Mapuche

The young woman was buried more than 800 years ago in a wampo, or ceremonial canoe, that researchers think symbolized a boat journey to the land of the dead. Source: Pérez et al., 2022, PLOS ONE / CC-BY 4.0

25 August, 2022 - 19:00 Sahir

Oldest and First ‘Wampo’ Ritual Canoe Burial Found in Argentina

An almost 900-year-old canoe burial of a 17–25-year-old Mapuche woman has been found by archaeologists in the Argentinian Patagonia region, near the current border of Chile and Argentina. The recent...

Left: Machi playing the Kultrún. Behind her it can be seen the inclination of the staggered Rehue . Center: A Rehue in the exhibition of the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino. Right: A Rehue as a symbolic figuration of the Tree-Man. Source: Martin Thomas / Photographic Archive of the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino; Photo by the author: Rafael Videla Eissmann, 2017; Author provided

16 January, 2022 - 18:00 Rafael Videla E...

Araucanian “Staircase to Heaven” Symbolism in the Pre-Hispanic World

One of the fundamental magical-religious symbols of the Lituche-Araucanian cultural substrate of Chile is the Rehue or stepped totem carved in wood. The Rehue is a representation of the Axis Mundi ,...