**5. Discussion**

The archeology of the central strip of Tierra del Fuego is key to understand the ways of human circulation along the territory of the Big Island. Technofunctional analysis including determination of raw materials provenience has demonstrated that there were long-distance movements of materials. Hypothesis derived from the ethnographic and historical records discusses these movements as exchanges included in social interaction networks between different groups along Tierra del Fuego (i.e., in [10]). In this research, we concentrated in a series of exceptional materials, i.e., quartz prisms. The objective of the analysis was to determine whether they had been either manufactured or used and to discuss their appearance in some sites within the mountain environment.

#### **5.1 Meaning of quartz as manuports**

The presence of these materials in Kami 7 and Lainez sites, in the central part of the Big Island, is extremely interesting in several aspects.

In the first place, it is not the case of materials that were taken to the site as raw materials for tool making, nor for uses of any kind, as it was revealed to be the technofunctional analysis, since they do not present any kind of modification.

Secondly, it is unlikely that their presence is natural in the sites, since they are not located close or within outcrops. Although the characteristics of the geology of Tierra del Fuego could allow the formation of quartz crystals, these are associated with the Le Maire formations, and so far no outcrops of large crystals have been identified. Some very small crystals were found in the Emerald lagoon area, in the Paso Francés valley that flows into the Domo Blanco hill. And others of larger sizes have been identified in the elevations near the springs of the Malengüena River (**Figure 8**).

It is also unlikely that the crystals correspond to secondary deposits formed by glacial or river drag. The microscopic analysis does not reveal the characteristic surface alteration traces produced by glacial or river erosion. Moreover, the crystals were in direct association and stratigraphy with the archeological materials of Kami 7 site, and the same happened at Lainez 1 site.

Consequently, we started to consider the possible scenarios for their arrival to the site, in routine migrations circuits or in more complex social interaction networks.

Circulation of materials along long distances is not a new phenomenon in Tierra del Fuego (i.e., in Refs. [25, 63]). It has been recorded in different contexts, such as the case of the Miraflores silicified tuff in the Kami 1 site, the quartz crystals in the Kami 7 site, the black obsidian and microflake of quartz crystal in Lainez 1, the silicified wood of Cabo San Pablo, and even the presence of a marine shell of *Fasciolariidae* family discovered in Punta Amarilla, an area inside the forest on the south coast of lake Fagnano (i.e., in [64]).

The Miraflores silicified tuff has its primary outcrop about 200 km in a straight line from Kami 1. The inhabitants of the Kami 1 site could have obtained this raw material directly from the outcrop, although it is a little improbable, due to both

**183**

not yet been identified.

**Figure 8.**

northeast, near Cullen River (i.e., in [65]).

*They show natural impact traces and erosion marks.*

social interaction (i.e., in [28]).

*Sociocultural Interaction and Symbolism in Prehistoric South America: Quartz Crystal…*

distance, different landscape units, and the technological characteristics of the tools and fragments from Kami 1 (i.e., in [63]). In order to get to source and assure provision of material, it would be necessary that the source be included in the mobility circuits for seasonal migration, or resource exploitation, of the group. Alternatively, the raw material could have been obtained through exchange with people from the northern or western territories of the island, where this silicified tuff has been

*Quartz prisms from the Malengüena River. (A–D) Different quartz prisms from the Malengüena River area.* 

In the case of Lainez 1 site, there are two fragments of black obsidian, a raw material that up to now has not been discovered in Tierra del Fuego. If it corresponds to a source located in the continent, on the other side of Magellan Strait, it would indicate long-distance interaction networks that interlink territories with different landscapes, peoples, and probably even languages. As here it is the case of just two non-used fragments, we believe that the most likely scenario corresponds to prestige goods exchanged in social interaction networks (i.e., in [63]). As for the elements of quartz crystal, outcrops or primary sources of this raw material have

As for the silicified wood, a core was discovered in a site on the Atlantic coast.

We believe that the most relevant indicators for interaction recovered up to now are those that come from the analysis of raw materials use in the sites in the center of the island; they show evidence of nonlocal raw materials, which reveal then some mode of circulation. However, these observations suggest that their acquisition and conservation can be connected with symbolic or ornamental aspects related to

This raw material is very abundant across the Magellan Strait (in continental Patagonia), but in Tierra del Fuego, until now only one area was identified in the

identified, in low quantities, in several sites (i.e., in [63]).

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90851*

*Sociocultural Interaction and Symbolism in Prehistoric South America: Quartz Crystal… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90851*

#### **Figure 8.**

*Pleistocene Archaeology - Migration, Technology, and Adaptation*

in some sites within the mountain environment.

7 site, and the same happened at Lainez 1 site.

south coast of lake Fagnano (i.e., in [64]).

the Big Island, is extremely interesting in several aspects.

**5.1 Meaning of quartz as manuports**

same survey of 1 m2

**5. Discussion**

Among the lithic materials recovered in the excavations, two subsamples stand out. One is composed of two obsidian artifacts and the other by eight microflakes and a fragment of a quartz crystal instrument. The latter were discovered in the

The archeology of the central strip of Tierra del Fuego is key to understand the ways of human circulation along the territory of the Big Island. Technofunctional analysis including determination of raw materials provenience has demonstrated that there were long-distance movements of materials. Hypothesis derived from the ethnographic and historical records discusses these movements as exchanges included in social interaction networks between different groups along Tierra del Fuego (i.e., in [10]). In this research, we concentrated in a series of exceptional materials, i.e., quartz prisms. The objective of the analysis was to determine

whether they had been either manufactured or used and to discuss their appearance

The presence of these materials in Kami 7 and Lainez sites, in the central part of

In the first place, it is not the case of materials that were taken to the site as raw materials for tool making, nor for uses of any kind, as it was revealed to be the technofunctional analysis, since they do not present any kind of modification.

Secondly, it is unlikely that their presence is natural in the sites, since they are not located close or within outcrops. Although the characteristics of the geology of Tierra del Fuego could allow the formation of quartz crystals, these are associated with the Le Maire formations, and so far no outcrops of large crystals have been identified. Some very small crystals were found in the Emerald lagoon area, in the Paso Francés valley that flows into the Domo Blanco hill. And others of larger sizes have been identified in the elevations near the springs of the Malengüena River (**Figure 8**). It is also unlikely that the crystals correspond to secondary deposits formed by glacial or river drag. The microscopic analysis does not reveal the characteristic surface alteration traces produced by glacial or river erosion. Moreover, the crystals were in direct association and stratigraphy with the archeological materials of Kami

Consequently, we started to consider the possible scenarios for their arrival to the site, in routine migrations circuits or in more complex social interaction

Circulation of materials along long distances is not a new phenomenon in Tierra del Fuego (i.e., in Refs. [25, 63]). It has been recorded in different contexts, such as the case of the Miraflores silicified tuff in the Kami 1 site, the quartz crystals in the Kami 7 site, the black obsidian and microflake of quartz crystal in Lainez 1, the silicified wood of Cabo San Pablo, and even the presence of a marine shell of *Fasciolariidae* family discovered in Punta Amarilla, an area inside the forest on the

The Miraflores silicified tuff has its primary outcrop about 200 km in a straight line from Kami 1. The inhabitants of the Kami 1 site could have obtained this raw material directly from the outcrop, although it is a little improbable, due to both

fragment, which due to its morphology could have been considered as micro-

scraper, since its maximum length does not exceed 2 cm (**Figure 7**).

. The technofunctional studies showed no use in the instrument

**182**

networks.

*Quartz prisms from the Malengüena River. (A–D) Different quartz prisms from the Malengüena River area. They show natural impact traces and erosion marks.*

distance, different landscape units, and the technological characteristics of the tools and fragments from Kami 1 (i.e., in [63]). In order to get to source and assure provision of material, it would be necessary that the source be included in the mobility circuits for seasonal migration, or resource exploitation, of the group. Alternatively, the raw material could have been obtained through exchange with people from the northern or western territories of the island, where this silicified tuff has been identified, in low quantities, in several sites (i.e., in [63]).

In the case of Lainez 1 site, there are two fragments of black obsidian, a raw material that up to now has not been discovered in Tierra del Fuego. If it corresponds to a source located in the continent, on the other side of Magellan Strait, it would indicate long-distance interaction networks that interlink territories with different landscapes, peoples, and probably even languages. As here it is the case of just two non-used fragments, we believe that the most likely scenario corresponds to prestige goods exchanged in social interaction networks (i.e., in [63]). As for the elements of quartz crystal, outcrops or primary sources of this raw material have not yet been identified.

As for the silicified wood, a core was discovered in a site on the Atlantic coast. This raw material is very abundant across the Magellan Strait (in continental Patagonia), but in Tierra del Fuego, until now only one area was identified in the northeast, near Cullen River (i.e., in [65]).

We believe that the most relevant indicators for interaction recovered up to now are those that come from the analysis of raw materials use in the sites in the center of the island; they show evidence of nonlocal raw materials, which reveal then some mode of circulation. However, these observations suggest that their acquisition and conservation can be connected with symbolic or ornamental aspects related to social interaction (i.e., in [28]).

#### **5.2 Interaction and symbolism in the hunter-gatherer populations of the area**

There is an important number of publications where the role of quartz is evidenced as a raw material for the manufacture of artifacts that intervene in different production and use processes. But in addition, quartz, especially pyramidal or bipyramidal prisms or monocrystals, were used for symbolic and votive purposes, and they could even be part of the shamans' toolkits as suggested by Márquez Pecchio and Eielson (i.e., in Ref. [66]) in their work Pre-Columbian Sculpture of Quartz, where they comment that for some pre-Hispanic societies of Venezuela, the crystals were used as amulets by the shamans. It is also mentioned that because of their attractiveness, color, rarity, and difficulty in being found, they were objects that were included in exchange activities.

The central region of Tierra del Fuego was inhabited by a hunter-gatherer society until the beginnings of the twentieth century. There are many reports written by travelers who arrived during the eighteenth and nineteenth century and by missionaries and colonialists in the early twentieth century (i.e., in Ref. [1, 2]). However, the best information about these people comes from the work and publications of two ethnographers, Martin Gusinde, who made different stays in the island during the years 1920, and Anne Chapman, who worked in Tierra del Fuego since 1966 until her death in 2011 (i.e., in Refs. [3–5]).

According to the ethnographic data, each Selknam family had a territory that was considered as their "own," called "haruwen." However, the borders of these territories were relatively permeable. They could be opened, especially at certain times, such as for passage for aggregation events, or at critical times for the exploitation of animal resources (i.e., in [4]).

Aggregation events and particularly ceremonies played an essential role in maintenance of biological and social reproduction. The most relevant for the Selknam people was the initiation ritual of adolescent males, the Hain ceremony. While this ritual has as an essential objective the consolidation and maintenance of social order, it is also true that it is an opportunity to meet relatives or friends coming from different territories, who gather and camp together for months. These events were ideal occasions for carrying out exchanges and transactions (i.e., in [4]). They could take the form of gifts, understood in the sense of Levi Strauss (i.e., in [38]), reinforce social links among relatives, or constitute formal exchanges. In any case, mobility circuits, fortuitous meetings, or events as ceremonies, many of which were made up of families or distant groups that shared long periods of time, were propitious moments to exchange material goods, sumptuaries, ideas, etc. (i.e., in Refs. [3–5]).

As for circulation of other goods within the different groups and territories, the literature mentions an important circulation of materials, among which perishable resources are abundant: woods from the forest area that are exchanged with the neighbors of the northern steppe (in the form of bows, sticks, etc.) or sea lion skins from the coastal areas (i.e., in [3]). We believe that circulation could also include other resources that we consider critical, such as the case of the lithic raw materials. However, although there are all these mentions to movements and exchanges in mechanisms of reciprocity and redistribution, there are no detailed accounts of the type of prestige goods with symbolic value that could enter in this exchange.

## **6. Conclusions**

In most of the cases of findings of distant origin materials that we have analyzed, these are materials that have entered the productive circuit, since they were modified into instruments and used. However, their small number, their distant

**185**

*Sociocultural Interaction and Symbolism in Prehistoric South America: Quartz Crystal…*

origin, and the fact that the complete operational chains are not present suggest the hypothesis that these materials could have arrived as "gifts" between relatives, in some of the interaction circuits that reinforce connections between distant groups. Materials that by their exotism, or by their physical characteristics, their place of origin, etc. that were used by societies at various times and places, can be traced from the Middle Paleolithic with the incorporation, by Neanderthal societies, of such elements as marine fossils found at the Chez-Pourrez and the Grotte de

The justification for these hypotheses can be found in the diversity of evidence of the use of quartz crystals in various archeological sites around the world. The use of this raw material can be divided into two fields of social activities of human groups: on the one hand, within the production and use process, included in the subsistence context, and on the other, within the activities of symbolic and/or

However, in the case of the quartz crystals that we present, there is an important difference, and that is that they were not manufactured or used. For this reason, they are considered as manuports. As we said, so far there have never been discovered so many crystals and of such large dimensions in sites of Tierra del Fuego. Then these crystals could have been collected somewhere for their peculiarity, their size, their translucent character, their rarity, etc.; they could have been considered as amulets or ornaments that could be used for exchange or have been obtained by exchange. From this point of view, we can consider them as elements that have an important ornamental or symbolic value and therefore circulated in reciprocity

We thank Dr. Ignacio Clemente Comte (CSIC, Barcelona), Dr. Jaques Pelegrin (CNRS, Paris), and Marcio Alonso Lima (UFMG, Belo Horizonte) who kindly accepted to look at these materials with us. Drs. Mauricio Gonzales Guillot and Pablo Torres Carbonell (area of Geology of CADIC-CONICET) for the geological

Field and laboratory works were done within the scope of projects "Proyecto Arqueológico Corazón de la Isla" (D. C. y T., S. D. y P. Tierra del Fuego, Res. 285/97), PICT of the National Agency of Scientific and technological promotion (PICT 1236

information. Dr. Eugenia Raffi for the bleaching process of crystals.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90851*

magical character, granting powers by the shamans.

circuits that reinforced social structure.

and 2648), CONICET (PIP 0452).

**Acknowledgements**

l'Hyene (i.e., in [67, 68]).

*Sociocultural Interaction and Symbolism in Prehistoric South America: Quartz Crystal… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90851*

origin, and the fact that the complete operational chains are not present suggest the hypothesis that these materials could have arrived as "gifts" between relatives, in some of the interaction circuits that reinforce connections between distant groups.

Materials that by their exotism, or by their physical characteristics, their place of origin, etc. that were used by societies at various times and places, can be traced from the Middle Paleolithic with the incorporation, by Neanderthal societies, of such elements as marine fossils found at the Chez-Pourrez and the Grotte de l'Hyene (i.e., in [67, 68]).

The justification for these hypotheses can be found in the diversity of evidence of the use of quartz crystals in various archeological sites around the world. The use of this raw material can be divided into two fields of social activities of human groups: on the one hand, within the production and use process, included in the subsistence context, and on the other, within the activities of symbolic and/or magical character, granting powers by the shamans.

However, in the case of the quartz crystals that we present, there is an important difference, and that is that they were not manufactured or used. For this reason, they are considered as manuports. As we said, so far there have never been discovered so many crystals and of such large dimensions in sites of Tierra del Fuego. Then these crystals could have been collected somewhere for their peculiarity, their size, their translucent character, their rarity, etc.; they could have been considered as amulets or ornaments that could be used for exchange or have been obtained by exchange. From this point of view, we can consider them as elements that have an important ornamental or symbolic value and therefore circulated in reciprocity circuits that reinforced social structure.

## **Acknowledgements**

*Pleistocene Archaeology - Migration, Technology, and Adaptation*

that were included in exchange activities.

until her death in 2011 (i.e., in Refs. [3–5]).

tation of animal resources (i.e., in [4]).

**5.2 Interaction and symbolism in the hunter-gatherer populations of the area**

There is an important number of publications where the role of quartz is evidenced as a raw material for the manufacture of artifacts that intervene in different production and use processes. But in addition, quartz, especially pyramidal or bipyramidal prisms or monocrystals, were used for symbolic and votive purposes, and they could even be part of the shamans' toolkits as suggested by Márquez Pecchio and Eielson (i.e., in Ref. [66]) in their work Pre-Columbian Sculpture of Quartz, where they comment that for some pre-Hispanic societies of Venezuela, the crystals were used as amulets by the shamans. It is also mentioned that because of their attractiveness, color, rarity, and difficulty in being found, they were objects

The central region of Tierra del Fuego was inhabited by a hunter-gatherer society until the beginnings of the twentieth century. There are many reports written by travelers who arrived during the eighteenth and nineteenth century and by missionaries and colonialists in the early twentieth century (i.e., in Ref. [1, 2]). However, the best information about these people comes from the work and publications of two ethnographers, Martin Gusinde, who made different stays in the island during the years 1920, and Anne Chapman, who worked in Tierra del Fuego since 1966

According to the ethnographic data, each Selknam family had a territory that was considered as their "own," called "haruwen." However, the borders of these territories were relatively permeable. They could be opened, especially at certain times, such as for passage for aggregation events, or at critical times for the exploi-

Aggregation events and particularly ceremonies played an essential role in maintenance of biological and social reproduction. The most relevant for the Selknam people was the initiation ritual of adolescent males, the Hain ceremony. While this ritual has as an essential objective the consolidation and maintenance of social order, it is also true that it is an opportunity to meet relatives or friends coming from different territories, who gather and camp together for months. These events were ideal occasions for carrying out exchanges and transactions (i.e., in [4]). They could take the form of gifts, understood in the sense of Levi Strauss (i.e., in [38]), reinforce social links among relatives, or constitute formal exchanges. In any case, mobility circuits, fortuitous meetings, or events as ceremonies, many of which were made up of families or distant groups that shared long periods of time, were propitious moments to exchange material goods, sumptuaries, ideas, etc. (i.e., in Refs. [3–5]). As for circulation of other goods within the different groups and territories, the literature mentions an important circulation of materials, among which perishable resources are abundant: woods from the forest area that are exchanged with the neighbors of the northern steppe (in the form of bows, sticks, etc.) or sea lion skins from the coastal areas (i.e., in [3]). We believe that circulation could also include other resources that we consider critical, such as the case of the lithic raw materials. However, although there are all these mentions to movements and exchanges in mechanisms of reciprocity and redistribution, there are no detailed accounts of the type of prestige goods with symbolic value that could enter in this exchange.

In most of the cases of findings of distant origin materials that we have analyzed, these are materials that have entered the productive circuit, since they were modified into instruments and used. However, their small number, their distant

**184**

**6. Conclusions**

We thank Dr. Ignacio Clemente Comte (CSIC, Barcelona), Dr. Jaques Pelegrin (CNRS, Paris), and Marcio Alonso Lima (UFMG, Belo Horizonte) who kindly accepted to look at these materials with us. Drs. Mauricio Gonzales Guillot and Pablo Torres Carbonell (area of Geology of CADIC-CONICET) for the geological information. Dr. Eugenia Raffi for the bleaching process of crystals.

Field and laboratory works were done within the scope of projects "Proyecto Arqueológico Corazón de la Isla" (D. C. y T., S. D. y P. Tierra del Fuego, Res. 285/97), PICT of the National Agency of Scientific and technological promotion (PICT 1236 and 2648), CONICET (PIP 0452).
