…moais, as well as the ceremonial village of Orongo. They achieved these great feats with an economy based on marine resources and horticulture. They irrigated their crops with rainwater, as…
Inka Provincial Ceramics
…lid as well, was used to prepare corn-based stews or to heat up or store cooked food. These vessels were often brought as “campaign pots” on military campaigns from the…
Language
…As mentioned above, the identity of Quechua communities is primarily based on language affiliation. However, while Quechua is spoken primarily by the people of Ollagüe and San Pedro Estación,…
Organización Social
…two families at a time, except for special circumstances such as whale beachings, when larger groups would gather. Bio-anthropological evidence indicates that the division of labor was based on gender…
Economía
…These canoeists had a hunter gatherer lifestyle and based their diet mainly on marine mammals, which they hunted with harpoons made from animal bone and tipped with stone points….
Indigenous Stories
…Some of them are common to large, geographical areas but are told with local differences, based on the experiences and environments of each community. The following tales belong to the…
Culto y Funebria
…Their most important ceremonies included complex ‘rites of passage’ relating to different stages of life. Over time, they adopted certain ritualistic elements from similar ceremonies practiced by neighboring land-based groups….
Economy
…The economy of the Aconcagua groups was based on agriculture, with clear-cutting carried out to enable crops such as maize, quinoa, beans and squash to be grown. They also…
Beliefs and funeral rites
…The Arica culture possessed a religious system based on shamanism, which is reflected in the importance they placed on instruments used to inhale psychoactive substances, and perhaps in…
Social organization
…no extended political units or marked social differences. Leadership was based on prestige and probably was not hereditary, although the head of each family would have usually held political authority….
Rapa Nui
…owned by French and English capital interests based in Tahiti. After the death of Balmaceda in 1891, island relations with the mainland remained minimal until 1966, when a law was…
History
…The names ‘Yaghan’ and ‘Yámana’ are based on words from the tribe’s language: yámana means ‘man’ (as opposed to kipa, meaning woman), and yagán or yaghan means ´us´. By…
Social organization
…It has been suggested that these coastal peoples were organized into patrilocal clans, based on a nuclear or extended family, each independent and economically self-sufficient. Some writers believe that…
Beliefs and funeral rites
…are based on worshiping the spirits of the great mountains, the Achachilas, Mallkus and T’alla or “Providers”. These male and female spirits wield enormous power over peoples’ lives by controlling…
Economía
…The Las Ánimas people developed an economy based on horticultural activities with a marked emphasis on exploiting coastal resources. They grew maize, squash and beans, among other plants, and…
Organización Social
…system was introduced and the authorities began handing over land to family based communities, identifying each estate with the name of the corresponding cacique or lonko. The establishment of these…
History
…class of warrior chiefs wrested power from the ancient priest class. In the ceremonial village of Orongo, the warrior-chiefs inaugurated a new fertility cult, Tangata Manu, based around the god…
Social organization
…The fundamental unit of Yaghan society was the family, which consisted of parents and children. The family was a closed, independent structure and the only clearly determined social grouping….
Social organization
…Before the introduction of the horse, Tehuelche society was based on the nuclear family unit, with a dozen of these forming a band. This voluntary multi-family grouping dwelt in…
History
…The Azapa people were the heirs of the coastal Archaic tradition and retained an economy based on marine resources, but they also introduced a new horticultural way of life…
Economía
…These groups developed a broad-based subsistence strategy that was adapted to the rainforest environment. In addition to hunting the so-called megafauna, they used spears and bolas to capture smaller…
Economy
…The economies of these communities were based on extensive agriculture and livestock raising, taking advantage of the water from ravines by building systems of terraced gardens and irrigation canals….
Settlement pattern
…third-order centers for local administration and countless fourth-order settlements based on agriculture and livestock production. The peasant class lived in modest dwellings with mud walls and straw roofs built upon…
Art
…Symbols of power were disseminated as portable artifacts that promoted adherence to Tiwanaku society through imagery and objects. This iconography represented a shamanistic religion based on hallucinogenic-induced trance. In the…