El misionero ante las culturas Indígenas

La presente comunicación tiene por objeto describir, desde el punto de vista , algunos aspectos del contacto cultural entre el Misionero y el Indígena.  Referiré principalmente a aquellos factores que son negativos y  en estas situaciones de contacto, es decir, mi comunicación critica a un sistema y aun complejo de actividades prevalentes. Al hablar como , es que no nos entendamos en algunos puntos; pero al hablar  defensa del indio, estoy seguro de que ustedes concordarán conmigo pues voy  hablar del hombre, de este ser que es el centro de nuestras preocupaciones y  es la base y razón de nuestro común esfuerzo

Bibliografía etnológica del departamento del Magdalena

La presente bibliografía tiene por objeto la recopilación de las existentes sobre el Departamento del Magdalena, con el fin de facilitar  profesionales y la de las fuentes pertinentes.  sobre las culturas aborígenes de esta parte de Colombia existen ya  estudios especializados, muchos datos al respecto se encuentran  en obras históricas, geográficas o relaciones de viaje

La Antropología patrocinada por la gobernación del departamento del Magdalena

En 1946 el Ministerio de Educación Nacional, por medio del Instituto Etnológico Nacional  (hoy Instituto Colombiano de Antropología), tuvo a bien destinarme a Santa Marta, para fundar en aquella ciudad un centro de estudios antropológicos y ade- . lantar labores investigativas en los campos de la arqueología y la etnología. Fue así como pasé los años de 1946 a 1950 en este departamento, acompañado.por mi esposa Alicia Dussan de Reichel, y asistido ocasionalmente por antropólogos que el Instituto Etnológico Nacional designaba como mis colaboradores

On confluence and contestation in the Orinoco interaction sphere: the engraved rock art of the Atures Rapids

The Atures Rapids have long been considered a major point of confluence in the Middle Orinoco landscape, Venezuela. This has been underlined by newly discovered rock art panels on islands within the Rapids and on the margins of the Orinoco River. The panels were recorded photographically and photogrammetrically, and the spatial organisation and taphonomic factors affecting the corpus were investigated. The rock art was also examined in the context of established models of chronology and authorship. Placing the corpus in relation to archaeological and ethnographic evidence from Amazonia and the Guianas emphasises how the Atures Rapids structured pre-Columbian and Colonial contact between diverse groups in lowland South America

Patterns of Style, Diversity, and Similarity in Middle Orinoco Rock Art Assemblages

The area encompassed by the Orinoco river basin is home to some of the largest and most diverse rock art sites in lowland South America. In this paper, we aim to formally describe the spatial distribution and stylistic attributes of rock engravings and paintings on both banks of the Orinoco, centred on the Átures Rapids. Drawing on an exhaustive literature review and four years of field survey, we identify salient aspects of this corpus by investigating patterns of diversity and similarity. Based on a stylistic classification of Middle Orinoco rock art, this permits us to discuss potential links, as well as notable discontinuities, within the assemblage and possibly further afield. We consider the theoretical implications of our work for the study of pre-Columbian art and conclude with some suggestions for advances in methods for achieving the goal of deriving broader syntheses

Representations about the indigenous and their link with globalized cultural trends

En este artículo se analizan representaciones sobre lo indígena manifiestas en un sector de la población no indígena de Colombia, donde el chamanismo es un tema recurrente y donde las culturas indígenas son representadas como poseedoras de una sabiduría espiritual, alternativa y benéfica para la sociedad occidental. El análisis de este tipo de ideas permite advertir similitudes con los discursos utilizados en diferentes latitudes para representar otras alteridades étnicas, lo cual no se debe a semejanzas objetivas entre los grupos étnicos, sino a similitudes socioculturales existentes entre las personas que se representan así lo étnico. Los resultados llevan a concluir que este indigenismo es la manifestación local de una ideología globalizada, centrada en los ideales y necesidades del yo moderno.This article describes a set of representations about native cultures manifested in a sector of the non-indigenous population of Colombia, where shamanism is increasingly mentioned, and where natives are imagined as having a spiritual and alternative wisdom beneficial to western societies. The analysis of these and other ideas reveals similarities with the narratives used to represent other indigenous or ethnic cultures in different latitudes. Those similarities, it is argued, do not come from objective cultural resemblances between ethnic groups; they come from common sociocultural characteristics of the people who construct those representations of the ethnic. These findings support the conclusion that this kind of indigenism is the local manifestation of a globalized ideology centered on the ideals and needs of the modern self.Neste artigo são analisadas as representações do indígena reveladas num setor da população não-indígena da Colômbia, onde o xamanismo é um tema recorrente e onde as culturas indígenas são representadas como possuidoras de uma sabedoria espiritual, alternativa e benéfica para sociedade ocidental. A análise dessas ideias permite perceber semelhanças com os discursos usados em diferentes latitudes para representar outras alteridades étnicas, o que não se deve a semelhanças objetivas entre grupos étnicos, mas a semelhanças socioculturais existentes entre as pessoas que representam desta forma o étnico. Os resultados levam à conclusão que este indigenismo é a revelação local de uma ideologia global, focada nos ideais e necessidades do alter ego moderno

Depletion gilding, innovation and life-histories: The changing colours of Nahuange metalwork

The technique of depletion gilding is well evidenced in pre-Columbian Andean gold work. Artefacts from the Nahuange period in Colombia (c. AD 100-1000) were subject to metallographic, chemical and microscopic analyses to provide regional comparative data on metalworking traditions. Results suggest that depletion gilding may have been an accidental discovery and, contrary to widespread assumptions, not always a desirable feature. This research illustrates how technological innovation may not always be immediately adopted, and considers how the life-history of gold artefacts may affect their appearance and microstructure. It also offers directions for future studies of depletion gilding elsewhere

On the Matter of Time

Drawing on several disciplinary areas, this article considers diverse cultural concepts of time, space, and materiality. It explores historical shifts in ideas about time, observing that these have gone full circle, from visions in which time and space were conflated, through increasingly divergent linear understandings of the relationship between them, to their reunion in contemporary notions of space-time. Making use of long-term ethnographic research and explorations of the topic of Time at Durham University’s Institute of Advanced Study (2012–13), the article considers Aboriginal Australian ideas about relationality and the movement of matter through space and time. It asks why these earliest explanations of the cosmos, though couched in a wholly different idiom, seem to have more in common with the theories proposed by contemporary physicists than with the ideas that dominated the period between the Holocene and the Anthropocene. The analysis suggests that such unexpected resonance between these oldest and newest ideas about time and space may spring from the fact that they share an intense observational focus on material events. Comparing these vastly different but intriguingly compatible worldviews meets interdisciplinary aims in providing a fresh perspective on both of them

The Amazonian Formative: Crop Domestication and Anthropogenic Soils

The emergence of sedentism and agriculture in Amazonia continues to sit uncomfortably within accounts of South American pre-Columbian history. This is partially because deep-seated models were formulated when only ceramic evidence was known, partly because newer data continue to defy simple explanations, and partially because many discussions continue to ignore evidence of pre-Columbian anthropogenic landscape transformations. This paper presents the results of recent geoarchaeological research on Amazonian anthropogenic soils. It advances the argument that properties of two different types of soils, terras pretas and terras mulatas, support their interpretation as correlates of, respectively, past settlement areas and fields where spatially-intensive, organic amendment-reliant cultivation took place. This assessment identifies anthropogenic soil formation as a hallmark of the Amazonian Formative and prompts questions about when similar forms of enrichment first appear in the Amazon basin. The paper reviews evidence for embryonic anthrosol formation to highlight its significance for understanding the domestication of a key Amazonian crop: manioc (Manihot esculenta ssp. esculenta). A model for manioc domestication that incorporates anthropogenic soils outlines some scenarios which link the distribution of its two broader varieties—sweet and bitter manioc—with the widespread appearance of Amazonian anthropogenic dark earths during the first millennium AD