Canoes were essential to Yámana life. All adult men owned a canoe and were of necessity married, as it was their wives who paddled and steered the canoe and maintained the fire that was kept going (insulated by sod) at the bottom of the canoe. Through the 19th century, Yámana families used bark canoes to harvest the rich marine life around Tierra del Fuego. The gear on this superbly rendered model of a moon-shaped, bark canoe includes turf for making fire, paddles, a harpoon, a dip-net lashed to the end of a pole, a bailer, a storage basket for carrying shellfish, and a mooring rope. Poignantly, this model dates to the period when the Yámana people were severely threatened by the sudden and dramatic increase of settlers to Tierra del Fuego.

Infinity of Nations: Art and History in the Collections of the National Museum of the American Indian
Ongoing

The National Museum of the American Indian  |  George Gustav Heye Center  |  New York, NY

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