﻿ABORIGINAL 
  SOUTH 
  AMERICAN 
  CULTURE 
  — 
  COOPER 
  447 
  

  

  area 
  and 
  there 
  remains 
  an 
  almost 
  unbroken 
  vast 
  region 
  of 
  nonhorticul- 
  

   tural 
  Marginal 
  culture 
  in 
  the 
  east 
  from 
  the 
  lower 
  Amazon 
  to 
  the 
  La 
  

   Plata. 
  

  

  The 
  Bororo 
  likewise 
  give 
  every 
  indication 
  of 
  being 
  a 
  fundamentally 
  

   Marginal 
  culture 
  overlaid 
  only 
  lightly 
  by 
  Silval 
  elements. 
  The 
  Tupi- 
  

   speaking 
  Guayaki 
  in 
  the 
  midst 
  of 
  Tupi 
  peoples 
  but 
  with 
  a 
  culture 
  

   sharply 
  contrasting 
  at 
  almost 
  every 
  point 
  with 
  the 
  Tupi, 
  seem 
  to 
  be 
  

   either 
  remnants 
  of 
  prehorticultural 
  Tupi 
  or 
  else 
  a 
  group 
  later 
  Tupi- 
  

   ized 
  as 
  regards 
  language 
  but 
  preserving 
  a 
  pre-Tupi 
  culture. 
  The 
  

   Guato 
  are 
  somewhat 
  problematical 
  but 
  both 
  the 
  archeological 
  and 
  the 
  

   ethnological 
  evidence 
  suggests 
  cultural 
  tarriance 
  in 
  their 
  case 
  rather 
  

   than 
  retrogression. 
  

  

  Upon 
  the 
  Chaco 
  peoples 
  have 
  rained 
  influences 
  from 
  east, 
  north, 
  and 
  

   west, 
  many 
  of 
  these 
  influences 
  certainly 
  of 
  post-Columbian 
  date. 
  The 
  

   reasonable 
  assumption 
  is 
  that 
  in 
  times 
  prior 
  thereto 
  and 
  not 
  very 
  re- 
  

   mote 
  the 
  Chaco 
  peoples 
  were 
  closely 
  akin 
  in 
  culture 
  to 
  the 
  Charrua 
  

   of 
  the 
  Uruguayan 
  plains 
  and 
  to 
  the 
  Puelche-Querandi 
  of 
  the 
  Argen- 
  

   tine 
  Pampa. 
  Moreover 
  a 
  considerable 
  number 
  of 
  widespread 
  Chaco 
  

   cultural 
  elements, 
  such 
  as 
  skin 
  clothing, 
  the 
  hairbrush, 
  the 
  sinew 
  bow- 
  

   string, 
  suggest 
  rather 
  strongly 
  cultural 
  kinship 
  with 
  the 
  peoples 
  of 
  

   the 
  Pampas 
  and 
  Patagonian 
  plateau 
  to 
  the 
  south. 
  33 
  At 
  any 
  rate 
  the 
  

   peoples 
  of 
  the 
  Chaco, 
  of 
  the 
  Uruguayan 
  plains 
  and 
  of 
  the 
  Pampas 
  have 
  

   a 
  relatively 
  very 
  simple 
  culture 
  as 
  compared 
  with 
  the 
  more 
  elaborate 
  

   Silval 
  culture, 
  and 
  there 
  is 
  no 
  evidence 
  whatever 
  to 
  suggest 
  that 
  this 
  

   simplicity 
  has 
  been 
  the 
  result 
  of 
  cultural 
  retrogression. 
  

  

  It 
  looks, 
  too, 
  as 
  if 
  the 
  internally 
  Marginal 
  peoples 
  scattered 
  here 
  

   and 
  there 
  in 
  the 
  Silval 
  belt, 
  or 
  at 
  least 
  most 
  of 
  them, 
  may 
  be 
  cultural 
  

   tarriants 
  from 
  pre-Silval 
  times. 
  The 
  marked 
  simplicity 
  of 
  their 
  culture 
  

   contrasting 
  sharply 
  with 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  Silval, 
  the 
  absence 
  of 
  evidence 
  of 
  

   retrogression, 
  except 
  perhaps 
  with 
  the 
  Mura, 
  the 
  scattered 
  type 
  of 
  

   distribution, 
  and, 
  in 
  some 
  cases, 
  specific 
  historic 
  evidence, 
  all 
  suggest 
  

   that 
  these 
  peoples 
  are 
  earlier 
  occupants 
  of 
  regions 
  near 
  where 
  they 
  

   now 
  are, 
  who 
  have 
  been 
  driven 
  forward, 
  conquered, 
  scattered, 
  pene- 
  

   trated, 
  or 
  surrounded, 
  and 
  in 
  some 
  cases 
  profoundly 
  influenced 
  cul- 
  

   turally 
  and 
  linguistically 
  by 
  later-coming 
  Silval 
  Arawak, 
  Carib, 
  and 
  

   Tupi, 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  other 
  peoples 
  of 
  Silval 
  culture. 
  Such 
  is 
  the 
  view, 
  from 
  

   first-hand 
  study 
  in 
  the 
  field, 
  of 
  Koch-Griinberg, 
  as 
  regards 
  the 
  Schiri- 
  

   ana, 
  Waika, 
  and 
  Makii, 
  34 
  although 
  it 
  is 
  possible 
  that 
  what 
  he 
  took 
  for 
  

   definite 
  recent 
  historical 
  tradition 
  may 
  have 
  been 
  legendary 
  tribal 
  

   lore. 
  Some 
  of 
  these 
  people, 
  too, 
  seem 
  to 
  differ 
  somewhat 
  somatologi- 
  

  

  33 
  Nordenskiold, 
  1919, 
  pp. 
  259-261 
  ; 
  Lathrop, 
  1932, 
  pp. 
  188-189 
  ; 
  Palavecino, 
  1934, 
  p. 
  229. 
  

  

  34 
  Koch-Griinberg, 
  1906a, 
  p. 
  878 
  ; 
  1906b, 
  pp. 
  180-181 
  • 
  1922, 
  pp. 
  226, 
  260-262, 
  265-266 
  ; 
  

   1923, 
  pp. 
  15-16, 
  284, 
  299-300, 
  307. 
  Cf. 
  Nordenskiold, 
  1924, 
  p. 
  233, 
  Sirion6 
  tribe 
  "repre- 
  

   sents 
  perhaps 
  a 
  remnant 
  of 
  the 
  original 
  population" 
  [of 
  northeastern 
  Bolivia]. 
  

  

  