Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T00:51:46.474Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Concerning the Existence of the Pit House in South America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Alberto Rex Gonzalez*
Affiliation:
Museo de la Plata, La Plata, Argentina

Extract

With considerable interest I have read Daifuku's “The Pit House in the Old World and in Native North America” (American Antiquity, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 1-7, 1952). Although he did not refer to South America except in passing, citing only the finds of Bird in northern Peru, it is of interest to point out that there are numerous ethnographic references to the use of the pit house in the southern half of this continent, and that these references are confirmed by archaeological finds.

Metraux (1929) in his study of the Huarpe, primitive inhabitants of the Cuyo region of Argentina, gave a summary of the definite references to the use of the pit house in South America and attached a distribution map. He listed, in addition to the Huarpe, the Kaupe, Tsirakua, Matsikui, Kitsua de Cojata, Obacoatiara, Guaranaguacu, Piraguayguaquig, and Wayana. The first three are found in Paraguay; the remaining four are in eastern Brazil. For some of the tribes mentioned the references in question are very clear; for others, such as the Tsirakua and Wayana, they are doubtful.

Type
Facts and Comments
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1953

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bird, Junius 1938. Antiquity and Migrations of the Early Inhabitants of Patagonia. The Geographical Review, Vol. 28, No. 2. New York.Google Scholar
Canals Frau, Salvador 1945. Una capa mesolitica de poblacion americana. Anales del Instituto de Etnologia Americana, 6, pp. 11 -33. Mendoza.Google Scholar
Gonzalez, Alberto Rex 1943. Arqueologia del yacimiento indigena de Villa Rumipal (Provinciade Cordoba). Publicaciones del Instituto de Arqueologia, Linguistica y Folklore de la Universidad de Cordoba, IV. Cordoba.Google Scholar
Metraux, Alfredo 1929. Contribution a l'ethnographie et a l'archeologie de la province de Mendoza, Argentine. Revista del Instituto de Etnologia de la Universidad Nacional de Tucuman, I, entrega Ira. Tucuman.Google Scholar
Serrano, Antonio 1945. Serie Aborigenes Argentines. Instituto de Arqueologia, Linguistica y Folklore de la Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Cordoba.Google Scholar