Made from Bone: Trickster Myths, Music, and History from the Amazon

3. Ethnohistorical Interlude: Historical Themes in the Myth of Made-from-Bone and Anaconda-Person

3 Ethnohistorical Interlude: Historical Themes in the Myth of Made-from-Bone and Anaconda-Person This chapter arises from a specific connection between the mythic narrative about Made-from-Bone and the Anaconda-Person (Uliámali) and the widespread practice of using necklaces made of shells and beads as a form of currency during the colonial period. Taken in isolation, the occurrence of a single mythic episode about the use of necklaces as “money” in the upper Río Negro provides little more than an interesting footnote on the likelihood that such necklaces were in use and circulating among indigenous groups at least as far south as the northern Brazil–southern Venezuela frontier. However, when this mythic episode is understood within the regional ethnographic and historical context in which it occurs, a broader pattern of economic and social exchange becomes evident. Moreover, historical sources from the colonial period support the view that Arawakan societies of the Upper Río Negro region were connected to the colonial exchange of shell necklaces that had spread across northern South America and that had come to be centered on the middle Orinoco basin by the seventeenth century (Gasson 2000). Elsewhere in South America, the practice of making necklaces out of coins is still practiced among the contemporary Emberá and Wounaan living in the Darién Peninsula of eastern Panama, where women keep small baskets in which they store coin necklaces. These coins come from Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, the United States, and other countries and date back to the nineteenth century or even earlier (Velásquez Runk 2005:166–67). “Gathered from many foreign systems of exchange, the coins have been inserted, refashioned , and kept in this indigenous culture”; the coin necklaces are passed down from mother to daughter over many generations, and “some coins are so old that they are smooth from wear” (Kane 1994:131). Similar coin necklaces and bracelets made of pierced silver coins were observed in the early years of the twentieth century among the Ye’kuana, Piaroa, Mako, and other groups of the Upper Orinoco (Matos Arvelo 1912:32; Gasson 2000:597). These coin necklaces and bracelets are historical descendants of a long and widespread tradition of interethnic trade in body ornaments made from strings of quirípa (shell “money”), glass or ceramic beads, or bone (Gasson 2000). In addition to their importance as a form of currency during the colonial period, these body ornaments served as symbols of rank and prestige within the more hierarchical societies of the Orinoco basin, such as the Otomac. “Similar to many other groups of the llanos, the Otomac esteemed the quirípa as a symbol of wealth and power. Tavacaré, the powerful Otomac chief, wore many strings of quirípa on his neck and forearms; his sister was also dressed in a similar fashion” (Gasson 2000:595). Regional Networks and Colonial Transformations in the Middle Orinoco Basin Anthropological and historical research on indigenous groups of the northern lowlands of South America has emphasized the importance of mobility and horizontal ties of warfare, trade, and alliance extending over the entire llanos and Guiana Shield regions (Morey and Morey 1975; Morales Mendez and Arvelo-Jimenez 1981; Biord Castillo 1985; Butt Colson 1973; Thomas 1972; Rausch 1984; Whitehead 1988; Hill 1999; Gasson 2000). The central core of this vast interregional network was the middle Orinoco basin, where the abundance of turtle eggs and fish during the dry season brought together indigenous peoples from llanos areas to the north and west as well as from forested zones to the south and east. Maipure, Achagua, and other Arawakspeaking peoples were the most numerous inhabitants of the upper Orinoco basin, and various Carib-speaking peoples predominated along the lower Orinoco. The middle Orinoco was a transitional zone in which Arawak- and Carib-speaking peoples overlapped and exchanged subsistence items for various trade goods. Carib and Arawakan peoples accounted for approximately 70 percent of the linguistic diversity in the middle Orinoco region, with the remaining 30 percent Saliba-speaking peoples, such as the Piaroa, and speakers of various unclassified languages (Biord Castillo 1985:91). Although the distribution of language groups demonstrated clear concentrations of Arawakan 58 WORDS FROM PRIMORDIAL TIMES speakers in upstream areas along the lower Orinoco and its tributaries, there was no clear-cut boundary dividing the two language families, and there were frequent instances of intermarriage between them (Gilij 1965 [1782]). Radiating outwards from...