Comechingones
The Comechingones , actually Henîa and Kamîare , are an indigenous people from the central west of Argentina who lived in the Sierras Pampeanas , in today's provinces of Córdoba and San Luis . Although the indigenous language has been extinct for centuries, around 5000 people in the region still identify themselves as members of this people.
origin of the name
The Comechingones were made up of two large ethnic groups: the northern one referred to itself as Henîa and the southern one as Kamiare. The term comechingón probably derives from a derogatory term for these groups used by the neighboring tribe of the Sanavirones ( kamichingan , for the rodent vizcacha or cave dwellers, as an allusion to the semi-underground dwellings of the comechingones). According to another interpretation, the Spaniards themselves gave the ethnic group its name, after their war cry Kom-chingôn , which, according to a chronicle of the conquistador Jerónimo Bibar from 1558, meant death for them (in relation to the invaders). Presumably the name of the Sanavirones for the people comes from this war cry.
Ethnological classification
According to many anthropologists, the Comechingones are an ethnic mix of influences from the Huarpes from the Cuyo , who were the largest and probably the oldest component, the Pampa peoples ( pámpidos ), the Andean peoples and even the peoples from the Amazon region. A few peculiarities in the physique indicate this mixture: relatively large physique (average 1.71 m in men), beard growth from puberty and the existence of about ten percent of individuals with green eyes.
Culture and way of life
The culture of the Comechingones was influenced by the Andean culture (for example Inca ). They were sedentary hunters and gatherers who also farmed ( potatoes , corn , pumpkins and beans ) and raised cattle ( llamas and hens like the Monte turkey ). The Comechingones mastered relatively well developed techniques in the textile industry, basketry, metalworking and ceramics. They built their semi-subterranean houses out of stone in order to better survive the cold spells that were already striking in this region in winter.
The clothing of the Hênia-Kamîare shows the influence of the Andean peoples: they wore ponchos (capes made of llama wool), chiripás and sandals, and in cold spells also vests made of wool and clothing made of leather. The men adorned themselves with small, elongated metal plates made of copper, silver and gold, the chákiras , which they attached to their hair, while the women decorated themselves with painted snail shells. They perfumed themselves with the juice of the suico fruit.
Originally the Comechingones had their own language. Antonio Tovar speaks of five dialect groups: main, yuya, mundema (or "indama"), kama and umba. With the arrival of the Spaniards, however, Quechua was used by them in the entire center and northwest of what is now Argentina to communicate with the indigenous peoples, which gradually replaced their own original language. It is because of this that most of the place names in this area are derived from Quechua words. Today, however, only Spanish is spoken.
Little is known of the rites and cults. According to the chronicles of the conquistadors, they especially worshiped the moon, which is probably why they had a preference for fighting and battles at night. There were holy places where they gathered, these were places with geographical features that made the celestial stars observable in a special way, such as high mountain peaks, pools of water, grottos and gorges.
Sites
The people left behind numerous cave paintings, the most famous of which are in Cerro Colorado and Ongamira (Córdoba) and in Inti Huasi (San Luis). Furthermore, near Alpa Corral , a village in the south of the province of Córdoba on the eastern slope of the Sierra de los Comechingones , there is an archaeological site where stone walls and skeletons made by the Comechingones were excavated. Small statues have also been found, including the toscas depicting stylized men and women with oversized genitals, presumably linked to a fertility cult.
Sub-ethnicities
Around 1550 the border between the two large groups Hênia and Kamîare was roughly at the height of the 31st parallel.
The Kamîare lived in the south of the Sierras Pampeanas , mainly in what is now the north and northwest of the province of San Luis . Their sub-ethnicities were as follows:
- Saleta: on the western slope of the Sierra de los Comechingones (around today's city of Merlo ) in the northeast of San Luis
- Mogolma: directly west of the Saleta, in the Conlara Valley
- Michilingüe: west and south-west of the aforementioned groups. Their extensive settlement area extended to the west to the borders of the Huarpes (near the Sierra de las Quijadas in what is now the northwest of San Luis) and to the south to the settlement area of the Het ( Sierras de Varela and Sierras del Tala )
The Hênia, however, lived in the Sierras de Córdoba (today's province of Córdoba ). They were divided into the following subgroups:
- Mogas: in the Sierras de Ambargasta, in the extreme north of today's province of Cordoba; at the salt lakes Salinas Grandes to the Olungasta and to the east to the Sanavirones
- Caminigas: south of the Mogas, in the area around what is now Quilino and Villa Tulumba in the north of Córdoba
- Guachas or Gualas: south of the Caminigas, around today's city of Villa del Totoral
- Chine: west of the Guacha, in the area of today's cities Deán Funes and Cruz del Eje (north-west of Córdoba)
- Sitón: in the northern Valle de Punilla , in the area of the Sierra Chica and in the west up to the present-day border between Córdoba and La Rioja
- Aluleta: in the Sierra Chica, in the south of the Valle de Punilla and in the Paravachasca valley (west of Córdoba)
- Maure: in the central and southern Traslasierra valley (western Córdoba, surroundings of Villa Dolores ); they bordered the Kamiare in the south
- Macaclita: in the Calamuchita Valley (central province of Córdoba, around today's Villa General Belgrano ) and on the eastern slope of the Sierras de Comechingones, to the south to the area of today's Río Cuarto , where they bordered the Het .
Origin and history
The Comechingones probably go back to the Ayampitín culture, which has existed since at least 6000 BC. Exists and not only in Argentina, but also in the south of Bolivia , in the area around Tarija , left traces; this thesis has not yet been confirmed. On the other hand, one can almost safely assume that the Ongamira culture (4600 BC) was a direct forerunner of the Hênia and Kamîare cultures. One speaks of an independent Comechingones culture in the period from 500.
The decline of culture began with the Spanish Conquista around 1600, when the culture gradually mixed with the Spanish-Creole culture (Creole, criollo , is used in Argentina in the sense of a mestizo culture with Spanish and Indian elements). Even before that, in the 15th and early 16th centuries, there had been intermingling with the Sanavirones . As with many other original ethnic groups in South America, the conquest by the Spaniards was facilitated by the spread of European diseases (e.g. various types of flu) against which they had neither antibodies nor healing methods. The relative similarity in physique to the Europeans facilitated their integration into the Spanish-Creole society. One of the last pure Comechingones settlements existed until 1750 in the area of the Traslasierra valley in the vicinity of today's village Nono . Individual families lived isolated from the influences of the Spaniards until the 19th century.
According to a special census conducted by the INDEC statistics office in 2004, 5119 people in the province of Córdoba identified themselves as comechingones. However, they are Spanish speaking.
Influence on Spanish
The language of the Comechingones influenced the dialect of the Spanish language spoken today in the province of Cordoba and its surroundings. This so-called tonada cordobesa is characterized by the lengthening of vowels in the third from last syllable of certain words, which gives the impression that the language is "sung".
Web links
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- ↑ Results of the special INDEC census 2004 ( MS Excel ; 26 kB)