Roles of Material Culture in the Colonization of the Orinoco

8/10/2019 Roles of Material Culture in the Colonization of the Orinoco

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The roles of material culture in thecolonization of the Orinoco,Venezuela

FRANZ SCARAMELLI

Department of Anthropology,University of Chicago,USA

KAY TARBLE DE SCARAMELLIEscuela de Antropologa, Universidad Central de Venezuela,Venezuela and

Department of Anthropology,University of Chicago,USA

ABSTRACT

The analysis of exchange and commerce, the introduction andconsumption of foreign manufactures and technologies, and theprocess of commoditization of Native material products, service and

labor, provides the background for the examination of long-termhistorical process and Native cultural response in the face of differentcolonial and post-colonial circumstances in the Middle Orinoco. Ouranalysis focuses on the exchange relations and the forms of incor-poration of Western objects and practices into Native cultures in theregion. We trace the impact of certain material items as theycontributed to the transformations undergone by local indigenoussocieties, and offer examples of the differential consequences of theincorporation of foreign manufactures and practices into Native struc-

tures of consumption and systems of values. The two cases analyzedin this article concern the incorporation of items of Western dress andthe introduction of alcoholic beverages. Through insights derived

Journal of Social Archaeology A R T I C L E

Copyright 2005 SAGE Publications (www.sagepublications.com)

ISSN 1469-6053 Vol 5(1): 135168 DOI: 10.1177/1469605305050152


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136 Journal of Social Archaeology 5(1)

from the archaeological record, historical accounts, and ethnographicdescriptions, we discuss the way in which these commodities servedas the medium for the articulation of strategies on the part of theNative and colonial agents. While the colonial strategy was designedto create and perpetrate relations of dependency and domination overthe local population, the indigenous strategy aimed at increasingpersonal political power and enhancing status.

KEYWORDS

colonialism drinking practice exchange identity materialculture social body

INTRODUCTION

Archaeological studies of the colonial process in Latin America gatheredmomentum in the wake of political debates surrounding the 500th anni-versary of first contact (Deagan, 1998; Orser, 1996). Following this event,there was a marked increase in archaeological research in areas previouslyunderrepresented in the literature, especially those found on the periphery

of the main thrust of European efforts in South America (Curbelo, 1999;Funari, 1997; Funari et al., 1999, 2003; Gassn, 2000; Kern, 1994, 1996;Poujade, 1992; Quiroga, 1999; Sanoja, 1998a,b; Sanoja et al., 1995; Sanojaand Vargas, 2002; Senatore, 1995; Soares, 1997; Zarankin, 1995). Althoughthe occasion promoted more critical analyses of the major paradigms andcontributions in the scholarship of conquest (Stern, 1993), the study ofcontact and colonization involving people previously unknown to eachother continues to pose an extraordinary intellectual challenge.

Over the years, anthropology has intensified its attempts to overcome its

parochial concerns with small-scale, isolated cultural phenomena,confronting issues derived from the global process of Western expansion.Acculturation theory dominated early attempts to analyze situations ofcontact. This approach tended to stress the inevitability of acculturationand the superiority of the dominant culture. Acculturation was measuredin terms of trait lists, which translated to imported items in most archaeo-logical analyses (Cheek, 1974; Rogers, 1990; Spicer, 1961; SSRC, 1954).More recently, archaeologists have become increasingly aware of the limi-tations of unidirectional acculturation theories, and have turned to more

encompassing, multidirectional, ethnogenetic and creollization approaches(Cusick, 1998; Deagan, 1998; Ewen, 2000; Gasco, 1992; Hoffman, 1997).These studies have stressed the interaction between cultures resulting inthe creation of a mosaic, syncretism, or the reformulation of the cultures


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137Scaramelli & Scaramelli The roles of material culture in the Orinoco

that came into contact. This approach has found a place in certain colonialcontexts, especially those where mestizaje, assimilation, or transcultura-tion were the dominant results, such as in the Antilles, NorthernVenezuela, or in the Spanish Florida colonies (Acosta Saignes, 1961; BonfilBatalla, 1978; Deagan, 1998; Ewen, 2000; Ortiz, 1947; Whitehead, 1996).

At the same time, other anthropologists and archaeologists seeking amore comprehensive theoretical paradigm for studies of colonial contactturned to world system theories, developed by economists and historiansduring the 1970s (Frank, 1978, 1990; Wallerstein, 1974, 1980). These studiesstressed the expansion of global mercantilism and capitalism, and thecivilizing projects that accompanied colonial involvement worldwide(Frankenstein and Rowlands, 1978; Roseberry, 1989; Schortman andUrban, 1992; Wolf, 1982). By focusing on colonial relations of economicand political power, these approaches found in a structural Marxist analysisan elegant explanation for the expansion of capitalism and had a majorimpact on anthropological studies of colonial contact. Since the world wasno longer conceived as a set of isolated cultural entities (Wolf, 1982), butas a network of interconnected social aggregates, indigenous societies,campesinos, and other rural people were no longer perceived as isolated,pristine vestiges of the past, living at the fringes of civilization. They cameto be recognized as an important part, and perhaps, in some cases, theresult, of a global scale history of colonial expansion.

Although this approach made various important contributions to thepractice of anthropology in general, and to archaeology in particular, anumber of serious theoretical problems have come to light. On the onehand, the conception of global interaction as the articulation of modes ofproduction led to overly mechanistic and reductionist interpretations. Onthe other hand, the model was inherently Euro-centric and tended to over-emphasize the role of the core as determining the processes occurring inthe peripheries. Moreover, its incapacity to take into considerationindigenous historical agency precluded the understanding of variations in

colonial encounter situations (Dietler, 1995, 1998), and tended to obscurethe role of local cultural forces in the conformation of the world systemitself (Sahlins, 1988, 1992, 1993). As a result, these models came to repro-duce the inadequacies of previous theoretical approaches, as they privi-leged, even while criticizing, the impact of European expansion byassuming, a priori, the nature and direction of historical processes(Comaroff, 1985: 3).

In response to this popular, but problematical approach, recent litera-ture on the historical anthropology of colonialism has underlined the need

to move toward more dynamic and multi-dimensional approaches tocontact situations (Cohn, 1996; Comaroff and Comaroff, 1991, 1992, 1997;Dietler, 1995, 1998; Roseberry, 1988, 1989; Sahlins, 1992, 1993; Stein, 2002;Wolf, 1982). The role of culture as an historical product and agent, an


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emphasis on the individual and on interest groups as actors in the process,and concerns about agency and structure as mutually constituting historicalforces, are now placed at the forefront of the analysis (Dietler, 1995, 1998:299; Sahlins, 1985, 1993). This promotes a better understanding of thearticulation between local and global structures of power, including thespecific mechanisms that contribute to the formation of structures ofcolonial dependency and domination, on the one hand, and local processesof formation of colonial systems, cultural resilience and defiance, on theother. What once was treated as a one-way imposition of the colonists onthe colonized can now be analyzed as a complex and reflexive consequenceof multiple, often contradictory strategies, played out by the differentinterest groups involved in the colonial situation (Deagan, 1998; Ewen,2000; Funari, 1996; Orser, 1996; Rowlands, in Funari et al., 1999; Schrire,1985, 1995; Trigger, 1975).

In pursuing these objectives, recent years have witnessed an increasinginterest in the role of material culture in historical processes of colonialism(Appadurai, 1986; Comaroff and Comaroff, 1991; Cummins, 2002; Cusick,1998; Dietler, 1995, 1998; Kirch and Sahlins, 1992; Lyons and Papadopou-los, 2002; Mintz, 1985; Roseberry, 1988, 1989; Sahlins, 1985, 1992, 1998;Stein, 2002; Thomas, 1991, 2002). These processes, manifested in the inter-change of goods, foodstuffs, architectural knowledge, technology, religiousideas and paraphernalia, etc., can be documented in written and icono-

graphic sources, as well as in the artifacts themselves. Therefore, materialculture provides a crucial link between these different sources that can beemployed in the study of historical situations of contact, where it is recog-nized that context is essential to interpretation, and meaning and value havebeen shown to vary in different circumstances.

The analysis of exchange and commerce, the introduction and consump-tion of foreign manufactures and technologies, and the process ofcommoditization of Native material products, services and labor, areparticularly informative for the examination of long-term historical process

and Native cultural response in the face of different colonial and post-colonial circumstances. The analysis we present here incorporates recentpropositions on the biographical approach of things (Appadurai, 1986;Kopytoff, 1986), focusing on the exchange relations and the forms of incor-poration of Western objects and practices into Native cultures in theOrinoco region. We follow the impact of certain material items related todress and drink, as they contribute to the transformations undergone bylocal indigenous societies, and present examples of the differential conse-quences of the incorporation of foreign manufactures and practices into

Native structures of consumption and systems of values.


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THE CI RCULATION OF MATERIAL CULTURE I N THE

ORINOCO BASIN

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, several European nations viedfor a foothold in the Antilles and the eastern coast of South America,resulting in various forms of colonialism, which differed in both goals andstrategies. The intervention produced profound changes in the culture,economy and forms of socio-political organization of the local populationsand of the colonizers, as well. In many areas, these contact situationsresulted in drastic population decline, cultural transformations, andsystemic discontinuities (Deagan, 1988, 1996, 1998; Dunnell, 1991). In otherareas, to the contrary, Native reactions posed significant challenges to the

colonial intentions of the European powers.In the Orinoco, there were no empires to conquer, no vertical structuresof power susceptible to colonial manipulation, and no easy riches. TheEuropeans initially explored this territory driven by the myth of El Dorado,but what they found was a vast network of indigenous societies with widelydifferent worldviews. Very few of these groups had centralized forms ofsocial organization; beyond the major river courses, communities weregenerally small and widely dispersed; and the multiplicity of languagesspoken in the area posed a formidable barrier to the various colonial

projects. However, one mechanism that served to initialize and perpetuatethe articulation between the colonizers and the Native peoples of theCaribbean and coastal mainland of South America was trade. The Indianswere keen for trade from the start. Certain coastal Indians, who were in aprivileged position to obtain European goods, quickly established them-selves as intermediaries in the exchange networks that extended far inland(Boomert, 1984). The competition among the English, Dutch, French andSpanish colonizers led to the formation of shifting alliances betweenEuropean and indigenous agents that tended to favor Native enterprise,especially in the hands of the Carib of the Lower Orinoco, and effectivelyblocked Spanish attempts to establish permanent settlement in theGuayana region for over two centuries (Lucena Giraldo, 1991; Rey Fajardo,1966, 1971, 1974, 1988; Useche Losada, 1987; Whitehead, 1988, 1994).

When the Jesuits attempted to establish missions in the Orinoco area inthe late seventeenth century, all of Guayana and the Colombian/Venezue-lan Llanos were affected by the slave trade, dominated by the Dutch/Cariballiances on the eastern coast, and by the Portuguese and their indigenousallies to the south, in what is now Brazil. Carib slaving/trading expeditionsposed the chief obstacle to Jesuit settlement of the Middle Orinoco. The

Caribs had a virtual monopoly on the acquisition and local trade ofEuropean goods, which they obtained from the Dutch in advance paymentfor slaves. They protected this monopoly by means of alliances with local


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groups, threats of retaliation, and physical attacks on colonial settlementsthroughout the seventeenth century and into the early eighteenth century(Morey and Morey, 1975; Whitehead, 1988).

The Spanish recognized the potential value of the Orinoco as a strategicfluvial connection between the Colombian highlands and the Atlantic coast,and a source of coveted tropical products, both wild and cultivated. TheCrown feared it would lose control of this crucial axis of communicationand potential source of economic benefit. Therefore, in the late seventeenthcentury, the Spanish renewed efforts to colonize the region, which, untilthat time, had been largely ignored. The agents charged with the task werethe different religious orders, including the Capuchins, the Observantesand, in the Middle and Upper Orinoco, the Jesuits (Rey Fajardo, 1966,1971, 1974, 1988; Whitehead, 1988).

As on other parts of the Spanish colonial frontier, missionary inter-vention in the Orinoco was primarily conceived as a major civilizingproject designed to incorporate indigenous peoples into the Christian-Western world. The missionaries were expected to convert Native peopleto Catholicism and to prepare the way for future settlement and economicenterprise (Langer and Jackson, 1995). European strategies for domi-nation were designed both to suppress and seduce the local population.Military and religious strategies to this end are well documented in theliterature, with accounts of the armed recruitment and forced relocation

of indigenous groups to the missions, the punishment and persecution ofNative religious leaders, and the emphasis on the indoctrination ofchildren, often interned and separated from their parents (Rey Fajardo,1966, 1971, 1974, 1988; Whitehead, 1988, 1996). Less attention has beenpaid, however, to more subtle strategies that, nevertheless, may throw lighton indigenous long-term historical process and Native cultural response inthe face of contact. One of these concerns precisely the analysis ofexchange relations and the forms of incorporation of Western objects,technology, and practices into Native cultures and the eventual conse-

quences of these relations.While long-distance trade had played an important role in the negoti-ation of inter-group relations in the pre-contact era (Boomert, 1986;Boomert and Kroonenberg, 1977; Helms and Loveland, 1976; Lathrap,1970), following European intervention, the introduction of certain itemssuch as iron tools, firearms, fish hooks, glass beads, and alcoholic bever-ages, changed the relations of power in favor of certain nations of theOrinoco, and led to the acceptance, or at least tolerance, of the newlyfounded missions in the area on the part of other sectors of the indigenous

population. In general, the missions were more readily accepted by severalof the more sedentary, agricultural indigenous societies of the Llanos andthe Orinoco, such as the Sliva, the Achagua, and the Mapoyo. These popu-lations were attracted to the reducciones (mission settlements) by the lure


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of Western goods, as well as by the protection they offered against theincreasingly devastating Carib and Portuguese slave raids. In contrast to theDutch trading posts, where little concern was given to the civilizingproject, the mission system in the Middle Orinoco was designed to enforceindigenous obedience to the exigencies of the Crown and the CatholicChurch (Whitehead, 1988). Military coercion played an important role inthe establishment of the missions, through the forced relocation of indigen-ous communities, the punishment of runaways, and the surveillance oftraffic on the river by means of the strategic placement of forts. However,the voluntary relocation of local communities was often gained through theliberal distribution of European goods. This gift-giving procedure, a policythat had already been widely employed on other parts of the Spanishborderlands (Sweet, 1995) and in other contact situations worldwide, estab-lished what has been called the material dimension of contact in theOrinoco (Hill, 1998). The introduction of goods as gifts, and their eventualconversion to commodities, produced profound transformations in thearea.

MATERIAL AND M ETHODS

The study area is delimited by the lower courses of the Suapure and theParguaza Rivers, two eastern tributaries of the Middle Orinoco (Figure 1,Map). We carried out our survey during three field seasons (19982002),based in the Mapoyo community of Palomo.1 Fieldwork included system-atic surface collections, mapping, and limited excavations of a total of 19sites, with the recovery of over 20,000 artifacts. Archaeological evidencefrom pre-Hispanic, colonial and republican sites (including ancient indigen-ous settlements, mission towns and pueblos, cemeteries, and forts)permitted the construction of the archaeological sequence: (a) Late Pre-

Hispanic (14001530), (b) Early Colonial2

(16801767), (c) Late Colonial(17671830), (d) Republican (18301930) (Table 1). No sites in the studyregion can be securely dated to the period between 1530 and 1680. Thissequence documents the foundation and subsequent development of thecolonial mission frontier along the Villacoa River, where the Jesuitsfounded Nuestra Seora de Los ngeles de Pararuma in 1732, until theirexpulsion in 1767. We also document the transformations that took placein the area following the War of Independence as evidenced in the land-scape (such as the construction of roads and paths, mission centers, alter-

ations caused by the introduction of cattle and other European plants andanimals), in indigenous settlement patterns, in the use and construction ofspace (domestic and ceremonial), in productive activities, and in indigen-ous material assemblages.


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Table 1 summarizes the data as to period, type of site, type of artifact,provenance, and associated materials. As can be seen, artifacts varied boththrough time and according to the type of site. At Simonero and LosMangos, the two pre-contact sites included in the sample, artifacts allowidentification with the Arauquinoid and Valloid series, which date to thelate pre-contact period (Tarble and Zucchi, 1984; Zucchi et al., 1984). These

sites provide a baseline for the comparison of pre- and post-contact situ-ations. Four sites can be securely assigned to the period of Jesuit occu-pation: El Fortn de San Francisco Javier de Marimarota, and Pueblo de losEspaoles del Villacoa (known in the historical documents as NuestraSeora de Los ngeles de Pararuma) were settled by Jesuit missionariesin the early 1700s. San Isidro and Piedra Rajada, located a short distanceinland from the mission sites, appear to be indigenous habitation sitescontemporaneous with the mission sites in at least part of their occupationalsequence. Artifacts located in these sites, counterparts of which are found

at the mission centers, offer material evidence of the interactive processduring colonial times. The location and layout of the colonial period sitesclearly illustrate the European strategy to control the main river course, toimpose Western ideas of urban space and industry, and to incorporate the

Figure 1 Study area map showing archaeological sites


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local indigenous population under Spanish authority. Only two sites dateto the late colonial period, representing the final stage of Spanish rule, anddemonstrating the ephemeral presence of the earlier colonial settlements.

Finally, in contrast to the colonial period, Republican period sites aremade up of shallow scatters of artifacts, widely dispersed throughout theinter-fluvial region; most of these sites have been identified by informantsas abandoned Mapoyo settlements. These sites are particularly useful in thecomprehension of the more recent processes and transformations that tookplace in the area after the collapse of the colonial intervention, a period forwhich written sources are scarce.

BOTTLES AND SPIRITS3

The effectiveness of commensality and other forms of gift-giving as over-tures to social involvement must not have been lost on the Jesuit mission-aries attempting to establish a foothold in the Middle Orinoco in the lateseventeenth century. They were quick to observe that drinking was anessential element of nearly every ritual occasion: initiation rites, funerals,exchange parties, dances, and warfare. When the missionaries attempted toban drinking from the missions, they complained that the Indians carried

out their festivities in the woods, out of sight of the Fathers. Gilij, a Jesuitmissionary who spent 17 years in the Orinoco, commented on the prefer-ence the Indians expressed for distilled liquor, when available (Gilij, 1987,Vol. 72: 133). Alcohol seems to have been such an essential part of indigen-ous social practice that the missionaries had to assume an attitude of toler-ance with respect to their drinking. Although the European descriptions ofthese practices are obviously biased, they do allow us to infer the import-ance of drink in the aboriginal world. Feasts, dances and drinking made upan essential part of the ritual practice in tropical American cultures dating

back to at least 1000 BC, as attested to by the presence of large ceramicpots used to ferment chicha (Lathrap, 1970, 1973).In many of the lowland societies, feasts and drinking parties served as a

means to establish political alliances, gain prestige, demonstrate wealth andgenerosity, and propitiate cooperative endeavors such as house buildingand group hunts. Extra gardens were often planted to the sole end ofproducing surplus destined for a big extra-communal party. This was themeans for display of wealth and political power limited to those men ableto garner the surplus produce of the women in his household (Overing,

1989; Overing and Kaplan, 1988; Rivire, 1983/1984). On another level,drinking and eating were practices intimately related to dealings with theworld of gods and spirits, health and disease, fertility and depredation. Inmany cases there were proscriptions according to sex and age. In the case


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Period Phase Date Sites Constructions Ceramics

Pre-Hispanic Camoruco 12001530 Los Mangos Low habitation Arauquinoid

Simonero mounds ValloidWattle and daub

Early exploration 15301680 Carichanaand contact

Early Colonial Pararuma 16801767 Pueblo de los Espaoles Stone, wattle and Salt glaze(Nuestra Seora de los daub and adobe Olive jarngeles de Pararuma) buildings Delft

Pueblito del Villacoa Wattle and daub Bartmann Fortn del Parguaza (San (Bellemine)

Francisco Javier de FaienceMarimarota) Arauquinoid (San

Piedra Rajada Isidro Style)

San Isidro ValloidCaraipFine sand temper

Late Colonial Pueblo Viejo 17681829 Pueblo Viejo Stone, wattle and Pearl ware (English)La Pica daub and adobe Shell Edge (1780

buildings 1820)Early hand-painted Annular ware:

Mocha (17951860)

Boerenbont (GaudyDutch)

Transfer print (17561820)

CaraipFine sand temperGround sherdSponge spicule

Table 1 Archaeological phases and associated artifacts in the study area


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Period Phase Date Sites Constructions Ceramics

Republican Caripo 18301920 Corocito de Caripito No evidence Pearl ware and Palomo white ware

La Achaguera Shell edge

Caripito Transfer print

Piedra Rajada Stencil (18151835)

(re-occupation) Boerenbont (Gaudy

Parrilla del Piln Dutch)

Annular ware

Sponge stamped

Ginger beer bottles

(Nineteenth

Century)Caraip

Find sand temper

Table 1 continued


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of drink, the feminine role was associated with the preparation offermented beverages, while the masculine was related to the capacity forconsumption in large quantities; only adult males consumed the strongerbeers, while women and children could partake in lighter versions(Viveiros de Castro, 1992). As the gods were invited to partake in the festiv-ities, drinking was a form of communion. In some cases, excessive indul-gence was intended to produce vomiting, which could be interpreted as aform of purging or as an offering to the gods (Monod, 1975; Viveiros deCastro, 1992).

It is clear, then, that among lowland societies there was a socialconstruction of thirst (Dietler, 1990, 1995) that pervaded the symbolicorder of the aboriginal world and, at the same time, actively contributed tothe construction and reproduction of the social order. As Dietler (1995)points out, in colonial situations the incorporation of exotic beveragesbuilds upon the drinking practices already established in the receivingculture. Therefore, in the Orinocan case, it appears that the Native customof offering beer on the occasion of inter-communal reunions paved the wayfor the acceptance of the exotic distilled beverages presented by the Euro-peans as a part of their strategies to establish initial contact and gainentrance into the area.

This is visibly demonstrated in the archaeological sequence in theincreasing incorporation of foreign manufactures such as glazed ceramic

and glass bottles into the archaeological record (Figure 2). Significant quan-tities of these bottles were recovered from the mission site in Pararuma and,significantly, in the neighboring indigenous settlements dating to the earlycolonial period (Table 1); this has been interpreted as evidence for theincorporation of alcoholic beverages into the exchange system that devel-oped during this period. The consumption of alcohol can be inferred fromthe presence of salt-glazed ceramic jugs, Spanish olive jars (also used forwine and other liquids), and a variety of glass bottles including square-based bottles used for gin, and squat broad-bottomed bottles used for wine,

liquor and mineral water (Klein, 1974; Figure 2). During the latter half ofthe seventeenth century, these glass bottles came to replace the salt-glazedceramic jars that had prevailed up to this time to transport liquids.

During the late colonial and Republican periods, when wine, bottledbeer, and spirits became available through the market on a more regularbasis, the archaeological record shows an increase in the variety andquantity of bottles. Wine bottles continue to appear, while beer bottles andlarge demi-johns are introduced in the Republican period. The latter areidentified by local residents as bottles used to store rum or aguardiente

brought by traders in the early decades of the twentieth century. Beerdrinking is inferred through the presence of ceramic ginger beer bottles,which are later replaced by glass beer bottles brought in from manydifferent parts of Venezuela and abroad. Although these bottles may have


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been used for purposes other than to store alcoholic beverages, and manysurely must have been reused as receptacles for other substances, thearchaeological evidence clearly shows that liquor bottles were presentthroughout the sequence, and increased in variety and quantity over time.

The documentary evidence for the presence of alcoholic beveragesduring the colonial period must be read with care, since much of the liquor

consumed in the colony was obtained through contraband or throughclandestine distilling (Rodrguez, 1983), and this practice is not usuallyconfessed in official histories and administrative documents. Althoughthere are numerous references to drinking and drinking parties, themissionaries are not very explicit as to where the Indians obtained thebeverages. The shape and type of bottles found in the sites suggest thatmany may have been of British or Dutch origin, and may have beenobtained from the nearby colonies in Guayana or the Antilles throughcontraband.4

Although the missionaries themselves did not mention liquor as one ofthe items used to seduce the Indians to join the missions, other sourcesdo make explicit reference to this tactic by the Europeans as a means toestablish contact. On the one hand, the Dutch included liquor with the box

Ceramic

chichapots

Salt-glaze

andBartmann

Jars

Olivejars

Dumpy

bottoms

Squarebottom

ginbottle

Cylindrical

bottomw

ith

highkick

Oval

demijohn

Ceramicginger

beerbottle

Beerbottles/

handfinished

lip

Beerbottles

fullyautomated

Republican

Period

Late

Colonial

Period

Early

Colonial

Period

Contact

Period

A.D.

Years

1930

1830

1767

1680

1535

CHRONOLOGICAL DISTRIBUTION OF CERAMIC JARS AND GLASS

BOTTLES USED FOR BEVERAGES

Figure 2 Chronological distribution of ceramic jars and glass bottles used

for beverages


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of goods that they distributed to the Carib traders, in return for captiveslaves.5 The Dutch of Essequibo often gave rum to the Indians in paymentfor services rendered, and in exchange for dyes, foodstuffs, boats, wood,and other wild products that they brought to trade (Whitehead, 1988: 160).6

The English colonies in the Demarara were also cultivating sugar caneand distilling rum, which they traded in contraband to the Spanish coloniesin exchange for cocoa and silver (Lucena Giraldo, 1991: 158). They alsotraded rum to the Indians in order to gain their allegiance against theSpanish. To counter these activities, the Spanish missionaries on the Lowerand Middle Orinoco established their own sugar cane plantations, andbegan to distill aguardiente which they distributed in an attempt to dissuadethe alliances between the Indians and the Dutch, English and Frenchcompetitors in Guayana (Lucena Giraldo, 1991).

Further descriptions of the mission involvement in the production anddistribution of distilled beverages are found in Alvarados report on theJesuit missions in the Middle Orinoco (Alvarado, in Rey Fajardo, 1966:2445). Alvarado was a member of the Expedicin de Lmites sent by theSpanish Crown in the mid-eighteenth century, to determine the boundarybetween Portuguese and Spanish holdings in the Orinoco/Amazon basin.As a secular representative who was charged with the task of evaluatingthe missions and their administration, he had no scruples about describingthe strategies used by the missionaries to entice the Indians into joining the

mission (Alvarado, in Rey Fajardo, 1966, and in Lucena Giraldo, 1991). Hevividly describes the sugar plantation where the cane was processed intomolasses and aguardiente, and observes that both European settlers andNative neophytes were insatiable drinkers (Alvarado, in Rey Fajardo, 1966:244). Alvarado also describes how the Jesuits used aguardiente and otherrescates or items of enticement beads, fishhooks, machetes, etc. (ReyFajardo, 1966) in their incursions to bring back new Indian recruits forthe missions.

It can be argued that although alcoholic beverages partook of different

spheres of the colonial exchange system (conceived of as inclusive of thetwo previously independent spheres), the value accrued to them did notnecessarily accompany them as they changed hands. Indeed, depending oncontext, the beverages, either in the form of wine, beer or harder liquor,assumed the role of value peculiar to each sphere, as icons of social repro-duction in the indigenous value systems and as mediums of exchange valuein the monetary-based European economy. Through time, however, a newregional economy arose that responded to the exigencies of both spheres,even while transforming each, as new dependencies and needs dictated

modifications of the overall system. This is particularly evident in the trans-formations that took place in the productive system. The colonial period ischaracterized by a strong emphasis on manioc products, evidence for whichcan be found in the indigenous material assemblages mainly characterized


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by manioc griddles, cooking pots, drinking bowls and large pots probablyused to ferment chicha (see Figure 2). The evidence from the early colonialperiod seems to indicate the maintenance of traditional forms of consump-tion with the gradual incorporation of European products, including alco-holic beverages. A significant change in indigenous consumption occurredat the end of the colonial period when large chicha pots are no longer foundassociated with the habitation sites. The presence of large griddles and thesubstitution of stone graters by perforated sheet metal graters during thelate nineteenth and twentieth centuries seems to indicate a continuedemphasis or even increase in manioc production, whereas the rise infrequency of imported beverage bottles points to greater dependency ondistilled liquor.

This evidence seems to indicate, then, the early incorporation of distilledliquor into Native systems of consumption and hospitality. The locallybrewed beverages, in the form of chicha, cachiri oryarake, were producedby domestic units, and used in feasts and other ritual contexts to displaythe productive power, generosity, and hospitality of the host. The prestigethat accrued to the sponsor of the drinking party was restricted to thosemen who were able to mobilize through the labor of their wives thelarge amounts of beer required for these festivities. It is likely that thestronger, distilled spirits were incorporated into these displays as prestigeitems that enhanced the status of the host. However, once imported bever-

ages replaced the consumption of locally produced drinks, the hosts wereobliged to obtain them through exchange with outside agents (Alvarado,in Rey Fajardo, 1966: 246). As a result, the adoption of distilled spirits andother imported items led to increasing dependency on the cash-cropping ofmanioc and professional gathering of items such as dyes, honey, quinine,latex, and sarrapia (tonka beans), in order to obtain money or goods toexchange for the newly created needs. The outlets for the sale of the desireditems were often monopolized by European agents, who could charge theIndians arbitrary prices and entrap the consumers into relations of debt

peonage (Arvelo-Jimnez and Biord, 1994: 68).In summary, we have discussed the role of alcoholic beverages in thetactics used by Spanish colonizers to entice the indigenous population intothe mission regime. These enticements to enter the mission system resultedin profound transformations in the traditional productive modes botheconomic and symbolic. The missionaries offered, in the form of commodi-ties, items that hitherto had been produced through a domestic mode ofproduction that relied on a division of labor in which women played a majorrole, especially in regard to agricultural activities. This was modified under

the missionary rule; the division of labor was forcibly reversed men wereexpected to labor in the fields, while women were constrained to domestictasks. Polygyny was forbidden, and the access to surplus, with its concomi-tant symbolic capital achieved through the drinking parties, was therefore


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restricted. Feasting, dancing, and other pagan activities were alsosuppressed. Missionaries assigned political offices with little or no respectfor traditional status roles. In other words, the entire indigenous politicaleconomy (Rivire, 1983/1984) was dismantled and replaced with an incip-ient capitalism, directed by the Europeans and Criollos.

Drink became a commodity a product that had to be bought, ratherthan produced. Surplus agricultural production was exchanged for thecoveted trade goods, including liquor, rather than used to produce chichato drink. Alcohol continued to play a central role in social life, though notas a means to gain prestige through display of productive ability, but as acompensation for labor, an ephemeral prize for the cultivation of surplusfor the colonizer. In this context, despite the fact that the adoption of exoticbeverages was based upon established patterns, it ultimately led to depen-dency and exploitation, which were clearly unintended consequences. Onthe other hand, as we will show in the second example, the incorporationof other items, such as beads, served to reinforce indigenous identity andvalues, and enhance the Native exchange system that still flourishes in theGuyana and Amazon hinterlands.

NATIVE SOCIAL BODY AND IDENTITY IN A LONG-TERM

PERSPECTIVE

Our second case concerns the trajectory of beads and other forms of bodilyadornment, which even to this day constitute essential items for theconstruction of self and the acquisition of value in many indigenoussocieties of the Tropical Lowlands (Howard, 2000; Overing, 1989; Turner,1977, 1984; Viveiros de Castro, 1998). The archaeological sequence offersevidence for the importance of these items in the strategy used to attract theindigenous population to the missions and their role in the colonization of

consciousness, in which new modes of dress and modesty were imposed asa part of the civilizing process. Both indigenous and colonial sites includea considerable number and variety of glass trade beads and other items ofbody adornment and dress (Figures 3, 4). Some of these artifacts may havebelonged to the colonizers, particularly in the mission sites where foreignclothing and rosaries were common. Those found in Native settlements,however, offer material evidence of their incorporation into the exchangesystem that developed during colonial times (c. 17301830). The circulationof these items through time and space serves to illustrate the transformations

that were taking place in Native colonial value systems in the realms of bodyand beauty, prestige and wealth, attire and cosmetics.At the same time, the sequence illustrates the contradictory trajectories

and differential consequences of the adoption of certain goods by


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indigenous populations. Certain colonial strategies designed to create andperpetuate relations of dependency through enticement seem to have

collided with the indigenous strategies constructed to enhance personalstatus and political power. In fact, the incorporation of European tradegoods into customs surrounding body, prevalent in the Orinocan societiesprior to contact, initially produced an enhancement of traditional practices

Figure 4 Buckle and thimble from the late Republican Period (18801930)

Figure 3 Glass trade beads from the Early Colonial Period (16801767)


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and value systems. Beads and cloth came be incorporated into indigenoussystems of value and prestige, building upon and expanding prior expres-sions of dress and adornment.

Table 1 summarizes the data as to the type of beads and other itemsrelated to body and dress encountered at the different sites in the studyarea, according to time period. The artifacts include body stamps, stone andglass beads, pendants, crucifixes and talismans, mirrors, bottles for perfumeand hair lotion, buckles, thimbles, buttons, and other body oriented items.The information from the two pre-contact sites included in our study allowsus to infer several forms of body adornment including body paint, jewelry,and woven items, as indicated by the presence of roller stamps, beads, beadpolishers, and spindle whorls. The beads found at the two pre-contact siteswere made of stone and include spherical, tubular, and barrel-shapedbeads. Grooved stone or ceramic bead polishers, similar to those describedin the chronicles for the production of shell beads, indicate the use of theseadornments as well. Ceramic roller stamps, with intricately excised designs,were used for body painting. Other items of feather, bone, shell, seeds andwoven materials must have existed, but were not preserved in the archaeo-logical record, due to the highly acidic soils.

During the early colonial period, foreign beads were rapidly incorpor-ated into Native social life. Some types tended to replace previous forms,and the number and type of beads per site increase dramatically. Beads are

commonly found in both colonial settlements (missions and fortresses) andadjacent Native communities. In the five sites assigned to the period ofJesuit occupation, glass beads are among the most frequent foreign arti-facts, and proved to be excellent chronological markers. These includeseveral kinds of small seed beads, Cornaline dAleppo, large facetedbeads, wound beads with trailed appliqu, and gooseberries that date to theeighteenth century (Deagan, 1999; Table 1). It is interesting to find thatceramic roller stamps and bead polishers are still found during this period,pointing to a continuity in traditional practice in spite of the missionaries

attempts to impose notions of Christian modesty and proper attire.At Pueblo Viejo, located on the Parguaza River, and dating to the lateeighteenth/early nineteenth century (Late Colonial Period), imported glassbeads are still frequent, although they differ in style from those found atthe earlier sites. During this period, the most common beads were drawnfaceted Russian beads, white heart, and seed beads. We also foundperforated ceramic disks made from imported pearl wares, similar to thoseillustrated for the early twentieth century in Koch-Grnberg (1981) as usedin armband adornments.7 Three silver coins were recovered from this site,

with holes drilled for suspension. Talismans in the form of hands or fistsmade of lignite also appear in this period; this is an item that was originallyimported by the Spanish (Deagan, personal communication, 1999), butadopted by indigenous (Petrullo, 1939) and criollo populations alike, and


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are still used to ward off the evil eye. In many parts of Guayana and theAmazon, glass beads continued to play an important role in indigenousdress well into the twentieth century and even today (Howard, 2000).Several groups from the Orinoco continue to trade in beads and wear them,incorporated into necklaces, aprons, and arm and leg bands (Mansutti-Rodrguez, 1986). In certain areas, however, a rupture with these practicesoccurred following the War of Independence in the early nineteenthcentury.

Our archaeological sequence indicates what seems to have been animportant turning point in Native costume, as shown in the dramaticdecrease in the number of beads per site in the Republican period(1830present). Likewise, roller stamps and shell bead polishers disappearfrom the sequence at this time. We found just a few beads dating to the latenineteenthearly twentieth century, while the presence throughout theRepublican Period of buckles, thimbles, scissors, buttons, and other foreigndress items signals the increasing utilization of Western-style clothingamong local Native communities (Figure 4). The initial effect of culturalenhancement, in which Native systems of value and status were reinforcedand promoted through involvement in the colonial situation, seems to havedisintegrated in the communities most closely affected by the colonialproject and by the War of Independence (for discussions of other cases, seeGrumet, 1984; Sahlins, 1988; Schrire, 1985; Trigger, 1984; Wilmsen, 1989).

To understand the initial appeal of beads, and the significance of theireventual abandonment, we must turn to the examination of the indigenousvalue system and its material manifestation in the form of valuables.European items were incorporated into an already existing indigenoussystem of exchange that placed high value on hard, sharp and shiny objects,many of which were used for bodily adornment. Recent studies show thatitems such as green stone pendants and beads, stone axes, and copper,bronze and gold items circulated in the lowlands, probably imported fromthe Andes (Boomert, 1986; Myers, 1977; Whitehead, 1990). The Amazon-

ian Argonauts, as dubbed by Catherine Howard (2000), covered lengthyroutes, as can be seen in the distribution of green stone artifacts through-out the Amazon, into Guayana and even the Caribbean (Boomert, 1986;Boomert and Kroonenberg, 1977; Cody, 1993). Although the archaeo-logical record gives insight only into the non-perishable items, ethnographicand historical sources give an idea of the variety of other items that mayhave been circulating during this period, including hammocks, maniocgraters, blowguns, shell beads, parrots and parakeets, turtle oil, resins, chicaand onoto (both used for body paint), and curare (Arvelo-Jimnez and

Biord, 1994; Coppens, 1972; Howard, 2000; Mansutti-Rodrguez, 1986;Morales Mndez, 1990; Morey and Morey, 1975; Thomas, 1972). Theimportance of these findings is that they provide clear precedents for thetrade in exotic items prior to colonization.


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Following contact, Jesuit chroniclers also comment upon the widespreaduse of quiripa, a type of shell bead, manufactured in the Llanos from afreshwater shell, and used as a medium of exchange throughout theGuayanas and as far as Trinidad and the Amazon basin (Gassn, 2000). Wehave tentatively associated the grooved stone and ceramic polishers withthe manufacture of these beads. This continued to be common practice inthe seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when European coinage wasscarce, and, for the indigenous groups, undesirable, except as an occasionalitem of adornment. In general, trade was carried out as the exchange ofobjects, without the use of money, and there were definite preferences asto the objects to be given in payment, with a particular passion for beads(Gilij, 1987, Vol. 72: 267).

The question remains, why were beads so esteemed by the local popu-lation? Turner (1984, n.d.), and other ethnologists (Arvelo-Jimnez, 1974;Carneiro da Cunha and Viveiros de Castro, n.d.; Gow, 1991; Overing, 1989;Overing and Kaplan, 1988; Rivire, 1983/84; Viveiros de Castro, 1992) haveargued convincingly that production in the segmentary societies of thelowland tropics must be seen in terms of re-production of society, ratherthan in terms of ecological adaptation or subsistence practices, as stressedin various forms of cultural ecological and Marxist analyses. FollowingTurner (1984), in these societies, social value is measured in terms of thestatus derived from the size of the household that the mature head of an

extended family (at least two generations) is able to attract and conserve.Two axes of social value coincide in the persona of the head of this extendedfamily: a vertical axis of dominance (especially in the form of an exploita-tive relation with sons or daughters-in-law, and in the prerogatives of beinga senior member of the community), and a horizontal axis of beauty,defined variably as complete mastery of style or knowledge, and manifestedin the ownership of special names, ritual objects and roles, knowledge, andtrophies. This value system is, at the same time, manifested in the formal-ized patterns of social space and time, or cosmograms, which are replicated

at all levels of the social formation, ranging from the embodiment in theindividual person through the local kin-group, community, to the cosmos(Turner, 1984). Rather than considering this to be a static structure, it ismore enlightening to conceive of this model as a dynamic hierarchy, whichis actively produced and reproduced through the productive and ritualagency of the social units.

In lowland societies (once again, generalizing broadly), horizontalrelations are designed to expand the personal sphere, and incorporate theexternal other as the person matures. Beauty, or completeness, implies a

dominion of the social self that begins with the individual, and graduallyextends, generally through diadic relationships, to the community andbeyond, often following potentially affinal lines. Many mechanisms existthrough which to extend the social self, and vary according to different


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groups and through time: exchange of marriage partners, invitations tointertribal feasting and ceremonies, formalized trading partners, victimoriented warfare, vengeance, sorcery and cannibalism. The common factorin all these mechanisms is that they emphasize the circulation, not theaccumulation of symbolic capital (Bourdieu, 1977: 17181), be it in the formof captives, prestige items, ritual knowledge, or conspicuous consumptionof food and beverage. The value is in the performance (Turner, 1984).Symbolic forms of value, such as certain hair styles, oratorical manner,ritual paraphernalia, body decoration and, of particular interest to ourargument, beaded neckpieces, necklaces and aprons, serve simultaneouslyas media of circulation and representations of value (Turner, 1984).

We will present two ethnographic examples to illustrate the role of beadsas symbolic forms of value: the Waiwai, a Carib-speaking group of theGuayana highlands (Howard, 2000), and the Piaroa, a member of the Slivalinguistic family, located on the eastern drainage of the Orinoco, just southof our study area (Overing, 1989; Overing and Kaplan, 1988).

During the 1990s, according to Howard (2000), the Waiwai consideredbeads to be their most valuable wealth items, a value which Howard attrib-utes to their having gone through the greatest number of transformationsin the exchange network. Beads are valued for their tangible qualities ofhardness, shininess, and evaluated according to size (small is best), color,number, and heaviness of the bundle. The hardness of beads denotes dura-

bility, control, and, ultimately, immortality; the shininess evokes light,cleanliness, social order, and power of attraction. They can be considered,then, as qualisigns, defined as objects that serve as sensory anchors forintangible criteria referring ultimately to social values (Munn, 1986:74104).

Beads have gender and age specific roles in social reproduction. Theyserve as visual signs of the progressive socialization of members of thecommunity, and embody the cosmogram on both the horizontal and verticalaxes. Babies, children, adolescents and adult women use beads on different

parts of their bodies, progressing from the outer limbs to the genital areathrough their lifetime. Similarly, only fully adult men, who have acquiredthe social status required to take part in public oratory, wear the beadedhair sheaths and multiple neck chokers that signify the hardness andsupreme control of the fully mature person. Beads, then, are tangible signsof the status of the individual on both axes of social value; on the verticalaxis they denote the persons position in the life cycle, and on the horizontalaxis they represent the progressive expansion and completeness of thesocial self.

Among the Piaroa, a Sliva speaking group of the Orinoco, studied byOvering in the latter decades of the twentieth century, beads also played arole as qualisigns. In this case, they serve as outward icons of beauty,defined in terms of mastery of productive skills and moral capabilities


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(Overing, 1989). Along with body paint, and other adornments, they illus-trate, on the surface of the body, the productive skills contained within theperson. Facial and body markings of men and women are specific pictorialrepresentations of forces or creative capabilities held within their bodies.The stamped body markings of women represent their knowledge of repro-duction, while the markings of men speak of their productive knowledgeof hunting, fishing, chanting, curing and protecting (Overing, 1989: 167).

All productive powers are cultivated from infancy and require progres-sive maturity to master them. They are considered to be potent, dangerous,and potentially poisoning, and lead to greed, violence and promiscuitywhen not properly mastered. They are stored within his/her internal beadsof life, which also came from the crystal boxes of the gods. The quantityof necklace beads worn by a person indicated the quantity of internal beadsof life they had thus far acquired. In this case, abundance alone did not leadto beauty; beauty was always tied to the notion of moderation in the use ofcreative capabilities. Piaroa ethical standards associated the social and themorally good with the clean, the beautiful, and the restrained, while asocialbehavior and wickedness were tied to dirt, ugliness, madness and excess.Since productive powers were potentially poisonous, the beads of life thatcontained the poisonous knowledge and capabilities were also dangerous.Aesthetic knowledge can be understood then, for the Piaroa, as productiveknowledge made beautiful, or civilized (Overing, 1989: 170), and affluence

was not measured in terms of the accumulation of goods, but in the abilityto create and maintain a community large enough to allow cooperation,flexibility in work schedules, and high morale.

In both of the ethnographic examples cited above, beads are chargedwith extraordinary value. As qualisigns, they embody the utmost socialvalues in each society: mastery of knowledge, a controlled social self, anda mature, hardened soul. In both cases, beads are imported with the ideaof incorporating locally the foreign potency they embody. Their value isin their display, a display that is both determined by and determining of the

social status of the bearer.At the same time, the accumulation of beads was not seen as a sign ofwealth in the Western sense of mercantile capitalism. Their exchange, forthe Waiwai, was a means to accrue status that was found not in the ultimateownership, but in the display of the knowledge and maturity necessary topartake in the exchange system. Likewise, for the Piaroa, although to beladen with beads was a sign of wealth, it was a wealth of knowledge andbeauty, not of monetary value.

Hamell (1983) and Miller and Hamell (1986) discuss similar symbolic

meaning of beads and the reasons for their rapid acceptance by the North-eastern Woodland Indians. As they state,


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It is not too surprising, then, that when delft, glass, and other Europeanitems that were deliberately imitative of natural lustrous minerals wereintroduced into North America, they were received into native semanticcategories as crystal and shell and were used as such. To the Indians,

however, the similarity of appearance was greatly reinforced by a putativesimilarity in origin. Like the traditional ceremonial items, European waresinitially also appeared other-worldly. Thus the objects and their bearers wereentirely consistent with familiar aspects of the aboriginal world. (Miller andHamell, 1986: 31920)

We must bear in mind, however, that the two examples cited refer to smallgroups who opted through time to maintain distance from the centers ofcolonization, and whose value systems and exchange transactions thereforereflect centuries of evasion, and rejection of direct contact with Westernsociety. Just how much of the ethnographic present can be inferred in thearchaeological and ethnohistorical past is difficult to evaluate. However,both the precedents in the archaeological record, mentioned earlier, for awidespread lowland feasting/trading/raiding complex, and certain refer-ences in the historical documents, lead us to underline similarities withinthe realms of value and social production. These similarities make senseout of the voracious appetite for beads, and other hard and shiny objectsthat Europeans offered to the Native population.

From the above discussion, we argue that the initial adoption of beads,

blades, bottles and other hard and shiny, durable objects can be understoodas a continuation and embellishment of the indigenous value system. It evenmay have been reinforced, from the indigenous point of view, by the obser-vation of the role that these objects played in the advancing colonial society.Beads, in the form of rosaries, were visual signs of the power of the mission-aries, who, inexplicably, were immune to the diseases that they brought intheir wake. Since shamanic power, curative and endangering forces wereconceived as being contained in such objects as clear quartz crystals, itwould not be difficult to place similar powers on the foreign beads.

Likewise, knives and other metal weapons may have been seen to beimbued with powers beyond their technical efficiency (which, in the case offirearms, has been shown to be dubious in the hands of unknowledgeableowners). We could conclude, then, that the archaeological record (in theearlier post-contact sites) testifies to a period of interaction in whichindigenous values dictated the adoption of foreign goods, which were incor-porated alongside more traditional means of expressing value: body paint,as manifested in body stamps, and the manufacture of locally made beads,as attested to in the presence of bead polishers.

Among many groups this period of interaction was long lasting; but thissituation was relatively shorter in the sites located near the mission posts.Although imported dress items continued to be frequent in the archaeo-logical record, the trade beads, body stamps and bead polishers disappeared


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in the late colonial period (17681830). Decoration of local ceramicsdeclines radically, apparently replaced by a preference for decoratedimported ceramics. It would seem that a new concept of body and beautywas being formed under the influence of the missionaries and other colonialforces. Even though the missionaries were uncertain as to their success inconverting the indigenous population to Catholicism, they effectively madeinroads in the realm of attitude toward body, prestige, and the socialrelations of work, politics and wealth (Comaroff and Comaroff, 1991, 1992,1997). Through time, money became an increasingly common medium ofexchange and the use of quiripa gradually disappeared.

By the nineteenth century, Western-style clothing had come to beperceived as a need by the indigenous populations who dealt on a regularbasis with the criollos. Once again, access to these commodities dependedon new modes of production, which included professional gathering offorest products, as well as the production of surplus manioc to be sold inthe form of casabe. It is tempting to suggest that these transformations insocial reproduction and productive modes, in combination with othermodes of colonization of consciousness (Comaroff and Comaroff, 1991,1992, 1997), contributed to the loss of indigenous identity on the part ofmost of the groups that had been proselytized in the Jesuit missions. Follow-ing the War of Independence (18101830), nearly all of the mission groups,including the Tamanaco, Sliva, Achagua, Otomaco, Guamo, and Pareca,

disappear as distinctive ethnic identities (Morey, 1979; Perera, 1992).Other indigenous groups opted for retreat to the more remote areas of

the Venezuelan Amazon. In this case, they were able to acquire the desiredtrade goods through trading partners or through raiding parties, andpirating. By maintaining distance from the criollo centers of population, theindigenous communities were in a better position to accommodate thetransformations wrought by contact, and to incorporate exotic items intolocal value systems that demonstrate resilience through time.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

In the preceding pages, we have focused on the analysis of exchangerelations and the ways that Western objects and practices were incorpor-ated into Native cultures in the Orinoco region within the span of 400 yearsfollowing contact (15351935). We presented two examples to illustratedifferent consequences of the incorporation of foreign manufactures and

practices into Native structures of consumption and systems of values, andthe transformations in these systems over time. We attempted to show howthe incorporation of certain goods into customs surrounding body anddrink, prevalent in the Orinocan societies prior to contact, initially


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produced an enhancement of traditional practices rather than mere disrup-tion, and how, through time, new dependencies and needs dictated modifi-cations in the overall system.

These processes are not conceived as independent, or autonomous, butrather as intimately intertwined. In both cases, material goods were themedium through which antagonistic goals were perpetuated by thoseinvolved: domination and conversion, on the part of the Europeans, andattainment of prestige, power, and beauty, on the part of the Natives. Inthe first example, we discussed transformations in traditional drinking prac-tices, which provide material testimony for increasing involvement ofindigenous societies in the emerging market economy and the resultingrelations of dependency following contact. This process reveals one of themost effective means for enticement employed in the Orinoco: thepromotion of sugar cane as a cultivar and its consumption in the form ofsugar, but particularly as aguardiente. Aguardiente proved particularlyamenable to the analysis of the nature and consequences of contact in theOrinoco, where changing consumption patterns illustrate the kind of trans-formations the Native groups experienced following the initial encounter,and the unintended consequences of involvement in the colonial system.

In the second example, the colonizers used glass trade beads as a strategyto seduce the aboriginal inhabitants of the Orinoco. Once again, indigen-ous values and desires played an important role in shaping the transactions

and the choice of objects involved, and we have argued that the preferencefor certain goods was determined by the conception of power and prestigeof the consuming culture.

The case under examination not only exemplifies the problem of whathappens to a society when exposed to alien technologies and goods, butalso provides insights into the role of certain items in the reinforcement ofsocial relations and traditional practices regarding beauty and knowledge,aspects that mobilized the whole political economy among Native groupsof the Orinoco. In this case, the body was the focal point of symbolic value

mediated through display, which can be inferred from the emphasis givento body paint, glass beads and other ornaments. Beads were appropriatedinto local systems of meaning, and circulated far beyond the reach ofcolonial impositions. The vast quantities of beads woven into wrist, ankleand knee bands, aprons, and necklaces by no means indicate accultura-tion, as might be inferred under certain models of contact as measured bythe count rather than the context.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the Comunidad Mapoyo de Palomo for their supportand guidance in the field, and our students in the Universidad Central de Venezuelafor aid in the laboratory. We received many helpful comments from Alan Kolata,


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Michael Dietler, Neil Whitehead, Robert Preucel, Kathleen Deagan, SantiagoGiraldo and Diana Bocarejo. We would like to express out gratitude to the refereesof this article for their detailed and stimulating suggestions.

Notes

1 The Mapoyo are an indigenous community of some 200 members, who havebeen reported as occupants of the study region since the time of contact.Several members of the community still speak Mapoyo, a language of the Caribfamily. The Mapoyo community has played an active role in our archaeologicalinvestigations, as both informants and as participants in the different phases ofarchaeological fieldwork.

2 While we are aware that this is a relatively late date compared with colonialoccupations for other regions, the systematic colonization of the MiddleOrinoco commenced with the establishment of the first Jesuit missions in 1680.For this reason, we refer to the period as Early Colonial.

3 This section is based on the paper Caa: The Role ofAguardiente in theColonization of the Middle Orinoco, by Franz Scaramelli and Kay Tarble,presented at the Meetings for the Society of American Ethnohistory, London,Ontario, Canada, 1822 October, 2000. A revised version appeared as a chapterin Histories and Historicities in Amazonia, Neil Whitehead (ed.), NE:University of Nebraska Press, 2003.

4 That alcoholic beverages were a frequent import item in the latter area can beinferred from the following list of the inventory of the Boxel plantation on theUpper Surinam River in 1820 (Klein, 1974):

7 cases of Muscatel2 cases of Noyeau

35 cases (23 bottles each) of sherry5 jars and 5 bottles of black current whisky

50 cases (12 bottles each) of red wine33 bottles of Muscatel

1 case of gin9 bottles of anisette, 5 cases of champagne

24 bottles of Rhine wine2 cases containing 83 bottles of Rhine wine7 cases of arrack1 case of cordial

14 jars of Cologne water16 bottles of Ratafia

9 jars of castor oil5 Items in the box included 10 axes, 10 machetes, 10 knives, 10 bunches of strings

of beads, a piece of silver to hang on theguayuco, a mirror, and a pair ofscissors to cut the hair; and, outside of the box, a shotgun, gunpowder andbullets, a bottle of firewater, and other small items such as pins, fishhooks,

needles, etc. (Gumilla, 1944, Vol. II: 90).6 See Whitehead (1988: Chs VII and VIII) for a detailed discussion of

Dutch/Spanish relations and the political manipulation of the Caribinvolvement in the slave trade.


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7 Koch-Grnberg (1981) refers to the manufacture of these items among theTaulipang and Makusch in the following: En los brazos llevan por lo generalslo un cordel de cuentas blancas o un cordel de algodn blanco y en los das defiesta un disco redondo de concha de caracol . . . Lamentablemente se ven

tambin discos de loza inglesa (Wedgewood) tallados y pintados, Del Roraimaal Orinoco 3: 45.

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