﻿452 
  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  194 
  3 
  

  

  the 
  very 
  early 
  culture, 
  perhaps 
  even 
  of 
  the 
  earliest, 
  survived, 
  and 
  

   has 
  been 
  retained 
  down 
  to 
  the 
  present. 
  Much 
  or 
  most 
  of 
  it 
  suffered 
  

   more 
  than 
  a 
  sea 
  change, 
  in 
  the 
  process 
  of 
  adjustment 
  to 
  varying 
  new 
  

   external 
  environments 
  and 
  under 
  the 
  impulsion 
  of 
  internal 
  forces. 
  

  

  TENTATIVE 
  PREHISTORICAL 
  RECONSTRUCTION 
  

  

  Before 
  bringing 
  this 
  paper 
  to 
  a 
  close, 
  it 
  seems 
  worth 
  while, 
  at 
  the 
  

   risk 
  of 
  some 
  repetition 
  but 
  in 
  the 
  interests 
  of 
  clarity, 
  to 
  give 
  a 
  resume 
  

   in 
  chronological 
  order 
  of 
  what, 
  for 
  purposes 
  of 
  discussion, 
  has 
  been 
  

   dealt 
  with 
  in 
  inverse 
  temporal 
  order. 
  In 
  doing 
  so 
  we 
  are 
  venturing 
  

   to 
  fill 
  out 
  the 
  picture 
  a 
  little 
  by 
  adding 
  a 
  few 
  details 
  only 
  implicitly 
  

   or 
  incidentally 
  touched 
  upon 
  in 
  the 
  preceding 
  pages. 
  Some 
  of 
  these 
  

   details 
  in 
  the 
  following 
  attempted 
  reconstruction 
  of 
  the 
  broad 
  lines 
  

   of 
  culture 
  growth 
  on 
  the 
  South 
  American 
  continent 
  — 
  and 
  in 
  a 
  certain 
  

   sense 
  the 
  basic 
  reconstruction 
  itself 
  — 
  must 
  of 
  necessity, 
  in 
  view 
  of 
  the 
  

   many 
  lacunae 
  in 
  our 
  evidence, 
  be 
  tentative 
  and 
  provisional 
  only. 
  

   Workers 
  in 
  the 
  natural 
  sciences 
  take 
  for 
  granted 
  that 
  it 
  is 
  legitimate 
  

   to 
  formulate 
  provisional 
  theories, 
  if 
  only 
  as 
  working 
  hypotheses. 
  

   Why 
  may 
  not 
  the 
  cultural 
  anthropologist 
  do 
  the 
  same, 
  provided 
  he 
  

   keeps 
  reasonably 
  close 
  to 
  his 
  evidence 
  and 
  proposes 
  his 
  reconstructions 
  

   as 
  provisional 
  only 
  and 
  not 
  as 
  established 
  verities? 
  There 
  is 
  a 
  via 
  

   media 
  between 
  giving 
  free 
  rein 
  to 
  fancy 
  and 
  speculation 
  and 
  setting 
  

   up 
  tentative 
  hypotheses 
  to 
  be 
  tested. 
  

  

  The 
  long-headed 
  earlier 
  peoples 
  of 
  the 
  South 
  American 
  continent 
  

   must 
  have 
  reached 
  it 
  from 
  North 
  America 
  either 
  by 
  way 
  of 
  the 
  Isthmus 
  

   of 
  Panama 
  or 
  across 
  the 
  Antilles 
  route. 
  How 
  many 
  thousand 
  years 
  

   ago 
  this 
  occurred 
  there 
  is 
  no 
  very 
  definite 
  evidence 
  for 
  concluding 
  — 
  

   possibly 
  only 
  the 
  4,000 
  which 
  Spinden 
  allows, 
  perhaps 
  some 
  thousands 
  

   of 
  years 
  earlier 
  as 
  suggested 
  by 
  our 
  linguistic 
  data, 
  and 
  by 
  some 
  of 
  

   the 
  more 
  recent 
  archeological 
  evidence 
  for 
  South 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  North 
  

   America. 
  43 
  

  

  Man 
  on 
  his 
  arrival 
  in 
  South 
  America 
  had 
  in 
  all 
  probability 
  a 
  very 
  

   simple 
  culture 
  without 
  agriculture, 
  weaving, 
  or 
  pottery, 
  without 
  alco- 
  

   holic 
  intoxicants 
  or 
  tobacco, 
  and, 
  judging 
  from 
  its 
  earlier 
  absence 
  

   from 
  the 
  extreme 
  southern 
  tip 
  of 
  the 
  continent 
  and 
  its 
  modern 
  absence 
  

   from 
  a 
  great 
  many 
  other 
  peoples 
  of 
  the 
  Marginal 
  and 
  Silval 
  belts, 
  quite 
  

   possibly, 
  too, 
  without 
  the 
  dog. 
  Fire 
  in 
  the 
  early 
  stages 
  was 
  more 
  

   likely 
  by 
  the 
  percussion 
  method 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  by 
  the 
  drill. 
  Boiling 
  with 
  

   hot 
  stones 
  was 
  practiced. 
  Body 
  painting 
  and 
  depilation 
  went 
  along 
  

   with 
  the 
  use 
  of 
  the 
  brush 
  comb. 
  Head 
  deformation 
  was 
  lacking. 
  The 
  

   autonomous 
  politico-economic 
  unit 
  was 
  the 
  small 
  band, 
  mostly 
  com- 
  

   posed 
  of 
  kin, 
  each 
  band 
  with 
  its 
  own 
  more 
  or 
  less 
  circumscribed 
  sover- 
  

   eign 
  territory. 
  Sibs, 
  moieties, 
  age 
  classes, 
  marked 
  social 
  stratification, 
  

  

  43 
  Spinden, 
  1937 
  ; 
  Bird, 
  1938 
  ; 
  Roberts, 
  1940. 
  

  

  