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Endnotes
Art and Survival in Patagonia 

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[1] This description is taken from E Lucas Bridges’ book Uttermost Part of the Earth (1948).

[2] Luis Alberto Borrero and Colin McEwan, “The Peopling of Patagonia”, in Patagonia: Natural history, prehistory and ethnography at the uttermost end of the world, ed Colin McEwan, Luis A Borrero and Alfredo Prieto, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1997, at 32 onwards.

[3] There had of course been much earlier sporadic encounters with explorers, adventurers and traders: see Arnoldo Canclini, The Fuegian Indians: their life, habits and history, Continente, Buenas Aires, 2012, at 46.

[4] Mateo Martinic B, “The Meeting of Two Cultures” in McEwan, op cit at 110.

[5] Quoted in Maria Laura Borla and Marisol Vereda, Exploring Tierra del Fuego, Editorial Utopias, Ushuaia, 2005, at 102-3.

[6] Canclini, op cit at 118.

[7] Canclini, op cit at 116-7.


[8] Canclini, op cit at 117.

[9] In the original Spanish, La Conquiesta del Desierto. “Desert” is understood not in the sense of being a sandy waste, but rather as a deserted area. (The presence of Indians evidently did not count in this respect.) Perhaps a more apt name would be the Conquest of the Wilderness: see, for example, David Rock, Argentina, 1516-1987: From Spanish colonization to Alfonsin, University of California Press, 1987, at 154. Additional military campaigns against the Indians were conducted until 1884.

[10] Based on early explorers and travellers’ tales, the Tehuelche achieved a mythical reputation as being physical giants: see Jean-Paul Duviols, “The Patagonian ‘Giants’”, in McEwan, op cit at 127. Stories that they left enormous footprints were probably based on the prints left by their guanaco leather boots. For discussion of the apparently mistaken belief that the word “patagon” actually means “bigfoot” see Duviols at 129 onwards.

[11] Jill Hedges, Argentina: A Modern History, I B Taurus, 2011, at 22; Canclini, op cit at 115 onwards. One raid in particular, in 1876, is reported to have involved taking huge numbers of cattle and numerous “white” captives.

[12] Also known as the Ona.

[13] Mateo, op cit at 121.

[14] Mateo, op cit at 122. In contrast, the “canoe tribe”, the maritime Yámana, fared considerably better, partly as a result of the work of some exceptional missionaries. It was from this tribe that Captain Fitzroy from the Beagle famously “adopted” Jemmy Button, Fuegia Basket and York Minster, and took them to England. For a full account, including the return to Tierra del Fuego and later exploits, see Nick Hazlewood, Savage: survival, revenge and the theory of evolution, Sceptre, London, 2000.

[15] Also known as the Aónikenk.

[16] Mateo, op cit at 117.

[17] Hedges, op cit at 22.

[18] Jean Clottes, “Rock Art: An Endangered Heritage Worldwide”, Journal of Anthropological Research. Vol 64, No 1 2008 p1-18, at 1.

[19] More specifically, it is in the northwest of the province of Santa Cruz. The nearest town is Perito Moreno.

[20] Other UNESCO listed sites in Argentina include the Los Glaciares  and Iguazu National Parks.

[21] For a detailed bibliography for the site, see http://cuevadelasmanos.org/publicaciones.html

[22] UNESCO Evaluation Report “Cueva de las Manos, Rio Pinturas”, http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/936.

[23] UNESCO Evaluation Report, op cit.

[24] UNESCO Evaluation Report, op cit.


[25] Even in modern times, the image of a hand or fist is a common symbol of solidarity; see George Nash, “A history of handy work”, Minerva, 23(6) Nov/Dec 2012, at 261.

[26] Dean Snow, “Sexual Dimorphism in European Upper Paleolithic Cave Art”, American Antiquity, vol 78(4), 2013, p 746.

[27] Maria Mercedes Podesta, “The Cave of Hands as an example of cultural-natural hybrid heritage”, in Nature and Culture, German Commission for UNESCO, Brandenburg, 2007 at 119 onwards.

[28] These photographs are the work of the Austrian priest/ethnologist Martin Gusinde, who attended the last recorded Hain in 1923: see Exhibition Catalogue, “Patagonie: Images du bout du monde”, Musėe du quai Branly, 2012.

[29] In discussing this ceremony I have relied on Ann Chapman, “The Great Ceremonies of the Selk’nam and the Yámana”, in McEwan, op cit at 82; and Canclini, op cit at 110 onwards.

[30] The various skies were also represented by special posts in the large hut which formed the central area for the ceremony.

[31] Canclini, op cit at 102.

[32] The decorations also served to hide the participants’ actual identity, adding verisimilitude to their transformations into other-worldly beings.

[33] See Exhibition Catalogue, “Patagonie: Images du bout du monde”, Musėe du quai Branly, 2012.

[34] He returned to the presidency in 1897.

[34A] Laura Malosetti Costa, "The Return of the Indian Raid", Collection Highlights, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, 
https://www.bellasartes.gob.ar/en/the-collection-highlights/6297

[35] Rory Carroll, “Argentinian founding father recast as genocidal murderer”, The Guardian, 13 January 2011. 

[36] “Genocidio en las Pampas” http://argentina.indymedia.org/news/2005/02/264061.php

[37] “Evita Peron 100 Pesos bill to commemorate 60th anniversary of her death”, 26 July 2012 http://en.mercopress.com/2012/07/26/evita-peron-100-pesos-bill-to-commemorate-60th-anniversary-of-her-death

[38] Embassy of the Argentine Republic, London, www.argentine-embassy-uk.org (accessed 16 April 2014).


© Philip McCouat 2014 

Mode of citation: Philip McCouat, "Art and Survival in Patagonia", Journal of Art in Society, www.artinsociety.com

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