﻿ABORIGINAL 
  SOUTH 
  AMERICAN 
  CULTURE 
  — 
  COOPER 
  451 
  

  

  the 
  Oceanian 
  or 
  any 
  other 
  route. 
  Apart 
  from 
  the 
  initial 
  "paleolithic" 
  

   (in 
  the 
  sense 
  of 
  "prehorticultural") 
  inheritance, 
  apart 
  from 
  a 
  pos- 
  

   sible 
  stray 
  pre-Columbian 
  accretion 
  here 
  and 
  there, 
  and 
  apart 
  from 
  

   obvious 
  post-Columbian 
  influences, 
  the 
  culture 
  of 
  aboriginal 
  South 
  

   America 
  gives 
  every 
  indication 
  of 
  being 
  home-grown. 
  

  

  SUMMARY 
  

  

  In 
  attempting 
  to 
  discover 
  and 
  reconstruct 
  the 
  broad 
  lines 
  of 
  cul- 
  

   tural 
  sequence 
  on 
  the 
  South 
  American 
  continent 
  we 
  have 
  resorted 
  

   to 
  the 
  stripping 
  process, 
  following 
  reverse 
  chronological 
  order. 
  

  

  Since 
  the 
  coming 
  of 
  the 
  white 
  man, 
  four-and-a-half 
  centuries 
  ago, 
  

   a 
  large 
  group 
  of 
  important 
  elements 
  of 
  European 
  provenance, 
  and 
  a 
  

   very 
  limited 
  group 
  of 
  minor 
  elements 
  of 
  Negro 
  origin, 
  have 
  spread 
  

   widely 
  over 
  the 
  continent 
  or 
  parts 
  thereof. 
  

  

  Since 
  our 
  more 
  or 
  less 
  arbitrary 
  date 
  of 
  about 
  A. 
  D. 
  1000 
  or 
  since, 
  

   in 
  round 
  numbers, 
  about 
  a 
  millennium 
  ago, 
  a 
  half-dozen 
  major 
  cul- 
  

   tural 
  diffusions 
  or 
  drifts 
  have 
  occurred 
  — 
  the 
  Inca 
  and 
  pre-Inca 
  

   within 
  the 
  Andean 
  area, 
  from 
  the 
  Southern 
  Andean 
  (Araucanian) 
  

   out 
  into 
  the 
  Pampean 
  and 
  Patagonian, 
  from 
  the 
  Silval 
  (mostly 
  

   Tupi) 
  into 
  and 
  around 
  the 
  Brazilian 
  highlands, 
  and 
  (Arawak- 
  

   Carib) 
  into 
  the 
  West 
  Indies 
  — 
  and 
  other 
  minor 
  diffusions, 
  such 
  as 
  

   those 
  from 
  the 
  Silval 
  and 
  Sierral 
  into 
  the 
  Chaco, 
  from 
  the 
  Sierral 
  

   into 
  the 
  Silval, 
  and 
  a 
  great 
  number, 
  not 
  dealt 
  with 
  in 
  the 
  present 
  

   paper, 
  of 
  more 
  localized 
  ones 
  within 
  the 
  Sierral, 
  Silval, 
  and 
  Marginal 
  

   respectively. 
  

  

  Earlier, 
  perhaps 
  around 
  the 
  beginning 
  of 
  the 
  Christian 
  Era 
  or 
  

   maybe 
  long 
  before, 
  came 
  the 
  beginnings 
  of 
  horticulture 
  in 
  the 
  Silval 
  

   or 
  Sierral 
  area 
  or 
  both, 
  and 
  together 
  with 
  associated 
  or 
  subsequent 
  

   more 
  advanced 
  material 
  arts 
  and 
  divergent 
  social 
  and 
  religious 
  

   structures 
  and 
  usages 
  spread 
  out 
  over 
  the 
  western, 
  northern, 
  and 
  cen- 
  

   tral 
  regions 
  of 
  the 
  continent, 
  penetrating 
  to 
  about 
  the 
  limits 
  of 
  the 
  

   arable 
  land 
  in 
  the 
  Sierral 
  area 
  and 
  of 
  the 
  tropical 
  and 
  subtropical 
  

   rain 
  forests 
  of 
  the 
  Silval. 
  These 
  cultural 
  drifts, 
  however, 
  left 
  rela- 
  

   tively 
  untouched 
  the 
  cultures 
  of 
  the 
  great 
  eastern 
  and 
  southern 
  open- 
  

   country 
  belt, 
  and 
  seemingly, 
  too, 
  a 
  number 
  of 
  archaic 
  cultural 
  islands 
  

   here 
  and 
  there 
  within 
  the 
  Silval 
  area 
  as 
  represented 
  by 
  the 
  internally 
  

   Marginal 
  peoples 
  still 
  surviving 
  there, 
  and 
  even 
  within 
  the 
  Sierral 
  

   as 
  represented 
  by 
  the 
  coastal 
  Change 
  

  

  Still 
  earlier, 
  between 
  the 
  remote 
  first 
  migration 
  or 
  migrations 
  of 
  

   man 
  to 
  the 
  continent 
  — 
  perhaps 
  10,000 
  to 
  25,000 
  years 
  ago 
  — 
  and 
  the 
  

   beginnings 
  of 
  aboriginal 
  American 
  horticulture, 
  the 
  original 
  

   "paleolithic" 
  culture 
  of 
  these 
  earlier 
  immigrants 
  was 
  carried 
  by 
  them 
  

   over 
  all 
  or 
  most 
  of 
  both 
  North 
  and 
  South 
  America 
  as 
  they 
  deployed 
  

   out 
  over 
  forest 
  and 
  open 
  country, 
  highlands 
  and 
  lowlands. 
  Some 
  of 
  

  

  