…are passed down from generation to generation, transforming in details by maintaining the main argument of each story. Therefore it is common to have different versions of the same story….
History
Little is known about the origin of the Aconcagua culture, few elements of which can be ascribed to their predecessors, the Bato and Llolleo peoples, although neither is…
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…
Patrón de Asentamiento
The early inhabitants of Patagonia were highly mobile and ranged freely over hundreds of kilometers, taking advantage of both the open woodland and the steppe environments. They returned…
Mapuche
…as we understand it). It is a way of conveying ideas, expressing emotions and communicating the interior self, and for this reason it does not matter whether one is a…
Selk’nam
…and other rituals. Such chants were repetitive and hypnotic, with strong, continuous inflexions that allowed the shaman to achieve a mental state of complete control over the body and energy….
Kai Kai y Treng Treng
…the mountaintops. Just when they could ascend no more, they heard a voice coming from deep within the earth, calling treng, treng, treng. It was the divine serpent come to…
Story of the Forbidden Otter and the Great Flood
…stick, listen to what I was dreaming, that is why I am sending you to … do that… a coypu will come in and you shall kill it.” After he…
History
…were strongly influenced by the cultures of the Bolivian highlands. The most noticeable of these Altiplano features include their complex terraced farming and irrigation systems, the ceremonial chullpa, the settlement…
The pictographs of Confluencia
…Typical of the Confluencia style are scenes that combine human and animal figures, usually camelids, in a single composition. These were painted in red and reddish-yellow, usually inside…
The pictographs of El Médano
…most complex images depict scenes of human figures aboard tiny sea lion skin rafts throwing roped harpoons into the sides of enormous whales. In these scenes, the vessels and crews…
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…
Pipes of Central Chile
…Ritual pipe smoking was a common practice among early agricultural groups in the region, but the custom seems to have disappeared around 400 C.E. in Chile’s far north…
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…
The Sacrificer
…potatoes, the Sacrificer removed certain parts of the human body and planted them in the earth to release their power to renew not only crops but the community itself….
The petroglyphs of Las Lizas
…figures in all, the most common ones being sharks, dolphins and tuna fish, with a smaller proportion of swordfish and a few other fish, namely sardines, tollo, sole and red…
Pre-hispanic music of Chile
…a great deal. Music has always been an important part of ceremonial life (without music, rituals would virtually not exist), and the most interesting evidence of this comes to us…
Culto y Funebria
…While cemeteries in different valleys exhibit some major differences, the custom of burying dead individuals along with whole or partial guanaco cadavers was common, perhaps as a form of…
Environment and Location
The Semi-arid North of Chile is a territory in which the Andes Mountains and the Coastal Mountains converge, virtually eliminating the Intermediate Depression, with rivers forming transversal valleys…
Arte
…substances, while with white combarbalita stone and copper ore they made bead necklaces. The Las Ánimas people were also skillful metallurgists, especially with copper, which they used to make a…