﻿450 
  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  194 
  3 
  

  

  well 
  as 
  by 
  natural 
  barriers 
  from 
  the 
  cultural 
  influences 
  of 
  the 
  advanced 
  

   civilizations 
  of 
  the 
  continent. 
  Most 
  of 
  the 
  internally 
  Marginal 
  peoples 
  

   are 
  likewise 
  in 
  remoter 
  "refuge" 
  areas 
  of 
  the 
  tropical 
  rain 
  forest. 
  

  

  4. 
  The 
  Question 
  of 
  Old 
  World 
  Influence 
  

  

  Within 
  the 
  limits 
  of 
  a 
  short 
  paper 
  like 
  the 
  present, 
  which 
  has 
  

   already 
  gone 
  far 
  beyond 
  the 
  length 
  originally 
  planned, 
  it 
  is 
  not 
  

   possible 
  to 
  enter 
  into 
  a 
  detailed 
  review 
  of 
  the 
  evidence 
  bearing 
  on 
  

   this 
  supercomplicated 
  problem. 
  And 
  unless 
  the 
  evidence 
  pro 
  and 
  

   con 
  is 
  discussed 
  in 
  minute 
  detail 
  and 
  against 
  a 
  pan-continental 
  

   and 
  even 
  world-wide 
  background, 
  discussion 
  of 
  it 
  is 
  all 
  but 
  futile. 
  

   The 
  ablest 
  treatment 
  of 
  it 
  which 
  has 
  yet 
  appeared 
  is, 
  to 
  the 
  present 
  

   writer's 
  best 
  judgment, 
  that 
  by 
  Nordenskiold, 
  to 
  which 
  the 
  reader 
  

   is 
  referred 
  for 
  details. 
  40 
  Without 
  entering 
  into 
  the 
  minutiae 
  of 
  the 
  

   controversy 
  and 
  merely 
  to 
  fill 
  out 
  some 
  of 
  the 
  main 
  lines 
  of 
  culture 
  

   sequence 
  in 
  South 
  America, 
  we 
  shall 
  confine 
  ourselves 
  to 
  the 
  briefest 
  

   statement 
  of 
  the 
  conclusions 
  which, 
  in 
  the 
  view 
  of 
  Nordenskiold 
  and 
  

   of 
  most 
  of 
  us 
  interested 
  in 
  the 
  problem, 
  seem 
  to 
  follow 
  from 
  such 
  

   evidence 
  as 
  we 
  have. 
  

  

  The 
  earliest 
  prehistoric 
  human 
  migrants 
  from 
  northeastern 
  Asia 
  

   to 
  the 
  American 
  continent 
  brought 
  with 
  them 
  their 
  heritage 
  of 
  Old 
  

   World 
  "paleolithic" 
  culture. 
  Beyond, 
  however, 
  this 
  initial 
  heritage 
  

   from 
  Old 
  World 
  culture, 
  there 
  appears 
  no 
  convincing 
  or 
  even 
  good 
  

   probable 
  evidence 
  for 
  appreciable 
  accretions 
  in 
  pre-Columbian 
  days 
  

   to 
  South 
  American 
  culture 
  through 
  the 
  migration 
  from 
  the 
  Old 
  

   World 
  either 
  of 
  peoples 
  or 
  of 
  cultures, 
  whether 
  by 
  a 
  northern 
  route 
  

   across 
  Bering 
  Strait 
  or 
  the 
  vicinity 
  thereof 
  or 
  by 
  a 
  southern 
  route 
  

   across 
  the 
  Pacific. 
  

  

  Our 
  evidence 
  regarding 
  an 
  element 
  here 
  and 
  there, 
  such 
  as 
  the 
  

   sweetpotato, 
  the 
  calabash, 
  or 
  the 
  coconut, 
  makes 
  plausible 
  — 
  though 
  

   far 
  from 
  proved 
  — 
  the 
  assumption 
  of 
  sporadic 
  pre-Columbian 
  cultural 
  

   contacts 
  between 
  Oceania 
  and 
  South 
  America. 
  41 
  But 
  the 
  inference 
  

   that 
  there 
  has 
  been 
  notable 
  or 
  basic 
  pre-Columbian 
  Old 
  World 
  in- 
  

   fluence 
  upon 
  South 
  American 
  culture, 
  as 
  maintained 
  by 
  the 
  Helio- 
  

   lithic 
  and 
  Kulturkreis 
  schools, 
  42 
  seems 
  to 
  rest 
  on 
  extremely 
  weak 
  

   positive 
  evidence 
  and 
  furthermore 
  to 
  be 
  in 
  conflict 
  at 
  scores 
  of 
  crucial 
  

   points 
  with 
  our 
  massive 
  ethnological 
  and 
  archeological 
  evidence. 
  

   The 
  resemblances 
  on 
  which 
  these 
  two 
  schools 
  mostly 
  rest 
  their 
  re- 
  

   spective 
  cases 
  seem 
  far 
  too 
  few, 
  too 
  scattered, 
  and 
  too 
  vague 
  to 
  justify 
  

   conclusions 
  of 
  large-scale 
  diffusion 
  from 
  the 
  Old 
  World 
  to 
  the 
  New 
  by 
  

  

  40 
  Nordenskiold, 
  1931, 
  pp. 
  16-53. 
  

  

  "Nordenskiold, 
  1931, 
  pp. 
  27-30; 
  Dixon, 
  1932; 
  cf. 
  Cook, 
  1910. 
  

  

  41 
  W. 
  Schmidt, 
  1913 
  ; 
  Smith, 
  1929. 
  Cf. 
  critiques 
  in 
  : 
  Dixon, 
  1928, 
  chap. 
  7 
  and 
  passim 
  ; 
  

   Ix>wie, 
  1937, 
  chaps. 
  10-11. 
  For 
  most 
  recent 
  exposition 
  of 
  Rivet's 
  theories 
  of 
  Oceanic 
  

   influence 
  in 
  aboriginal 
  South 
  America, 
  see 
  Rivet, 
  1943. 
  

  

  