Medicina

ENCOUNTER,EXCHANGE AND TECHNOLOGICAL
INNOVATION IN THE TROPICAL LOWLANDS OF THE
ORINOCO,VENEZUELA.
FRANZ SCARAMELLI
Centro de Antropología
Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author wishes to thank the persons and institutions that contributed to this investigation. First of all I am especially
grateful to Apen Ruiz for her invitation to attend theconference «Desencontres culturals: Una mirada des de
la cultura material a les Amèriques» sponsored by the Dept. Humantitats, Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona.
The final version of this paper developed from previous versions with the incorporation of some thought-provoking
comments and suggestions generated at the conference. I am particularly grateful to M. Eugenia Aubet Semmler
for herpositive comments and stimulating analysis on the paper as a discussant. Special thanks must also go to
Enrique Rodríguez-Alegría, Barbara Voss, Pedro Pablo Funari, Kay Tarble and the other participants for their insights
into the complexities of human encounters and interactions.
ABSTRACT
In this paper I sketch the impact of foreign technologies and goods as they contributed to transformationsin the indigenous
societies of the Middle Orinoco, Venezuela. The analysis focuses on trade, the introduction of foreign manufactures
and technologies, the professionalization of gathering and the commoditization of products, services and
labor. Through insights derived from archaeological record and historical accounts, we discuss the way certain
items may have contributed to nativestrategies aimed at increasing authority and status even while their acquisition
perpetrated relations of dependency and domination.
KEYWORDS
Archaeology, colonial encounter, material culture, technological innovation, exchange, commoditization.
INTRODUCTION
In light of recent contributions to the examination of contact, colonialism and interaction in modern social theory,
and the roles of materialculture in colonial processes, this paper examines various lines of archaeological evidence
that illustrate a long-term process of contact, exchange and technological innovation in the tropical lowlands of
the Orinoco. Based on a regional archaeological framework (Scaramelli 1990, 2005; Scaramelli 2006), this paper
centers attention on the analysis of stone implements and metal tools fromdifferent time periods (1500-1900). The
distribution and variability of the evidence offer the opportunity to examine exchange relations and the forms and
trajectory of certain technological transformations, associated in this case with the field of production, as these took
place following the incorporation of metal items into native societies and cultures (1535-1900). The case under exa-
73mination offers insights into the quandary facing societies when exposed to alien technologies and goods (Hill
1998; Whitehead 1988, 1994, 1996; Zucchi, et al. 1984). Examples provide elements for the interpretation of the
ways material goods contribute to the channeling of social relations and to ways they become a force in social and
cultural change (Dietler 1990; 1995; 1998; Sahlins 1992).Archaeological evidence derived from systematic surface
collections and limited excavations at 15 archaeological sites, including colonial period missions, towns and native
settlements, provides excellent indicators of a process involving the final stage of the utilization of stone axes previously
employed for the felling of trees, the cutting of firewood, the making of houses and canoes, as well asin
the use of other stone tools for grinding, cutting, dismembering, peeling, and shelling nuts. For some, this stage signals
the initiation of a revolution of the axe characterized by the ready availability of metal tools (Metraux 1959).
Initially, and depending on availability, the acquisition of metal items did not necessarily bring about any radical
transformations of the native...