﻿430 
  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  194 
  3 
  

  

  central 
  Honduras 
  are 
  included, 
  since 
  they 
  are 
  linked 
  culturally 
  more 
  

   to 
  South 
  America 
  than 
  to 
  North 
  America. 
  2 
  The 
  paper 
  has 
  been 
  

   written, 
  not 
  for 
  seasoned 
  specialists 
  in 
  South 
  American 
  anthropology, 
  

   but 
  for 
  nonspecialists, 
  to 
  set 
  up 
  an 
  areal 
  and 
  temporal 
  framework 
  into 
  

   which 
  the 
  enormously 
  complex 
  factual 
  data 
  can 
  be 
  provisionally 
  fitted 
  

   and 
  to 
  offer 
  a 
  first-aid 
  guide 
  to 
  the 
  anthropological 
  literature 
  of 
  the 
  

   continent. 
  No 
  attempt 
  has 
  been 
  made, 
  of 
  course, 
  to 
  include 
  an 
  ade- 
  

   quate 
  list 
  of 
  the 
  innumerable 
  first-hand 
  sources. 
  Good 
  bibliographies 
  

   of 
  these 
  may 
  be 
  found 
  in 
  Nordenskiold, 
  especially 
  1920 
  ; 
  Krickeberg, 
  

   1922, 
  1939; 
  W. 
  Schmidt, 
  1913; 
  Izikowitz, 
  1935; 
  Gillin, 
  1940. 
  

  

  For 
  a 
  better 
  understanding 
  of 
  cultural 
  distribution 
  and 
  sequence 
  

   in 
  South 
  America, 
  a 
  few 
  of 
  the 
  more 
  pertinent 
  data 
  upon 
  physical 
  

   environment 
  and 
  racial 
  and 
  linguistic 
  divisions 
  are 
  premised. 
  

  

  PHYSICAL 
  ENVIRONMENT 
  3 
  

  

  Geographically 
  Pan 
  America 
  may 
  be 
  looked 
  upon 
  as 
  a 
  quasi 
  

   peninsula 
  jutting 
  out 
  from 
  the 
  extreme 
  northeast 
  tip 
  of 
  the 
  Afro- 
  

   Eurasiatic 
  land 
  mass 
  which 
  we 
  assume 
  to 
  be 
  the 
  birthplace 
  of 
  the 
  

   human 
  race. 
  Thus, 
  of 
  the 
  larger 
  continental 
  areas 
  of 
  the 
  world, 
  

   South 
  America 
  is 
  farthest 
  removed 
  from 
  man's 
  primal 
  home, 
  the 
  most 
  

   isolated, 
  and 
  probably 
  the 
  latest 
  to 
  be 
  inhabited. 
  

  

  South 
  America 
  may, 
  for 
  our 
  present 
  purpose, 
  be 
  divided 
  into 
  three 
  

   major 
  regions: 
  (1) 
  the 
  mountainous 
  western 
  fringe, 
  with 
  its 
  flanking 
  

   coastal 
  plains, 
  and, 
  east 
  thereof, 
  (2) 
  the 
  forested 
  lowlands 
  of 
  the 
  

   north, 
  northeast, 
  and 
  center 
  of 
  the 
  continent, 
  and 
  (3) 
  the 
  more 
  or 
  

   less 
  open 
  country 
  of 
  the 
  east 
  and 
  south. 
  With 
  these 
  three 
  areas 
  co- 
  

   incides 
  fairly 
  well 
  the 
  distribution 
  of 
  the 
  three 
  major 
  cultural 
  group- 
  

   ings 
  of 
  the 
  continent 
  — 
  a 
  correlation 
  to 
  which 
  we 
  shall 
  return 
  later. 
  

  

  1. 
  The 
  Andean 
  region. 
  — 
  The 
  Andean 
  cordillera 
  lifts 
  its 
  peaks, 
  

   ranges, 
  and 
  plateaus, 
  paralleling 
  the 
  coast, 
  from 
  Panama 
  to 
  its 
  dip 
  

   beneath 
  the 
  ocean 
  at 
  Cape 
  Horn. 
  Toward 
  the 
  Pacific 
  it 
  is 
  flanked 
  

   over 
  most 
  of 
  its 
  extent 
  by 
  a 
  narrow 
  strip 
  of 
  lowland: 
  tropical 
  rain 
  

   forest 
  down 
  to 
  about 
  Payta 
  (5° 
  S. 
  lat.), 
  in 
  extreme 
  northern 
  Peru; 
  

   the 
  Peruvian-Chilean 
  coastal 
  desert 
  thence 
  about 
  1,600 
  miles 
  to 
  near 
  

   La 
  Serena 
  (30° 
  S. 
  lat.), 
  Chile; 
  dry 
  forest 
  and 
  temperate 
  rain 
  forest 
  

   from 
  La 
  Serena 
  to 
  the 
  Magellanic 
  archipelago. 
  

  

  2. 
  The 
  forested 
  lowlands. 
  — 
  The 
  forested 
  lowlands 
  of 
  the 
  Orinoco 
  

   and 
  Amazon 
  watersheds, 
  lying 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  northern 
  half 
  of 
  the 
  

   cordillera, 
  form 
  a 
  vast, 
  roughly 
  quadrangular 
  area. 
  The 
  northwest- 
  

   ern 
  and 
  southwestern 
  sides 
  of 
  this 
  quadrangle 
  are 
  formed 
  by 
  the 
  

   Andes; 
  the 
  northeastern, 
  by 
  the 
  Atlantic 
  coast 
  line 
  from 
  central 
  

  

  * 
  Thomas 
  and 
  Swanton, 
  1911, 
  p. 
  96 
  ; 
  Mason, 
  1938, 
  pp. 
  311-314 
  ; 
  Lothrop, 
  1940 
  ; 
  Kidder 
  II, 
  

   1940. 
  Cf. 
  Lothrop, 
  1939. 
  _ 
  

  

  8 
  Geographical 
  data 
  in 
  this 
  section 
  of 
  paper 
  largely 
  based 
  on 
  : 
  Jones, 
  1930 
  ; 
  Denis, 
  1927 
  : 
  

   Zon 
  and 
  Sparhawk, 
  1923 
  ; 
  Whitbeck, 
  Williams, 
  and 
  Christians, 
  1940. 
  Cf. 
  James, 
  1942. 
  

  

  