(Topic 5)

The Ona and Yahgan of Tierra del Fuego: Band-Level Warfare

Ethnographer: Martn Gusinde

The Spread of Modern Humans

Beringia

Paleoindian hunters battle a 20 ground sloth

Mammoth

North American animals, many now extinct, of the Late Pleistocene

Long-horned Bison

Musk Ox

Grizzly Bear

Lion-like Cats Wolf Horse Saiga Antelope Dall Sheep

Megatherium, Giant Ground Sloth, South American Pleistocene southern South America, ~10,000 B.P.

Mammoth

Valsequillo & Santa Isabel Ixtapa (7710 B.C. 400 yr.)

Mexico

Atlatl

(Topic 5)

The Ona and Yahgan of Tierra del Fuego: Band-Level Warfare

Ethnographer: Martn Gusinde

Strait of Magellan

Tierra del Fuego

Beagle Channel

10 9

(7),8

Systems-Hierarchical Model

The OnaTierra del Fuego Island

1. Environment:
TOTAL AREA: 48,110 sq. Km Inhospitable--a drab, dark-green landscape with little diversity Flatter terrain in north, snowcapped peaks in the south Rain: abundant, but heaviest in the southern woods.... sun comes out weakly and infrequently Temperatures: can be 15-25 below zero C.

2. Mode of Production:

Two Ona subgroups:

1. Pmica: hunted cururo, a rodent (summer)

Pmica

2. Hmska: hunted guanaco, a camelid (winter)

Hmska

2. Mode of Production: 1. Individual hunting: one man went out traveling in a random direction, using his dogs to help locate the tracks and spoor ... Arrows, shot at a distance of 20-30 m, were aimed at the upper neck area of the animal. After being shot, they would often run some distance before falling down ... 2. Group hunting: (3-8 hunters): when a herd was spotted that remained for a day or more in the same general area the men would hunt in a group, spacing themselves around the herd at some distance from each other ...

2. Mode of Production: Sharing: Meat was given to family and to any nearby neighbors, with the hunters wife distributing the cuts to the other women... If two neighbors both made a kill, then no one made vulgar comparisons of the quantity/quality of what was given ... the same was true for plants and other foods that the women collected, such as mushrooms or fish.

2. Mode of Production:

COLLECTING, or how the women look for food. What the women contributed to the diet of the family was so reduced in quantity and so irregular that it couldnt be counted on

3. SETTLEMENT PATTERN:

Migratory hunting, the only possibility for subsistence on Tierra del Fuego Island Thus, each family had to move constantly from one place to another. Search for food was never absent from their thoughts, nor was fear of hunger. Each family had to have an extensive region at its disposal, since the animals couldnt stay long in one place. Thus, the land had to be very lightly populated. It was not possible, either, for many families to gather in one spot for more than a few days.

ONA TERRITORIALITY (3) and POLITICAL ECONOMY (7):

Boundaries:
Marked by rocks and other natural features.

(38 named Territories)

Fixed, enduring for generations All were reminded of their locations. Other groups could not enter without permission.

Population estimate: ca. 4000 p. over

48,000 km (= 1260 km per territory [area of 23 X 23-miles], with average of 105 p/territory and a population density of .1p/km).

Violators were
attacked openly, or later by vengeance assaults.

(a 1260-km area, or 23 X 23 mi, in Dallas,Texas; population of 1,588,580 = a density of 1260 persons/km!) =12,600 X greater than Tierra del Fuego)

warfare ?

9. ONA RITUAL AND MAGIC:

Shamans (xons): 1. In control of weather, health, disease, lives, deaths of everyone, and war. 2. In control of darts called kwke (dart throwers/dart removers bewitchers/ curers).
Regulation of warfare: Regulation of distance/ dispersal:

3. Had three soulsone, the hhmen, gathered intelligence on other groups to Regulation determine the timing of war. of
warfare:

10/7--ATTITUDE AND WARFARE:

(Small-scale CIA)
Ona were sensitive, irritable, distrustful in their dealings with nearby groups, as well as vengeful with respect to rights to territory... people were easily provoked. NATURE OF CONFLICT: Frequency: The entire island was subject to war, occurring in one or another area every six months or so. Size of warrior groups: 8-20 men. Preparations: All relatives and nearby friends were called upon to make arrows, and meat was stored to feed women and children during hostilities. War headman: Chosen on the basis of age, abilities in sorcery, and leadership.

7. WARFARE (POLITICAL ECONOMY):

Attacks on camps: Usually always carried out by surprise. But, with warning, the women would hide the children nearby, teaching them to stay still while the mothers fled elsewhere. Defensive works: Sometimes used, consisted of piles of branches to hide behind and from which to shoot arrows, especially in more open terrain.

7. WARFARE (POLITICAL ECONOMY):

Conflict Resolution:
Shamans would find signs that peace would come, but they also spurred the men on if they thought it worthwhile. Peace Ritual (Jelj) 1. performed when both sides were ready to call an end to the strife 2. They met in the open, about 150 meters apart. 3. Groups would approach each other, making speeches and shooting arrows (barbed heads removed, leathercovered). 4. Ended with several days of friendly interactionmen, women, and children participating.

7. WARFARE (CAUSES):

Proximate Causes of War (Emic Causes): 1. Trespass onto another groups territory. 2. Witchcraft/sorcery from a malevolent xon (anytime someone died prematurely, a groups own xon would divine who did it) 3. Blood revenge because of a murder (a single homicide could cause years of constant strife between two groups).

Proximate/Emic and Ultimate/Etic Cause(s)?

KLKETEN (PUBERTY RITE) the myth: 1. First owned and carried out by the women (in control of Ona society, ran mens lives just as men do now, men stayed home and took care of the children) 2. Still, the men were stronger and the women knew this, so one woman, Moon/Kr, wife of the Sun, told them to have a secret womens society and construct a hain, or Great Hut, far from the camps neither men nor children could enter .... 3. Women spent days in camp bossing their husbands around, even sleeping with them from time to time, but mostly they slept in the Great Hut.
(continued )

4. Even at this time the men hunted the guanaco, and Man-Sun, Kran, was among the best of the hunters . One day he sneaked up on two girls who were bathing and laughing at how the women were able to control the men. Infuriated, he went to tell the men . 5. They rose up and killed all the women Sun-Man went after his wife, Moon-Woman, but couldnt catch her (even today he chases her across the sky), but he was able to disfigure her with a burning stick, the results of which can still be seen today... 6. Only the youngest girls were kept alive to keep the Ona race going...

Systems-Hierarchical Model

The Yahgan Beagle Channel and south

YAHGAN TERRITORIALITY:
Population estimate: ca. 2700 persons (equivalent to 540 p/territory)
540 persons/5000 km (Area 3)= .1 person/km

Gusinde: They know exactly the frontiers that separate their subsistence area from that of their neighbors. This area they consider to be theirs only, and any stranger who enters it is considered an intruder.

(5000 km= 4 X the size of one of the 38 Ona territories, and 4 X the size of central Dallas)

ATTITUDE AND FEUDING:

Since the Yahgan lived solitary lives, they were always glad when gatherings were over so they could be free of prying eyes, and social relationships were never based on any kind of sincere friendship. Conflict and settlement pattern: Since the population was dispersed there was little opportunity for strife to occur between large groups of people. Concept of honor: Although fights were less frequent than among the Ona, the Yahgan had a highly developed sense of honor Any conscious offense or intentional insult was intolerable to them, without immediate apology the injured party took revenge.

 Feuds: Inter-neighborhood feuds were common, both between men and between women (who fought each other like wildcats). Murder and Vengeance: If a person killed someone, then a large group of people from the area of the murdered person might come in as many as 15 or more canoes to avenge the death of the murderer .

YAHGAN RITUAL AND MAGIC:

SHAMANS, called Ykamu, were bewitchers and curers like the Ona xons, and included men (and a few women) with powerful personalities. They were feared because of their special relationship with the spirit world: Possessed tiny, magical darts called yku The darts were invisible to the shamans adversaries and injured, weakened, and killed them. Illnesses were caused by darts thrown by other shamans, and cured by sucking the darts out.

Archaeology: Paleoindians were at Monte Verde site, southern Chile (to the NW of here) by ca. 13,000 B.P., and at Fells Cave by ca. 11,000 B.P.). We may assume that they had arrived on Tierra del Fuego Island by at least ca. 10,500 years ago.

Implications for the peopling of Tierra del Fuego:

Recalling the Ona population was 4000 persons, assume that: 1. 60 settlers arrived on the island at 10,500 B.P. 2. Their numbers grew at 1% per year, which is equivalent to a Doubling Time (D.T.) of 70 yrs. [formula is 70/n, where n equals growth rate; therefore, 70/1 = D.T. of 70 yrs.]. 3. 60 people would grow to 3840 people in 6 D.T.s, or a mere 420 years (60 X 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 = 3840).
120240480960...1920 ..

4. Thus, by ca. 10,000 yrs. ago, the population of T. del Fuego would have essentially reached its carrying capacity (based 4000 on the hunting of cururo and guanaco).

What are the implications of the preceding demographic estimates for the Ona and Yahgan for their territoriality and warfare?

Next:

Headhunters And Other Bad Hombres