…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…
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…
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…
Art
…of the relief images. These pigments may have also been used from early times in body painting, a practice that was common at the time of first contact with Europeans….
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…
Culto y Funebria
Ceramic and stone pipes have frequently been found at sites formerly occupied by Llolleo groups, which indicates that they may have used hallucinogenic substances in their social rituals….
Patrón de Asentamiento
Given their highly mobile way of life, the hunter gatherers of Central Chile did not establish villages, but for centuries in their seasonal nomadic circuits they used the…
Beliefs and funeral rites
…The Chinchorro culture offers the earliest complex expression of a cult of the dead and ancestor worship on the arid South American coast. This is seen through the complicated…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
Settlement pattern
…preferably adjacent to the corresponding ahu. These settlements held a core group of dwellings that usually belonged to high-ranking clan members, while common folk lived in permanent settlements furtherinland, near…
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…
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…
Language
The native tongue of the Atacameño people is kunza, though this language has been extinct for at least a century. Only a few traces of it remain, mainly…
Economy
The Chonos belonged to the southern canoeist culture and were nomadic seafarers. Their vessels, called dalcas, were central to their way of life and were made of three…
Economy
…abounded in the region. When these animals beached themselves occasionally, the entire community took the opportunity to hold a lengthy celebration. The Selk’nam consumed virtually all bird species available, except…
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…
Environment and Location
The Chinchorro people inhabited the Pacific coast of southern Peru and northern Chile, from what the present-day port of Ilo to Antofagasta. Though the land here is extremely…
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…
History
…around 2000 BC, the Chinchorro began to blend with the Quiani groups, who simplified the previous complex mummification techniques as they inherited the culture and ancient traditions of the Chinchorro….
Environment and Location
The Arica culture inhabited a region known as the “Western Valleys,” which extended from Mollendo in Peru to Taltal in Chile, although most lived in the Azapa and…