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Piana, Araújo and Casas brush gently at the strata of shells deposited through millennia by semi-nomadic Yamaná Indians who inhabited the site between 800 and 4,800 years ago. White stripes in the four-foot-deep shell piles are the result of intentional fires set atop the litter. Piana speculates that the Yamaná burned the moisture and soil out of the shell piles to better insulate their huts from the frozen sub-Antarctic ground for long stays at the site. Such long stays suggest to him a food bonanza. "If you have a whale maybe you can predict you'll stay a couple months," he said.

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Filename
Shells.jpg
Copyright
© Kevin Moloney, 2001
Image Size
3595x5470 / 3.8MB
Contained in galleries
3. Cultural Extinction
Piana, Araújo and Casas brush gently at the strata of shells deposited through millennia by semi-nomadic Yamaná Indians who inhabited the site between 800 and 4,800 years ago. White stripes in the four-foot-deep shell piles are the result of intentional fires set atop the litter. Piana speculates that the Yamaná burned the moisture and soil out of the shell piles to better insulate their huts from the frozen sub-Antarctic ground for long stays at the site. Such long stays suggest to him a food bonanza. "If you have a whale maybe you can predict you'll stay a couple months," he said.