﻿ABORIGINAL 
  SOUTH 
  AMERICAN 
  CULTURE 
  — 
  COOPER 
  439 
  

  

  copper 
  (tumbac), 
  of 
  gold 
  and 
  silver, 
  and 
  of 
  copper 
  and 
  tin 
  (bronze), 
  

   sintering 
  of 
  gold 
  and 
  platinum 
  (Ecuador), 
  16 
  plating, 
  gilding, 
  sold- 
  

   ering, 
  and 
  welding; 
  ordinary 
  dwellings 
  as 
  a 
  rule 
  of 
  very 
  simple 
  con- 
  

   struction 
  but 
  advanced 
  megalithic 
  architecture 
  (pi. 
  3, 
  lower) 
  in 
  the 
  

   central 
  Andean 
  region 
  in 
  the 
  building 
  of 
  temples, 
  fortifications, 
  and 
  

   other 
  public 
  structures 
  ; 
  roads, 
  suspension 
  and 
  stone 
  bridges 
  ; 
  the 
  quipu 
  

   knot-record 
  system, 
  but 
  no 
  writing; 
  wide 
  use 
  as 
  weapons 
  of 
  slings, 
  

   stone-headed 
  and 
  metal-headed 
  clubs, 
  spear 
  and 
  spear 
  thrower, 
  and 
  

   bolas, 
  with 
  bow 
  and 
  arrow 
  absent 
  or 
  of 
  quite 
  secondary 
  importance 
  (as 
  

   contrasting 
  with 
  the 
  Silval 
  and 
  most 
  of 
  the 
  Marginal 
  area 
  where 
  the 
  

   bow 
  and 
  arrow 
  and 
  the 
  unheaded 
  club 
  predominate) 
  ; 
  advanced 
  politi- 
  

   cal 
  institutions 
  with 
  high 
  organization 
  and 
  centralization, 
  and 
  partic- 
  

   ularly 
  in 
  the 
  Inca 
  civilization, 
  militaristic 
  imperialism; 
  tribute 
  and 
  

   taxes; 
  organized 
  standing 
  army; 
  earlier 
  pre-Inca 
  tenure 
  of 
  garden 
  

   plots 
  in 
  severalty 
  17 
  supplanted 
  later 
  under 
  Inca 
  rule 
  by 
  limited 
  com- 
  

   munal 
  control 
  of 
  land; 
  elaborate 
  market 
  system; 
  highly 
  organized 
  

   priesthood 
  and 
  ritualism, 
  alongside 
  of 
  considerable 
  shamanism; 
  

   animal 
  and, 
  to 
  a 
  limited 
  extent, 
  human 
  sacrifice 
  ; 
  marked 
  solar 
  cult. 
  

  

  As 
  is 
  obvious 
  from 
  the 
  foregoing 
  summary 
  descriptions, 
  the 
  Margi- 
  

   nal, 
  Silval, 
  and 
  Sierral 
  cultures 
  represent 
  in 
  the 
  main 
  three 
  fairly 
  dis- 
  

   tinct 
  levels 
  of 
  technological 
  and 
  economico-political 
  achievement, 
  the 
  

   Marginal 
  being 
  the 
  simplest, 
  the 
  Silval 
  more 
  developed, 
  and 
  the 
  Sierral 
  

   the 
  most 
  complex. 
  

  

  It 
  has 
  been 
  our 
  main 
  purpose 
  so 
  far 
  to 
  block 
  out 
  only 
  in 
  broadest 
  out- 
  

   line 
  the 
  nature 
  and 
  distribution 
  of 
  these 
  three 
  contrasting 
  cultural 
  

   types 
  over 
  the 
  South 
  American 
  Continent 
  and 
  the 
  adjacent 
  areas 
  of 
  the 
  

   West 
  Indies 
  and 
  Central 
  America. 
  To 
  keep 
  the 
  picture 
  from 
  becoming 
  

   too 
  intricate, 
  we 
  have 
  purposely 
  closed 
  our 
  eyes 
  to 
  the 
  numberless 
  

   tribal 
  and 
  areal 
  cultural 
  diversities 
  and 
  have 
  tried 
  to 
  see 
  the 
  continent 
  

   as 
  a 
  cultural 
  whole, 
  even 
  at 
  the 
  risk 
  of 
  appearing 
  to 
  oversimplify 
  the 
  

   well-recognized 
  unending 
  complexities 
  of 
  South 
  American 
  aboriginal 
  

   culture. 
  

  

  B. 
  DIFFUSION 
  AND 
  TEMPORAL 
  SEQUENCE 
  

  

  Our 
  next 
  task 
  is 
  that 
  of 
  interpretation 
  — 
  here 
  an 
  attempt 
  to 
  deter- 
  

   mine 
  spatial 
  and 
  temporal 
  relationships. 
  As 
  initial 
  steps 
  toward 
  

   working 
  out 
  a 
  provisional 
  reconstruction 
  of 
  cultural 
  sequence 
  on 
  the 
  

   continent 
  we 
  may 
  first 
  isolate 
  and 
  strip 
  off 
  certain 
  cultural 
  elements 
  in 
  

   modern 
  aboriginal 
  South 
  American 
  culture 
  that 
  are 
  demonstrably 
  

   post-Columbian, 
  and 
  secondly, 
  survey 
  some 
  of 
  the 
  more 
  significant 
  

   earlier 
  diffusions 
  that 
  are 
  clearly 
  or 
  reasonably 
  inferable 
  from 
  the 
  data 
  

   at 
  our 
  command. 
  

  

  10 
  Bergs0e, 
  1937 
  (cf. 
  reviews 
  by 
  J. 
  A. 
  Mason 
  and 
  D. 
  Horton 
  in 
  Amer. 
  Antiquity, 
  vol. 
  4, 
  pp. 
  

   84-87, 
  1938. 
  

  

  17 
  Santa 
  Cruz, 
  1940. 
  

  

  