110 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 146 
though other alternatives are possible here since this trait is found in 
the Titicaca Basin at an early time and could have been diffused from 
there into the Puna region and then southward. 
Other traits appear not to have diffused from northwestern Argen- 
tina across the cordillera into Chile. Among them is stone sculpture, 
which occurs in well-defined form in Tafi, Alamito, and Condorhuasi. 
This is a trait that links more closely with the altiplano than with the 
tropical forest, and particularly with cultures in the Titicaca Basin 
and the mounds of south-central Bolivia, where stone sculpture was 
well developed. Its distribution is significant because it parallels that 
of the grooved ax. 
Little or nothing is known of the religion or supernatural beliefs of 
the cultures of this period. The only clue is the presence in Condor- 
huasi, and probably also in Tafi, of the feline representation. In the 
later Aguada Culture, this plays a more important role. 
The use at this time of three different metals and techniques such 
as casting and repousse indicates that metallurgy must have been intro- 
duced into northwestern Argentina along with the earliest pottery. Al- 
though the path is not clear, the technology is undoubtedly Andean. 
The presence of metal objects in Candelaria and cultures of the Selvas 
Occidentales must represent influence from the Andean Area and a 
route via the altiplano seems most probable. The existence of rather 
advanced metallurgy in Molle II can be linked with the Cienaga- 
Condorhuasi occurrence, and is perhaps part of the same cultural 
current that brought polychrome pottery into Chile. Traces of this 
influence are present in Molle I in the form of elementary knowledge 
of metallurgy. 
The formation of the cultures in northwestern Argentina is thus 
the result of intermixture of three major diffusion currents, which 
projected themselves onto the preexisting hunting and gathering cul- 
tures of the area. The earhest of these three currents appears to have 
originated in the altiplano. It must have introduced basic subsistence 
elements such as the potato, quinoa, and the use of the llama, as well 
as monochrome pottery and elementary metallurgy. We do not know 
whether or not maize was also introduced via this route. The second 
major current flowed from the eastern forests, perhaps skirting the 
edge of the mountains. This brought elements not found in Peru, such 
as pipes, burial urns, grooved axes, and egg-shaped sling stones. It is 
probable that some of these elements moved into south-central Boliv- 
ia before reaching northwestern Argentina, here fusing with the first 
current out of the Andes. This part of Bolivia, less extreme envi- 
ronmentally than either the altiplano or the tropical forest, provided 
