'Indigenous Chile' reveals a close link with Asia

'Indigenous Chile' reveals a close link with Asia

By Rita A. Widiadana

JAKARTA (JP): Running along the southwest coast of South
America to the tip of the continent facing Antarctica, Chile is a
remote country for most Asians.

But the general assumption of its remoteness would probably be
inaccurate if one visits the National Museum in Jakarta to see a
rare exhibition of Chilean archaeological and art collections.

The Indigenous Chile exhibition, which started from Oct. 11
and runs until Oct. 29, uncovers a great variety of the country's
rich cultural legacy belonging to its Indian ancestors who
inhabited North and South America thousands of years ago.

The exhibition, opened by the Minister of Education and
Culture Juwono Sudarsono, is part of the celebrations of the
arrival of the Spaniards in America 500 years ago.

It is jointly organized by the Chilean Embassy and the
National Museum in an attempt to enhance and promote the
indigenous cultures of ancient Chilean natives.

Republic of Chile Ambassador to Indonesia Hernan Tassara said,
"The event is intended to show the world, and people in Asia in
particular, that Chile has a close cultural connection with
Asians.

"We are living far apart, but there are a lot of similarities
between the indigenous Chileans and the Asians," the ambassador
said.

Suhardini, the head of the National Museum's anthropology
department, agreed that some cultural items like ceramic
ornaments and statues were similar with those in eastern
Indonesian regions.

"We have wooden and stone statues, decorations and ornaments
of pottery and textiles in Irian Jaya, Kalimantan, Maluku and
East Nusa Tenggara that are identical to those made by the
Eastern Island natives in Chile," she said.

The traveling exhibition, which was displayed in a large
number of cities throughout Europe, Asia and New Zealand, covers
14,000 years of history from the first human arrival to Chile's
present territorial groups of hunters and gatherers evolving
through specific cultures, which developed in the areas until the
last group, the Inca Empire, prior to the Spanish conquest in
l536.

Archaeological evidence shows that the first inhabitants of
America came from the Asian continent by crossing the Bering
Strait in Alaska.

This might be one of the reasons why the majority of the 190
exhibited items, belonging to the Archaeological Museum of
Santiago, underlines the closeness between Asian and Chilean
cultures, particularly in the costumes and traditions.

Among the displayed items are bone, stone and silver ornaments
in the form of jewelry, artifacts, potteries, textiles, statues,
musical instruments and assorted art collections from Chilean
pre-Hispanic civilizations of the Aymaras, Mapuches, Pascuenses
and the virtually extinct Fuegian, who made up the ancient
Chilean population.

For these communities, ornamental products reflected various
aspects of personal aesthetic values, social status and religious
functions.

For instance, an earring could be considered by certain
Chilean communities as an ornament as well as a charm or a
distinctive object that shows the wearers' social condition and
status.

Other important items shown at the exhibition are textiles and
garments. The importance of woven materials in the Andean world
goes back to pre-Hispanic times. In Chile, the first evidence of
fibers spun to make a continuous yarn and woven to form a flat
and flexible structure came from the coast in 3000 B.C.

Textiles had functions which went beyond clothing and
ornamental use. They also played an important role in the social,
economical, political and religious spheres.

Textiles also fulfilled a function in the religious and ritual
life of the Andeans; certain garments were manufactured to be
used in ceremonies with the individual's vital cycle or to form a
part of the funeral offerings.

Textile products comprise blankets, clothing and other items.

The exhibition also displays the Diaguita culture, now
extinct, which developed in the semiarid north of the country
from 1000 to 1536. The Diaguita reached a high level of cultural
development expressed in successful farming in all the valleys of
the area, in complex funeral rites and mainly in various objects
of great artistic value, such as bone, ceramic and stone
ornaments.

Diaguita ceramics reflected cultural changes before arriving
to their own expressions of great beauty and perfection between
1200 and 1470.

The pottery on display includes clay and ceramic dishes, urns,
and bowls.

With the Inca's arrival in 1470 and up until 1536, pottery
somehow reflected the changes in sociopolitical order given the
internality of this ethnic group. Diaguita potters adopted and
integrated local forms and decorations from Peru in a balanced
and harmonious way.

With the arrival of the Spaniards in 1536, the Diaguita
civilization gradually became extinct.

Another interesting subject is the replication of mummies.

There are still a large number of mummies in Chile. Almost all
are naturally preserved by the aridity in the desert or by the
low temperatures in the high Andes mountains.

On the coasts in the extreme north of Chile, especially at the
beginning of the lluta and Azapa valleys, interesting funeral
practices had developed. The mummification of human bodies was
far superior to the technique applied to the oldest known mummies
discovered in Egypt.

A group of people called the Chinchorro, who were estimated to
have lived 7,000 years ago, mummified their dead by taking off
the viscera, stripping the bones of flesh and fastening the
skeleton with a wooden frame.

This elaborate practice leads many archaeologists to think
that this group had a complex social organization.

This practice allows us to learn about the rich American
cultural past with its artistic and spiritual heritage. The
mummies were not only preserved with their rich apparel, but also
allowed people to learn a great variety of aspects about their
biological and cultural lives.

The present exhibition, which will continue in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, wishes to give testimony to the cultural richness of
some of the Indian groups which once inhabited, and which some
are still present, and provide proof to the continental theory of
the link between ancient Americans and Asians.