Travels and Archaeology in South Chile

282 Pages·1988·9.03 MB·English

by  Junius B. Bird

Travels and Archaeology in South Chile

Travels and Archaeology
in South Chile
BYJUNIUS B. BIRD
With journal segments by MARGARET BIRD
Edited byJohn Hyslop Biographical Essay by Gordon R. Willey
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA PRESS "" IOWA CITY
UniversityofIowaPress, IowaCity52242
Copyright© 1988bytheUniversityofIowa
Allrightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Firstedition, 1988
TypesettingbyG&STypesetters, Austin, Texas
PrintingandbindingbyEdwardsBrothers, AnnArbor, Michigan
Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedorutilizedinanyform or
byanymeans,electronicormechanical,includin8photocoPyin8
andrecordin8, withoutpermissioninwritin8 from thepublisher.
ThebiographicalessaybyGordonWilleyisreprintedwith
thekindpermissionoftheauthorandofDumbartonOaks,
Washington, D.C.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Bird,JuniusBouton, 1907-1982.
TravelsandarchaeologyinsouthChile.
Bibliography:p.
1. IndiansofSouthAmerica-Chile-Antiquities.
2. Bird,JuniusBouton, 1907-1982. 3. Chile
Antiquities. I. Bird, Margaret. II. Hyslop,John,
1945- . III. Title.
F3069.B53 1988 983'.01 87-30245
ISBN0-87745-202-4
Contents
Acknowledgments VII
Preface IX
Biographical Essay:Junius Bouton Bird and
American Archaeology, BY GORDON R. WILLEY xiii
I. BACKGROUND AND DEPARTURE
Overview 1
South Chile and theCanoe Indians 2
Daily LifeSailingtheChannels 8
2. CHRONOLOGICALSYNTHESIS AND DATING
The Periods 27
TheRadiocarbon Dates 33
3. CANADON LEONA
General Description 36
Excavation Information 39
The Artifacts 43
Faunal Remains 60
PossibleAgeofDeposit 61
Burials 62
Summary 65
DailyLife 66
4. PALLI AIKE
General Description 75
Excavation inTwo Phases 78
Excavation Information 79
The Artifacts 83
PossibleAgeofDeposit 106
vi Contents
FaunalRemains 107
HumanRemains 115
DailyLife 119
5. FELL'S CAVE
General Description 134
Excavation Information, 1936-1937 137
TheArtifacts 146
FaunalRemains 153
DailyLife 158
ExcavationsbyJohn Fell and the French Mission 163
Excavations, 1969-1970 165
The Carnivore RemainsExcavated atFell's Cavein 1970,
BYJULIETCLUTTON-BROCK 188
Fell's Cave: 11,000 Years ofChan8es in Paleoenvironments,
Fauna, andHuman Occupation, BY VERA MARKGRAF 196
6. CERRO SOTA CAVE
GeneralDescription 202
Excavation Information 205
TheArtifacts 207
FaunalRemains 208
AGroup Burial 210
Probable Datingofthe Deposit 217
DailyLife 218
7. MYLODON CAVE
Background 222
Structureofthe FloorDeposit 227
Results and Conclusions 228
HumanRemains 229
SlothSkin 230
Brokenor"Cut" Bone 231
DomesticationoftheSloth 233
SummaryofEvidence 234
AgeofRemains 235
TwoAdditionalSpecimens 236
Editor'sPostscript 237
Bibliography 241
Acknowledgments
Inthe 1930sa numberofpeoplefacilitated thefieldworkinChile: Ricardo
Latcham, Julio Santibanez, Ken Williams, the Ross family, and Lucas
Bridges. Very special thanks go to William Fell, his sonJohn, andJohn's
wife Peggy. Bird'sassistant at Laguna Blanca was DougThompson; his as
sistantat Fell'sand Palli Aikecaveswas PedroOjeda.
The 1969-1970 fieldwork was in collaboration with the National Mu
seum, director Greta Mostny, and the Institute of Patagonia, director
Mateo Martinic. Bird's assistants in the field were Patricio Nunez, Hugo
Yavar II, Tom Bird, George Duncan, and Patti Fell.
StephanieGartnerandHarryBirdarethankedfortheirworkorganizing
the photo archive. Much gratitude goes to Nick Amorosi, who drew the
plansandmaps, andtoJulietClutton-Brock (DepartmentofZoology, Brit
ish Museum ofNatural History) and Vera Markgraf (Institute of Arctic
and Alpine Research, University of Colorado), who contributed studies
to this volume. We thank Ian Tattersall (Department of Anthropology,
AMNH) forhiscontributiontothedescriptionsofthehumanremainsand
ThomasAmorosi (HunterCollege) for classifyingthefaunal material.
Robert Bird, Peggy Bird, Mateo Martinic, and Thomas Lynch read the
manuscript.
JOHN HYSLOP

Preface
This bookreports the excavations byJunius B. Bird in Chilean Patagonia
in 1936 and 1937. At the time, that investigationyielded evidencefor the
earliest human occupation of the South American continent. Bird pub
lished several articles (1938a, 1938b, 1946a, 1983) on the research, and
theseinvestigationshavebecomeclassicstudies,citedinnearlyeverybook
onSouth American prehistory and in most studieson earliestpeoplingof
the Americas. With Bird's passing in 1982, much information from the
fieldwork remained unpublished in Bird's files, and the purpose of this
bookis to make it available.
The preparationofthisvolumemarkedthefiftieth anniversaryofBird's
early man excavations in Chilean Patagonia. The archaeological work
tookplaceunderconditions, andwithaspirit, considerablydifferentfrom
much research today. This book attempts to convey some ofthe personal
aspectsofthis trulypioneeringinvestigationbycitingsegmentsoftheex
tensivejournal kept by Peggy Bird.
Junius Bird was well prepared for work in south Chile. In 1934, at age
27, he had already taken part in six expeditions to various parts of the
Arctic, two toSouth America, and one to the CaribbeanSea. His knowl
edgeofsailingand navigation, essentialtothesuccessoftheinlandchan
nel trip described in chapter I, was derived from several seasons on the
schooner Morrissey under Captain Bob Bartlett. Navigating in the Carib
beanin 1931, heweatheredaseverehurricaneinwhichhisvesselwasone
oftwo boatsoutofsixteenin the vicinitywhichremained afloat.
Bird's earliest interest in south Chile developed after reading J. M.
Cooper'sbookAnalyticalandCriticalBiblioaraphyofthe Tribes ofTierra
del Fueao and Adjacent Territory (1917). In 1932 he proposed to make a
six-monthtriptosouth Chile, and Dr. ClarkWissler, chairmanofthe De
partment of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History
(AMNH), agreedthatthemuseumwouldsupporttheproject. In 1932Bird
leftforNavarinoIslandsouthofTierradelFuegoandspentseveralmonths
surveyingtheentirenorthshore. HeexcavatedamiddenatasiteatPuerto