﻿ABORIGINAL 
  SOUTH 
  AMERICAN 
  CULTURE 
  — 
  COOPER 
  453 
  

  

  and 
  powerful 
  chieftaincy 
  were 
  probably 
  absent, 
  although 
  there 
  is 
  some 
  

   question 
  regarding 
  moieties 
  and 
  age 
  classes 
  in 
  view 
  of 
  the 
  recent 
  Ge 
  

   evidence. 
  The 
  family 
  was 
  the 
  basic 
  social 
  unit, 
  polygamous 
  or 
  pre- 
  

   valently 
  monogamous 
  in 
  form, 
  with 
  probably 
  some 
  strict 
  or 
  fairly 
  

   strict 
  monogamy 
  in 
  groups 
  here 
  and 
  there. 
  Esthetic 
  culture 
  was 
  

   weakly 
  developed 
  ; 
  recreative, 
  very 
  slightly 
  organized. 
  Religion 
  was 
  

   most 
  probably 
  a 
  combination 
  of 
  shamanistic, 
  magical, 
  animistic, 
  and 
  

   theistic 
  concepts 
  and 
  practices, 
  with 
  relatively 
  less 
  manism. 
  The 
  prob- 
  

   able 
  later 
  derivation 
  of 
  the 
  hollow 
  rattle 
  from 
  the 
  Silval 
  culture 
  and 
  

   the 
  actual 
  absence 
  of 
  rattles 
  of 
  any 
  kind 
  south 
  of 
  the 
  Strait 
  of 
  Magellan 
  

   suggest 
  that 
  the 
  rattle, 
  at 
  least 
  the 
  hollow 
  rattle, 
  was 
  not 
  part 
  of 
  

   the 
  earliest 
  magico-religious 
  culture. 
  

  

  The 
  marked 
  dominance 
  of 
  weapons 
  like 
  the 
  sling, 
  club, 
  spear, 
  and 
  

   spear 
  thrower 
  over 
  most 
  of 
  the 
  Andean 
  area 
  to 
  Cape 
  Horn 
  contrasting 
  

   broadly 
  with 
  the 
  dominance 
  of 
  the 
  bow 
  and 
  arrow 
  and 
  unheaded 
  club 
  

   over 
  most 
  of 
  the 
  area 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  Andes, 
  seems 
  to 
  point 
  toward 
  two 
  

   great 
  more 
  or 
  less 
  independent 
  cultural 
  drifts 
  in 
  the 
  western 
  and 
  east- 
  

   ern 
  regions 
  of 
  the 
  continent, 
  drifts 
  which 
  may 
  well 
  date 
  back 
  to 
  

   remote 
  archaic 
  times. 
  

  

  For 
  some 
  hundreds, 
  and 
  perhaps 
  thousands, 
  of 
  years 
  the 
  South 
  

   American 
  continent 
  was 
  occupied 
  by 
  peoples 
  of 
  such 
  simple 
  culture 
  as 
  

   has 
  been 
  above 
  outlined, 
  a 
  culture 
  partly 
  preserved 
  in 
  varying 
  degrees 
  

   until 
  the 
  present 
  or 
  until 
  very 
  recent 
  times 
  here 
  and 
  there 
  in 
  the 
  Sierral 
  

   and 
  Silval 
  regions, 
  and 
  over 
  most 
  of 
  our 
  open-country 
  belt. 
  During, 
  

   however, 
  these 
  centuries 
  or 
  millennia 
  countless 
  major 
  and 
  minor 
  local 
  

   and 
  tribal 
  cultural 
  divergences 
  developed 
  within 
  this 
  pre-horticultural 
  

   pattern. 
  

  

  At 
  the 
  latest 
  during 
  the 
  first 
  millennium 
  B. 
  C. 
  and 
  perhaps 
  much 
  

   earlier, 
  came 
  the 
  beginnings 
  of 
  horticulture, 
  together 
  with 
  more 
  or 
  

   less 
  sedentary 
  village 
  life, 
  alcoholic 
  intoxicants 
  and 
  tobacco, 
  weaving, 
  

   pottery, 
  and 
  other 
  more 
  advanced 
  material 
  arts. 
  Whether 
  horticulture 
  

   first 
  reached 
  South 
  America 
  via 
  the 
  Isthmus 
  from 
  Middle 
  America, 
  

   or 
  originated 
  independently 
  south 
  of 
  the 
  Isthmus, 
  is 
  an 
  open 
  question, 
  

   although 
  some 
  of 
  our 
  recent 
  evidence 
  seems 
  to 
  be 
  a 
  little 
  more 
  favor- 
  

   able 
  to 
  the 
  theory 
  of 
  South 
  American 
  origin. 
  Middle 
  America's 
  claim 
  

   to 
  be 
  the 
  birthplace 
  of 
  maize 
  cultivation 
  is 
  being 
  sharply 
  challenged. 
  

   Then, 
  too, 
  at 
  least 
  some 
  weight 
  is 
  given 
  to 
  Peru's 
  claim 
  to 
  priority 
  from 
  

   the 
  marked 
  variety 
  of 
  plants, 
  about 
  70 
  in 
  all, 
  cultivated 
  there 
  in 
  pre- 
  

   Discovery 
  times. 
  Or 
  else 
  the 
  domestication 
  of 
  plants 
  on 
  the 
  southern 
  

   continent 
  may 
  have 
  begun 
  as 
  root-tuber 
  horticulture, 
  with 
  perhaps 
  

   white 
  potatoes 
  in 
  the 
  central 
  Sierral 
  region, 
  or 
  with 
  manioc 
  somewhere 
  

   in 
  the 
  Silval. 
  

  

  In 
  any 
  case, 
  waiving 
  as 
  still 
  sub 
  judice 
  the 
  question 
  of 
  the 
  exact 
  

   locality 
  or 
  localities 
  of 
  its 
  origin, 
  horticulture 
  in 
  South 
  America 
  

  

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