This section explores the spatial distribution o f body painting in Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia with the aim o f establishing similarities and differences in the body painting practices o f the societies that lived in these regions (see map 3.2). The distribution o f the paintings, and their main features, can, in turn, be used as indicators for assessing the influence o f geographical features on inter-societies contact and influence. In particular, the fact that the Fuegian societies (Yâmana, Selk’nam, Haush^ and Alacaluf) lived in islands makes insularity an important variable to take into account^.
O f the Fuegian aboriginal groups, the Yâmana and A lacaluf are the less similar to the Aonikenk (Southern Tehuelche) who lived in continental Patagonia. They differed in their physical appearance, the former being much smaller than the latter. They also spoke different languages (FitzRoy 1839, Cooper 1917) and had different means o f subsistence, since the Yâmana and Alacaluf mainly exploited sea resources using canoes as a means o f transport, while the Aonikenk were terrestrial nomadic hunter-gatherers (Cooper 1917, McEwan et al 1997). As opposed to this situation, there is a series o f general similarities between the Selk’nam and the Aonikenk, although these aspects show specific differences that distinguish the two societies. Both wore guanaco skin robes, although the Anonikenk wore them with the fur towards the inside"^, while the Selk’nam wore them with the fur towards the outside^. Both societies hunted
^ A s explained in the introduction, the information about the Haush is so scarce that their situation will not be analysed here. Their closeness to the S elk ’nam society makes it likely for this so c iety ’s analysis to be to an extent applicable to their case.
^ Insularity is not necessarily a synonym o f isolation, and as much as it should be considered in geographical terms, it needs also to be addressed in terms o f the perception that each society had o f the islands as landscape features (Broodbank 2000), since such social perception o f landscape also shaped the interaction o f populations with it, and with other groups. Possible contact with the continent might have been made by the societies that used canoes as a means o f transport (the Yâmana and the Alacaluf), using water as a bridge to the continent instead o f perceiving it as a barrier. This in turn m ight have implied som e indirect contact o f the S elk ’nam and the Haush with the continent, via interaction with the Yâmana and/or the Alacaluf. Yet this does not imply that contact was easily made by the Fuegians with the Aonikenk, since the vast area they inhabited was at the east o f the Andes. This leaves the Magellan strait North shore as the main via o f access to their territory from Tierra del Fuego - a strait w hich is difficult cross. The transversal valleys that go through the Andes from W est to East could have also been used as corridors by the Aonikenk to go W est or the Alacaluf, who lived in the islands and continent shores towards the w est o f the Andes, to go East. This requires an intentional investment o f effort which would be expected mainly if the populations were pressured by som e need to m ove or expand, which does not seem to have been the case. Moreover, there is no available information providing evidence o f such m ovem ents or contacts resulting o f them.
This led to the availability o f a hide surface -clean o f fur- which was som etim es painted by the Aonikenk with intricate rectilinear geometric patterns, including right angle lines and figures.
^ There is only one known case o f S elk ’nam cloak wearing with the hide towards the inside and painted decoration o f its external hide: the four Tanu spirits o f the hain ceremony, w hose cloaks were painted with series o f parallel lines and rows o f dots (see chapter 6, section 6.4.4.g.). Though these designs do not
guanacos and used bows and arrows for this and other subsistence tasks, but the artefact assemblages in sites o f both regions show differences, for example, in the sequences followed for the production o f lithic tools (Nami in Borrero 1989-1990). Their languages were also similar (Cooper 1917: 51). These cultural similarities point towards the possibility that these populations were originally linked in the past.
To these cultural similarités, it can be added that Selk’nam and Aonikenk were also physically alike, being tall and strongly built, which marked a high contrast with the small-built Yamana. Yet studies o f the osteology o f human remains o f individuals belonging to Fuegian and Patagonian populations, show that the different Fuegian populations (terrestrial and maritime hunter-gatherers) showed more similarities among them than in comparison to the Patagonian hunter-gatherers (Cocilovo 1981 in Borrero 1989-1990:136, Coscilovo and Guichon 1985-1986), which in turn suggests that the Patagonian and the Fuegian populations (as a whole) did not interact for a considerable period o f time and had evolved with certain independence (Borrero ibid). Hence the general cultural similarities mentioned above suggest that the Patagonian Aonikenk and the Selk’nam Fuegians may have originated from a common population, but the osteological differences indicate that the separation o f the populations that led to the Aonikenk and the Selk’nam existence, occurred far back in time.
The earliest dates o f sites in Southern Patagonia and Northern Tierra del Fuego (i.e. in North and South shores o f the Magellan strait) are similar. For example Fell, Palli Aike, and Laguna Blanca (11,000-8500 BP, Orquera 1987: 350-351, Borrero 1989-1990: 136) in Patagonia, show similar dates to Marazzi and Tres Arroyos (11,900- 9,000 BP, Orquera 1987: 360, Borrero 1989-1990: 136) in Northern Tierra del Fuego, hence indicating that what today are two separate regions were already occupied by human populations by that time. These regions’ division occurred with the formation o f the Magellan strait, around 9000 to 8000 years BP (Borrero 1999:323). With it, the human populations inhabiting these regions were also -to an extent- isolated (see below)^. This in turn suggests that the traits that Aonikenk and Selk’nam share should
resemble at all the Aonikenk patterns, the coincidence o f the cloak painting by both societies is still striking, and consistent with the similarities o f other cultural features o f these two societies.
^ For this reason, the population process o f Tierra del Fuego can be explained, in biogeographical terms, as the result o f vicariance, given that the two populations, which originated from the same population, becam e isolated as a consequence o f the formation o f a barrier - the M agellan strait (Borrero 1989-1990: 135). N ote that the definition o f vicariant species includes the fact that they occupy similar ecological nichest in geographical isolation (Simmons 1979, Cox and Moore 1995). There existed geographical differences between southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, which Borrero acknowledges (ibid: 13G,
be ancient and that, if they had no contact later in time, the two populations may have diverged considerably in the following development o f their cultures.
Having briefly pointed to the general similarities in the physical appearance, subsistence, linguistic and clothing traits between the Aonikenk and the Selk’nam, and their possible early common origin, plus their also early isolation (which seems to have led to the osteological differences quoted above), I want to focus now on their visual productions in general, and body paintings in particular and discuss them in the light o f the available information.
As noted in the previous section, due to the lack o f published information, it is not possible to ascertain whether colouring substances manipulation occurred in early times in Northern Tierra del Fuego, and the same happens in Southern Patagonia. For this reason, the possible diachronic processes that these two areas underwent in relation to this activity, and the links drawn between them, can be neither confirmed nor rejected. Nevertheless, two major hypothetical diachronic trends can be established.
A first possibility is that the Southern Patagonia and Northern Tierra del Fuego populations always produced body painting, even before their geographical separation. Their potential sharing o f this activity in a distant past would in turn suggest an ancient practice from a common origin population that was maintained along a vast period of time and in spite o f their isolation. A second possibility is that body painting may have been created independently by the Selk’nam and Aonikenk, or by their ancestors, when they were already geographically separated. This convergence would in turn indicate that both contexts could afford and generate body painting practices, and that these had some advantage for the societies creating them (or were at least ‘neutral’, although this latter possibility seems rather unlikely, given the implications that body painting had for the Fuegian societies - see chapters 4, 5 and 6).
Leaving aside these hypothetical diachronic processes, we can focus now on the available information that characterises Patagonian body painting in order to compare it to the Selk’nam body painting. The Tehuelches (including the Gununakena, in North Patagonia, and the Aonikenk in the South) have been described by a great number o f voyagers as aborigines who wore body paintings^ (Pigafetta [1520] 1946; Ladrillero
1557 in Alvarez 2000; Drake in Fletcher 1652; Byron [1764] 1957 and [1764] in Gallagher 1990*; Bougainville 1766*; Viedma [1780] 1972*; Pineda 1789; Parker King [1828] 1933; Arms and Goan [1833] 1939; Fitz Roy 1839a; Roncagli 1833 (including
’ The references marked with * indicate quotations from Martinic (1995: 272-275); the rest o f the
two drawings)*; Transilvano 1837; Goupil 1838 (including a drawing)*; D ’Urville 1841*; Wilkes in Sherman 1844; Bourne 1853; Schmid [1858] 1964; Claraz 1865; Musters 1869 and 1872; Cunningham 1871; Moreno 1876; Rogers 1878*; Dixie 1880*; Lista 1884; Spegazzini 1884; Bertrand 1885; Onelli [1903] 1930; Borgatello 1929; De Agostini 1941; Cooper 1963 - this latter source is a second hand compilation o f first hand observations).
Most o f the descriptions refer to their wearing o f facial paintings o f simple design, mostly made by blotches or lines o f paint. Paintings o f the arms and trunk are also recorded, but with less frequency. The first o f these references, which retells an observation made in Puerto San Julian (Southeast Patagonia) in May 1520, is an example o f this:
“This man was so tall that our head only reached his weist. O f great figure/height, his face was tinged with red, except his eyes, surrounded by a yellow circle, and two traces in the shape o f a heart over the cheeks. His scarce hairs looked as if had been whitened with some powder.” (Pigafetta [1520]
1946: 56-57)1
The information in these sources indicates a general use o f body painting for several purposes, such as ornamentation, skin protection and mourning (Cooper 1963: 146 and 156), and birth celebration (Musters 1891: 240-241). Mood expressions associated to colours were also recorded -re d for happiness, white for war and black for m ourning- (De Agostini 1941: 289, these sound suspiciously similar to those noted by the same author for the Selk’nam and it would not be surprising if De Agostini had overgeneralised the data for the two societies). Overall, this indicates less situations in which body painting was worn, in comparison to the Fuegian situations.
From the very first text, the sources indicate that both men and women got painted. This marks a contrast with the observations made about the Selkn’am, which, as noted above, did not include women until much later in time. A few o f the observations about the Aonikenk also indicate the practice o f tattooing (Musters 1872: 197; Lista 1884: 97), which, although less frequent than body painting, seems to have been more developed than in the Selk’nam case.
But the most distinctive feature that marks a difference between the Aonikenk and the Selk’nam body painting is the degree o f complexity and variety o f the designs. While according to the written sources the former seem to have been quite simple, mainly based on grounds or patches or paint and on lines, the latter show a great complexity and variety, as described above (see also analysis in chapters 5 and 6). First
^ It is due to chronicles such as this, plus to som e drawings, that the Patagonian inhabitants were regarded
o f all, this difference should not be taken for granted and might be related to a lack o f adequate and thorough ethnographic observation o f the Aonikenk, o f the quality that Gusinde achieved with the Fuegian societies. It is clear that had it not been for his observations, most o f the richest body painting creations, such as those related to the initiation ceremonies, would have ceased to exist without having been thoroughly recorded by any western observer. This situation may have happened in Patagonia, and the possibility that the Aonikenk may have had other more elaborate body paintings should not be entirely dismissed.
Bearing this shortcoming in mind, the available information indicates the existence o f a noticeable difference between the Aonikenk and the Selk’nam body
paintings, the former being much less diverse and elaborate than the latter, and
apparently worn on less occasions. Conversely, the Patagonian populations created rock art and painted their cloaks with intricate designs (Prieto 1997) while the Fuegians did not, which implies a further divergence in the visual productions o f the two regions. A final point to be taken into account, which reinforces the idea o f difference o f the Fuegian and Patagonian populations, is that all the Fuegian societies celebrated male initiation ceremonies in which body painting was combined with painted masks, while the latter -according to the available information- did not. Hence, although with qualitative differences (which are explored in chapters 4, 5 and 6) the Selk’nam, Yamana and A lacaluf show more similarities in their visual productions than with those created by the Aonikenk, which in turn suggests that the three former were in more contact with each other than with the latter.
In conclusion, we do not know how long this difference in the Patagonian and Fuegian body painting dates back in time, but the variations observed can be related to a) the different socio-cultural needs, desires and possibilities o f the Patagonian and Fuegian societies, which seem to have given the body paintings deeply different purposes and values, and b) the insular isolation o f the Fuegians from the Aonikenk (regardless o f whether the origins o f this practice can be related to a drift from a common tradition or a convergence o f customs). Although body painting is present both in the continental and insular portions o f Fuego-Patagonia, when considered in terms o f its variety and degree o f elaboration, its spatial distribution seems to have been influenced not only by cultural context but also by geographical isolation.
M ap 3 .2 . T erritories o f ab origin al s o c ie t ie s o f P a ta g o n ia and Tierra d el F u e g o (from O rquera 1 9 8 7 , m o d ifie d ).
3.4.3. Selk’nam and Yâmana body painting and the neighbouring Fuegian