Canoe burial discovered in Northern Patagonia

CAIRO – 28 August 2022: Archaeologists in the Argentinian region of Patagonia, near the current border between Chile and Argentina, have discovered the oldest canoe burial in southern South America.

The southernmost example of this burial form is in South America, and the burial of a boat is an important cultural event, shedding new light on these people and their beliefs before the advent of the Spaniards.

Detail of the disposition of the body of individual 3 and its association with remains of wood, freshwater mollusks, red pigments and painted pottery. Photo: PLOS ONE (2022). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272833

The burial is easily dated from the distinctive ceramics of the Late Pottery period (dating to about AD 1140) unearthed at the excavation site. The dating is important because it proves that canoe burial rites were practiced in the region long before the arrival of the conquerors.

Mapuche burial, c. 1900 (in Chapanoff 2020: 14). The photograph shows a funeral ritual with a wampo beside the rewe. Photo: PLOS ONE (2022). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272833

“We hope this investigation and its findings will resolve this controversy. It is also important to note that this is the first pre-Hispanic canoe burial in the entire region.The canoe, which was found in parts, was identified to be cut from a Chilean cedar trunk that had been hollowed out by fire,” said Alberto Enrique Pérez, an archaeologist at the Universidad Católica de Temuco in Chile.

The deceased woman buried in the boat was named Individual Number 3 (and her burial dates back to about 1142 AD) to distinguish her from the other two burials that were found at the site before the boat was found.

Individual Number 3 was buried on her back in a wooden structure made of a tree trunk with one of her arms above her trunk with her head and feet raised. This was inferred after the remaining 600 pieces of wood of the boat were placed under a microscope.

Mapuche canoes created from burning a tree trunk and cutting off the burnt parts are known as "Wampo".