Ollagüe are located in the Puquios, Cohasa, Del Inca, Caichape and Amincha ravines, while in the Quechua communities of…
Ambiente y Localización
…the Atacama Desert and the coastal zone and reaching as far north as the Huasco River valley. This territory has a marginal desert climate with little annual precipitation, although its…
Environment and Location
…rivers channel a 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 the scant…
Beliefs and funeral rites
…such material. Alongside the bodies they deposited ceramic jugs and bottles, and in some grave sites circular stones perforated in the center have been found, as well as lip ornaments…
Arte
…use of monochromatic surfaces, a preference for dark tones, and emphasis on molded decorations. The Pitrén produced a large variety of ceramic forms that range from simple globular bottles to…
San Pedro de Atacama: Música y baile a lo sagrado
…Durante tres días los Bailes Religiosos de los ayllus de San Pedro de Atacama despliegan su música y danzas. A través del testimonio de músicos y bailarines se entreteje…