rooPER] BIBLIOGBAPHY OF TRIBES OF TIERRA DEL FUEGO 219 



Moreover, we have no reliable clue to the exact or even approxi- 

 mately exact age of the middens or graves or camp sites from which 

 these remains were taken. In the Ehzabeth Island middens the only 

 ones for which there is geological evidence of greater age, Dr. Lovisato 

 Q), 103) found no evidences of human industry except a bit of flint 

 that may have been a reject. 



' DEDUCTIONS 



From the archeological evidence supported by the ethnological and 

 historical data some inferences may be drawn. 



A. The Yahgans at least appear to be the first human inhabitants 

 of the territory they now occupy. For (1) they have no tradition of 

 an earher race; (2) all local names are pure Yahgan; and (3) the 

 crania dug up from the graves are of the same tyi^e as the modern 

 Yahgan, although such burials are not demonstrably very ancient 

 (Til. Bridges, e, 332; i, cited by Hyades, q, IS; Dabbene, h, 275). 



B. How long ago the Fuegians jfirst entered their present territory 

 is very uncertain. The great linguistic differences and appreciable 

 though lesser somatological and cultural differences between the Yah- 

 gans and Alacaluf suggest that the two tribes came at different times, 

 the geographical position and the slightly lower material culture of 

 the Yahgans that these latter may represent an earlier invasion. 

 Whether the Foot Indian or the Canoe Indian was the first to reach 

 eastern Fuegia is quite uncertain. 



The length of occupancy of the archipelago is of course bound up 

 with the larger question of the age of man in South America (cf. 

 Hrdhcka, h). Tliat the Canoe Indians have occupied their present 

 territory for a long period is evident, first of all, from the size and 

 abundance of their kitchen middens; while these do not furnish any 

 exact chronology, yet their magnitude and number indicate consid- 

 erable age. Secondly, Dr. Lovisato found the moUusks in the Eliza- 

 beth Island middens to be of much larger size than those contained in 

 modern middens — these larger moUusks occurring at present only in 

 the waters of the more southern islands and around Staten Island 

 (Lovisato, h, 104, 107-108). Thirdly, the Elizabeth Island middens 

 are 6-7 meters above sea level, the deposits in them showing, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Lovisato, that the land has subsided, and subsequently 

 risen this much since they began to accumulate (ibid., 100, 106-107); 

 Dr. Coppinger, too, believed he found good indications of a rise of 30 

 feet in the land since the date of burial of the bodies which he found 

 in a cave at Rosario Bay, in the West Patagonian channels (Coppin- 

 ger, 69-70). Tliis third point should be viewed, m the hght of Dr. 

 O. Nordenskjold's conclusion (i, no. 2; /, 216) that since the recession 

 of the glaciers the Fuegian islands have risen some 60 meters. 



