Les indiens de Patagonie entre science et romance

• Main Author: Dominique Legoupil
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme 2008-04-01
• Series: Les Nouvelles de l’Archéologie
• Subjects: archaeology; ethnology; french researches; Patagonia
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/nda/279
• ISSN: 0242-7702; 2425-1941

Populations of Patagonia are among the best representants, maritime and terrestrial, of the hunters-gatherers of the cold countries who have survived without any cultural change over time until the XX° century. Neither influence of the high cultures of the Andes, nor any trace of an evolution towards the breeding or agriculture, weaving or metallurgy, seems to have touched these nomad hunters before the arrival of the European man, their ships and horses. From there, beyond the myth, undoubtedly comes the interest from the ethnologists and the archaeologists for these populations. Among them, some French took part in the adventure, in particular concerning the knowledge of the maritime populations of the archipelago’s. Their contribution is far from  negligible. Thanks to a French expedition, la Mission Scientifique du Cap Horn, we owe the first study of the most southern group, the Yamana of Cape Horn in 1882. In addition, due to a researcher of CNRS, Emperaire, we benefit from the last observations carried out on Alakaluf before the disappearance of their culture. For half a century, archaeology has replaced ethnology, and once again under the impulse of Emperaire, the ancient age (6000 years) of this maritime adaptation was recognized. Remain to discover the modalities and patterns of this original settlement. It is to this task that we devote ourselves now.