ABSTRACT
This chapter provides comparative data on a band group that lives far to the north in the rain forests of the northwestern Amazon Basin. It discusses the Ona and the Yahgan of Tierra del Fuego and the Nukak of eastern Colombia. The Ona and the Yahgan present highly interesting cases from an ecological standpoint. Although they lived in adjacent areas, their environments and subsistence adaptations were sharply distinct. The chapter focuses on the Nukak, which provides comparative data on a band group that lives far to the north in the rain forests of the northwestern Amazon Basin. It outlines briefly the: climates, fauna, and flora of South America during the Paleoindian Period. The chapter shows what can be reconstructed of the adaptations of the earliest inhabitants of the continent by reference to seven widely spaced Paleoindian sites around the continent.
