Llanos of Venezuela
Category: Expedition & Excavation Footage
Length: 07:34
| Film ID | F16-0512 |
| Film Description | Unedited travelogue Ranching Weaving Arrow fishing Shotlist00:00-00:31=Criollos on horses moving bull as a pack animal, 1 burro. The bull and burro are probably carrying Petrullos’ field gear covered by a cowhide.00:32-00:37=closeup of bull tied to horses tail showing part of load=trunks and cooking pots=almost certainly Petrullo’s gear (showing opposite side from 1st sequence), cowhide is probably the covering of the bull’s load. Note bare feet of the lead cowboy (ganadero) and sandaled (Venezuelan Spanish for the sandals=alpargatas) feet of the criollo following the pack bull. This criollo following the bull is the man in BAE Plate 11.1, the party with the pack bull is shown in Plate 11.2. 00:38- 00:44=closeup of bull tied to horse’s tail grazing 00:45-00:50=well-dressed criollo (note boots) on horse, likely a ranch owner. This may be Don Manuel Hurtado, the ranch owner of El Buron (Petrullo 1939:182) 00.51-01.04=distance shot of 2 Pumé canoes at margin of Capanaparo River (probably a lagoon or braid in the river at the margin of the main channel-which would be located beyond the trees in the background)-view of canoes moving toward beach. These canoes are probably the two shown in the next sequence. 01.04-01.16=closer view of same canoes from last shot canoes at beach offloading caiman meat, the adult at right wrapping a shirt or patched cloth around their torso appears to be a semi-nude woman. The hair of this person appears to be in a bun, as is the case for he woman paddling in the scene from 02.33-02.53 suggesting that was her role on this fishing trip. One canoe between canoe at right and one at left was already moored at beach margin 01.16-01.26=men carrying caiman meat on carrying poles from canoes. Man in front carries, 2 men in middle have caiman meat on carrying poles, last man carrying bow and arrows and (fish?) 01.26-01.42=men in front of dry season brush shade holding caiman meat on carrying poles boy running over to man without pole in the middle and gives him a piece of paper. There appears to be a river turtle (probably Podocnemis) on the right end of the carrying pole held by the man on the right. The worn out condition and multiple patching of the clothing probably represents the normal condition of most clothing owned by these river Pumé. 01:42-02:00=camp scene of manufacturing. The man at right is carving the trough slot in an arrow fore-shaft for a metal point with a steel knife. The child talking with the woman appears to be a boy (?) and he is sitting in middle near sticks used probably for a shade with cloth on it. This would represent a temporary outside work area where the poles and cloth cover could situationally be shifted in relationship to shade and light needs and does not represent a permanent architectural feature. As in a later scene from 06:57-07:31, the cloth for shade has probably been taken down to permit filming. The woman at the right is rolling palm leaf fiber (moriche or macanilla) string. The man behind is sorting fiber, possibly the fine (curagua?) material used in arrow manufacture. Nudity in this scene is probably staged for Petrullo’s film. This manufacturing event is probably partially set up with all participants facing the camera and all active at he same time. Although it is hard to see in most of this scene, at the end of this sequence, as the man lowers the arrow he is working on, it is clear that he is carving the foreshaft with it still seated in the arrow mainshaft. Normally, foreshafts are only carved as separate components before being assembled into the mainshaft, even when repairing arrows. The carving of a foreshaft slot with the hardwood foreshaft still embedded in the arrowcane mainshaft is an unusual practice. It suggests that this is either the repair of an arrow recently damaged (although even this in an unusual way to effect such a repair), or an impromptu task done in an atypical fashion because of the at least partially staged nature of this shot. The container slightly behind the man on the right is a large storage and basket made from moriche palm leaves that also is the size used for women’s root gathering. The woman wears a necklace of trade beads with at least two pendant items-one may be a [palm] seed and it is unclear what the other item is. 02.00-02.11=Vincenzo Petrullo sitting on right gets up and squats. He is watching Landaeta, his main informant from the community of La Urbana/Lagunote, weave a hammock made of moriche or astrocaryum fiber string adjacent to brush shade on beach. The brush shade, with a piece of cloth tucked into the roof and swaying in the breeze is all of the small tree branches with leaves visible from behind the figure of Landaeta to beyond the left margin of the frame. The Capanaparo River (or at least a meander of the river) is visible in the background. 02.11-02.33=close up view of Landaeta weaving hammock (there is an edit –jump cut-n this sequence at 02.22). This image is reversed from that of Plate 19 (note he position of the 2nd stick above the lower bar of the hammock loom frame and positions of cookpots behind the hammock loom. Landaeta’s shirt shows much patching, but is an item in relatively good condition and may represent one of his better outfits worn for the filming. 02.33-02.53=Beach scene at margin of the Capanaparo River probably featuring staged nudity of both the men and women requested by Petrullo. The clean white loincloths of the men are strikingly new looking in comparison to what loincloths look like among the few old men who still wear them, and strongly suggest quick preparation for Petrullo’s filming and photography. The youngest children’s nudity may be habitual, Note that in the scenes 01.04-01.16 the boy at the extreme right is wearing at least a shirt and the boy helping to unload the boat on the left is wearing shorts and a hat. The boy in the shot from 01.16-01.26 is the same as that in the previous scene associated with the canoe on the lefts and is wearing a light colored shirt and probably a small loincloth. From 01.26-01.42, the boy handing off the piece of paper is wearing a shirt that is extremely worn and torn, although he has no pants and may does not appear to be wearing a loincloth. The canoe in the central foreground is being bailed by two individuals using gourd (Lagenaria or Crescentia) bowls prior to launch. The person standing in the stern closest to the camera is a man in an apparently new loincloth. The person bailing in front of him is an adult woman standing in the water. Her longer hair (in braids falling in front of her shoulders, more visible in the next shot), the dark human hair loincloth belt at her waist, and configuration of the posterior portion of the palm fiber loincloth indicate her sex. Both the man and woman bailing are periodically watching the canoes out in the water. The first canoe passing to the right of the camera has a young man or boy paddling in the prow of the first canoe on the right. There is a light colored item in his lap that may be an article of clothing. The paddler in the stern of this canoe appears to be a woman with an infant in front of her, her hair is piled in a bun on top of here head. The person paddling the second canoe passing in front of the camera is a boy or young man. He may be wearing a light colored loincloth or light colored shorts. The young man or older boy standing in the prow (also with an apparently new loincloth) with bow and arrow has an arrow nocked but the bow is not drawn. Consistent with the apparently staged nature of this scene, he appears to be demonstrating the position of fishing from the prow. The third canoe is being paddled by a boy with no man in the canoe. At the opening of the scene, one young person on the extreme left of the frame is getting into a fourth canoe and sitting sown. The longer hair of both of these individuals suggest they are girls or young women. These two girls (?) appear to remain sitting in the canoe but not taking it out into the channel. At the furthest left of the channel is another canoe with two paddlers coming toward the center of the frame. They become more visible in the following shot. On the beach to the left of the central canoe being bailed, a woman sits on the beach and is washing at least one piece of clothes by pounding the cloth at the channel margin with her hand. Her nudity would be appropriate in this circumstance. However, rather than represent a self-initiated action, it is also likely her response to being part of this staged scene and having her dress off. The human hair belt of her loincloth is clearly visible at her waist. The boy standing to her left in the shallow river margin is simply watching the canoes. A group of one young woman holding a child and another person are sitting on the beach to the left of the woman washing her clothes and appear to represent a childcare unit. Slightly in front of this woman and child and closer to the water is another female with a small ponytail (seen gesturing and possibly talking to some of the people in on of the canoes) who is not visible enough to determine if she is a young or older woman. The nature of her gesture (as used by the Pumé) suggests encouraging at least one of the boats to go further out. To the left of this group is another adult woman sitting on the beach. She is engaged in a task at the shoreline and at the end of this cut (after scratching a probable insect bite) she is splashing water toward the area in front of her, suggesting that she also is washing clothes. Her human hair loincloth belt is visible at her waist. 02.53-03.07=jump cut from the same previous scene. Throughout this scene, the back and forth movement of the canoes strongly suggests a staged demonstration of canoe use and bow and arrow fishing techniques. This area adjacent to camp would be an unlikely area for any concerted fishing effort, especially by several canoes. The man and woman bailing the canoe in the central foreground continue to do so. At the beginning of this cut, the woman is standing and her braids falling in front of her shoulders are visible. Both the man and woman bailing are periodically watching the canoes in the channel. As the canoe coming from the left nears the center of the frame, the man in the prow draws and shoots an arrow. There is no splash of a struck fish and the young man makes no effort to retrieve the arrow. This is consistent with a staged demonstration of bow and arrow fishing rather than actual fishing behavior. In the central background are two canoes. The one most in the foreground is the long canoe paddled by the single boy and behind it is a smaller canoe paddled by two people that was in the distant left of the previous shot. The woman to the left of the bailed canoe who was washing clothes in the previous scene is now just watching the canoes. The boy standing in the water continues to watch the canoes. Although minimally visible, the young woman (?) holding the girl also appears to be simply watching. The woman in front and to the left of her is now splashing water on herself, bathing. 03.07-03.25=jump cut from the same previous scene showing a man with a dark loincloth in the prow of the canoe with a bow and nocked arrow demonstrating the technique of bow an arrow fishing from the canoe. Several aspects indicate that this is part of the staged event for camera. This appears to be the canoe visible first passing to the right of the scene from 02.33-02.53 with the man sitting and paddling and the woman paddling in the stern with an infant sitting in front of her. The man draws twice but does not shoot. Just before he draws the first time he looks directly at the camera (receiving a cue?). Just after his second draw he appear to smile and looks over his left should possibly in response to some remark from the further canoe behind him. He subsequently looks at the camera, smiles, draws and shoots. He is laughing following the shot and the woman paddling also appears to be smiling. He remains smiling while looking at the arrow and then at the camera. The thigh slap after shooting with his left hand is a common gesture of failure of an arrow to strike a target. Two horizontal crosspieces thwarts/seats stays for sitting can be seen inside his dugout (one in front of the man’s feet and the other in front of the infant. The woman paddling is sitting on a crosspiece stay that is not visible). A light colored item is visible behind the man that may be piece of cloth (shirt or pants?), this was in the man’s lap in the 02.33-02.53 sequence as he passed by the camera. The woman paddling in the stern appears to be wearing a cloth loincloth. The staged nature of these shots and cues from the camera position seems quite apparent. Visible on his bow is the bundle of extra bowstring length coiled on the upper limb. The arrow he is using is either a point and spur or barbed point and spur form (see Heath and Chiara 1977: 152, F16, F18). The resolution of the film image does not allow identification of whether the distal end of the arrow-point exhibits a barb. Several examples if these arrows in the Petrullo and Greaves collections. The canoe remaining stationary directly behind the focal boat appears to be the canoe that featured the man standing in the prow in the previous two scenes. The man in the prow of that canoe holds his bow horizontally. Just before the focal man in the canoe in the foreground draws his bow for the first time, a loop of cord is visible in the right hand of this man sitting in the prow of the canoe with his bow that may be the loosened bowstring and bunched extra length, or another tool? The young man in the stern is not paddling. In the background is a long canoe paddled by two young men who remain static. This appears to be the larger canoe that was paddled by a single boy in the last two scenes, now manned by two individuals. The distance between the two paddlers appears greater than seen in the shorter canoe that had two Pumé in it when visible in the previous scene. 03.24-03.30=jump cut from the same previous scene of the same man in the dark loincloth. This appears to be a retake to get an image of the man shooting from the canoe without any apparent cues from the camera. He scans the water, draws his bow and shoots into the shallow water. His arrow remains sticking into the sand either at the base of the channel or the stream bank. The fletching of the arrow is visible. This short sequence clearly shows the draw and primary release (Heath and Chiara 1977: 75, Fig 10) used by the Pumé better than in the previous shot. 03.30 -03.48=scene of two women and one young girl digging roots (tubers) at a forest margin. The woman at the left holds an infant in a woven baby sling (of moriche palm leaf fiber), wears a burden basket of moriche palm leaf suspended by a tumpline (of moriche palm leaf fiber) across her forehead. The tool she uses is a commercially produced steel post-hole or agricultural digging implement (chikora in Venezuelan Spanish) that is attached to a short wooden haft made by the Pumé. The condition of this implement (short blade with rounded distal margin) is significantly worn indicating years of use. She appears to be wearing a cloth loincloth rather than the traditional moriche palm leaf fiber loincloth suspended by a human hair belt. The young girl to the right is wearing a miniature version of the woman’s carrying basket from a tumpline and is using a digging stick made from a piece of scrap steel hafted into a slot in a wooden handle. The small triangular shape is likely the remnant from the shovel cracking and breaking close to its hafting socket, a common form of damage to these tools. The implement can be seen better in the following shot. The girl is wearing a necklace that includes commercial trade beads and some pendant items that cannot be clearly seen. The woman behind the young girl is standing and digging roots. She also is using a very use-worn chikora as a steel tip on her digging stick. There is a piece of cloth (a dress?) briefly visible in front of her. She appears to be wearing clothing that has been rolled down to expose her upper torso. A globular item that she may be wearing could be a gourd canteen for water. A few very brief glimpses (between 3:41and 3:48) indicate she is wearing a necklace with pendant items that are probably effigy carvings (see the note for the older woman in the next scene who is probably this woman). There is a moriche palm leaf carrying basket with tumpline resting on the ground in the background behind the young girl. This basket appears to contain some items, and although they not clearly visible, they are not inconsistent with roots. Root collection in Feb-April when this movie was made would have focused on Myrossma cannifolia (Spanish=guapo; Pumé-chokui) or Disoscorea sp. (Pumé=bara). The use of steel tipped digging sticks, a squatting or kneeling excavation position, single basket of this size also is used primarily associated with collection of Myrossma or possibly Disocorea. The activities shown do not include recovery of any tubers. This activity is normally performed at shorter distance from camps, especially during the dry season when this was filmed, and can be consistent with childcare. The young girl is accompanying this group in a learning capacity and is unlikely to return any significant amount of roots to camp. Adult women’s mean returns from these roots are ~4 kg per woman per trip. The nudity of the two women is probably staged for this filming. The close proximity of this group may indicate that this activity is staged and does not represent normal tuber digging which would usually involve greater spacing between women. The fact that the woman and juvenile girl in the foreground are continuing to wear their carrying baskets while digging and have not set them on the ground also suggests that they are not expecting to or actually finding any roots during this digging. 03.48-04.15=the same group of women shown in the previous segment either walking from or to the digging episode just shown. A small stream or long lagoon is visible in the background. This suggests that this shot represents an area near to the camp that Petrullo was visiting. Digging for the kinds of small tubers that would be targeted at this time of year occurs in second growth forests that would be at least a short distance from the margin of any drainage. This could also indicate that the entire previous episode of “root digging” was potentially staged by Petrullo. One additional juvenile boy not seen in the previous shot is shown trailing the party. The woman at the front of the group who is carrying a child is the focal woman digging in the previous scene. This woman’s loincloth is slightly visible in a few portions of this shot and confirms that she is probably wearing a piece of cloth rather than the traditional moriche palm leaf fiber woman’s loincloth. She is followed by the juvenile girl carrying the same digging stick she uses in the previous scene and the same carrying basket suspended by a tumpline. The adult woman behind the juvenile girl is probably the woman in the background of the previous shot. There is a similarity in the size of her breasts, although there is no evidence of the dress or carrying canteen seen in that episode. She is carrying a digging stick with the worn steel digging tip that is similar to the one see being used by the woman in the background of the previous scene. If this is the same woman, Petrullo may have asked her to disrobe for this scene. The canteen visible in the previous shot is probably being carried in the moriche palm leaf basket she is carrying on a tumpline. Her dress may also be in that basket, or it is being carried by the man seen at the end of this scene (see below). This older woman is wearing the traditional woman’s moriche palm leaf fiber loincloth. This adult woman is wearing a necklace with what appear to be the traditional carved coal (azabache, “jet” in local Spanish) either geometric or animal figures (Petrullo collection #). The young child at the back of this group appears to be a boy, based on the short hairstyle and form of loincloth, and he is wearing a loincloth that appears to be made from scrap cloth. Both the front and back of this loincloth are pendant, the style used by Pumé men. At the end of the shot a man in a cloth loincloth and commercial hat is briefly seen. He appears to be carrying an item of clothing, either his shirt or pants. The small size of this piece of cloth suggests it would more likely be his shirt. Alternatively, this cloth could likely be the dress seen in the previous shot that was worn by the older woman behind the focal woman. 04.15-04.31= a scene of craft production of one man on the left and two women. The orientation of all three individuals in a line and facing the camera strongly suggests that this is a staged shot. The presence of the large ceramic water jar next to the woman on the right is also probably indicative of the staged nature of this scene. This water jar would normally be kept in the shade produced by the brush shade behind these individuals. The man on the left is rolling cordage on his left thigh. He is feeding the raw material from his left, from a pile of raw material in front of him. More detailed views of this activity follow. This is Landaeta, Pertullo’s main informant from (?). The woman to the right of this man is Landaeta’s wife and she is completing the weaving of a carrying basket made of a single moriche palm leaf. Her activity is shown in more detail in the following scene. The woman on the left is doing fine weaving of a palm leaf fiber. She is making either a mat, a storage bag, or a manioc wringer. The configuration is most consistent with a finely woven storage bag. She is weaving this from palm leaf fiber, probably from moriche palm, although it could be from macanilla palm (Astrocaryum jauri) The right background is the main brush shelter that is the primary architecture for this temporary beach camp of the dry season. The river Pumé, even during the 1930s, would have a main, relatively permanent camp used throughout the year. For part of the dry season, they would move to the margins of the rivers to be near drinking water and be near their fishing locations. One carrying basket is seen hanging from the shelter above the ceramic vessel by the woman on the right. The large item on the ground within the shelter, behind the ceramic jar is probably s sitting mat, made either from whole moriche palm leaf or from finer moriche palm leaf fiber. A man’s hat is hanging from the shelter behind Landaeta;’s wife in the center. To the left, behind Landaeta, part of a hammock is visible suspended between supports outside of the brush shelter. Its position outside the shelter (not in the shade) indicates that it is intended for nighttime sleeping. The stream is visible in the distant background showing the proximity of the camp to either the stream or river margin. Although the work arrangement is staged, the clothing of these individuals is their normal attire and the activities represented are normal craft events. All of the following images of this same event are depicting these craft activities accurately. 04:31-04:41=a jump cut from the previous scene focused on Landaeta’s wife completing the weaving of a large carrying basket from a single moriche palm leaf. She is demonstrating the last stages in weaving the basket where the most distal portions of the leaf are woven into a vertical seam that seals the body of the basket. The opposite end of the basket, on the ground in front of the woman in the previous scene, is the peduncle of the leaf, and is the initiation point for weaving this type of carrying and storage basket. Following competition of the basket body, a suspension cord that has an expanded mid portion will be tied onto the end this woman is now completing and the opposite peduncle end. This tumpline and suspension cord is usually made from moriche (or sometimes Astrocaryum palm) palm leaf fiber. That is the same material seen being rolled into cordage by Landaeta in this set of scenes and is the material being woven by the younger woman to the left in the previous scene. That material also is what women’s traditional loincloths are made from. This basket form is the same as those shown in the previous scenes of root excavation. This woman’s clothing may be a commercial dress, although the design is also consistent with the form of dresses made by Pumé women. It appears to be made from a single piece of cloth rather tan from multiple scrap pieces. River Pumé have always had greater access to commercial clothing than savanna Pumé women who still make their dresses primarily from scraps because of their more restricted access to any cloth or commercial clothing. She is wearing a necklace of beads and some suspended amulets that are Pumé carvings from low quality coal (azabache). At least two of these are elongated cross shapes that are a common form of these carvings. Several examples of this form of pendant are represented in the Petrullo collection (#s). At least two other forms of carvings are visible on her necklace, although their design cannot be distinguished in these images. A series of (X) bone pins can be seen piercing this woman’s lower lip. Petrullo states that she is of Otomaco ethnicity, and that this is a form of personal adornment that is Otomaco and not Pumé. Additional details of this woman’s clothing, necklace, and lip ornamentation are presented in subsequent scenes. Some details of Landaeta’s string rolling can be seen. Additional detail of this activity is provide in a subsequent scene. Between Landaeta and his wife, a woven artifact can be seen behind them that appears to be a rolled up sitting mat. The coarseness of the weave indicates that it is made from whole moriche palm leaf blades rather than palm leaf fiber. The darker margin of this mat as seen underneath Landaeta’s armpit is fringe on the end of this mat. There appears to be a cloth bag behind Landaeta’s wife. These are handmade and it probably has a drawstring closure. Behind this cloth bag there appears to be another woven item made from whole morche palm leaves. The detail of the image does not permit precise identification, but it may be another carrying basket similar to that Landaeta’s wife is weaving. 04:41- 04:56=jump cut from the previous scene showing a detail of Landaeta rolling cordage. The thickness of this cord appears to represent the largest diameter cordage made by the Pumé. This is the kind that would be used as suspension strings for hammocks, as cordage holding the detachable harpoon heads of caiman lances and arrows, or for bowstrings. A pile of raw processed fiber is visible in from of Landaeta. This is the dried membrane from the underside of the new moriche leaves collected from leaf spikes. It is processed by “slipping” the membrane off slightly dried fresh leaves and reserving the remaining leaf for other kinds of weaving. This is the raw material used for fine weaving such as that being done by the young woman at the right of the view in 04.15-04.31. Landaeta is feeding 1-3 pieces if palm leaf fiber into the untwisted end of this string and then rolling the cordage up his left thigh toward his body with his left hand as he applies tension and pulls the string with his right hand. He then inspects and untangles the incomplete part of the twist and then re-initiates rolling of the cordage. He then picks out another piece of palm leaf fiber from the loose pile in front of him to incorporate in the cordage. The small amount of this material he has in front of him suggests it is an amount given to him by the younger woman weaving the fine palm leaf fiber item who would have a significant amount of this raw material present for whatever amount of weaving she will do on this item. The mouth of the moriche palm leaf basket being woven by his wife is visible at the left edge of the frame. The same rolled up sitting mat noted in the previous scene is visible in the background between Landaeta and his wife. Unless focused on a single short piece of cordage, string rolling is done in bouts across many weeks or months. For example, accumulation of sufficient string to weave a hammock may take a half-year or more of periodic bouts of manufacture. This is a task that is performed by both men and women and is almost exclusively done by adults. The extremely worn condition of Landaeta’s pants can be clearly seen in this scene. 04:56-05:11=jump cut close up of Landaeta’s wife’s face. The large number of beads making up her necklace can be seen. By Pumé standards, she is wearings a very large number of beads. These beads are probably glass, but that cannot be determined unambiguously from the image. Beads (turichí in Pumé) are considered highly valuable by the Pumé and can function as a kind of trade “currency”. It does not appear that she is wearing earrings, which the Pumé make by stringing beads on either palm leaf fiber or a very fine string made from leaf fibers of an Annonaceae, (called curagua in local Spanish: Ananas lucidus). Her hair is tied back, common for Pumé women working during the day. They often keep their hair in a bun or braided, but ponytails are quit rare. The following scene shows she is wearing her hair in a bun. The most notable aspect of this image is the view of the bone pins piercing her lower lip. Petrullo describes this in his ethnography (1934:). The details of her dress collar and sleeves show regular pleating and that this appears to be made from a single color and fabric. This may indicate the dress is commercially manufactured and not homemade. In this view, the woven item that could not be distinguished is clearly another carrying and storage basket is visible over her right shoulder (to the left for the viewer). A small gourd bowl is visible at the left in the background. The wind is quite apparent and this is characteristic of the dry season. The wind is partially responsible for the evapotranspiration responsible for drying of some surface water. This also decreases the prevalence of insects that the Pumé experience in this season compared with their prevalence in the wet season. It is not clear what the flat but slightly curled item moving from the wind in the background at the margin of the shelter is 05:11-05:22= jump cut showing Landaeta’s wife resuming her weaving of the final seam in the carrying and storage basket seen in previous shots. In this scene, a thin piece of cloth is visible at the back of her neck on the viewer’s left behind the margin of the bead necklace that was not clear in the previous facial shot. This is probably part of the way that here necklace is fastened together. The shot shows a more distal portions of her necklace, where some of the pendant appear to be attached with string. The top of the ceramic water jar can be seen at the left most margin of the frame. The opening and some details of the painted design on this vessel can be distinguished. There is darker painting of the neck to the mouth. Circular patterns are occasionally visible as the lighting changes on this vessel are somewhat visible below the shoulder. All of these are iron oxide pigments A gourd bowl is visible over her left shoulder (to the right from the viewer). In the background there appears to be another gourd bowl, although this could be a metal cooking vessel. When she begins speaking to the camera it is clear that she is talking to Petrullo and not commenting to her husband. I can only lip read one word of what she says. The third or fourth word is “mené” which means “you”, but I cannot lip-read her other words to determine if she is making a statement or asking a question. As she moves her head, a dark object in the background is visible that appears to be a bottle. This would not be trash but is an item curated for re-use as a container. Its position outside may indicate use by children who frequently use temporarily empty bottles as toys in a range of play. 05:23-05:38=jump cut close up of Landaeta’s face as he begins speaking to the camera. Many of his comments appear to be directed to his wife on his right (to the left of the frame). His comments begin with the word “pii’yií”, which means “there are” or “there are here”, which, as used in Pumé conversation, seems likely to be an observation relative to Petrullo or the movie camera’s appearance and their aiming it at them. This word is followed by a word I cannot lip-read. The next statement also begins with “pii’yií” followed by another word I cannot interpret before Landaeta turns his head. The last word of his third phrase as he turns back to face the camera is “Pumé”, in this case referring to the people not the language. I cannot identify any of his fourth statements in this shot. The scant mustache and beard he sports is quite common among some Pumé men. Many practice depilation by hand or use scissors if they have any access to them to periodically trim their facial hair. His mustaches are longer than his beard. Suggesting he does periodically trim his beard. Landaeta’s teeth are in relatively good condition, although it is apparent that both his maxillary and mandibular anterior dentition are quite worn. Landaetas’s shirt shows significant wear on the left shoulder, to the viewer’s right. Currently, the river Pumé have fair –good access to clothing, and the kinds of worn-out clothing seen in these images would only be seen among savanna Pumé. 05:38-05:56=jump cut to the young woman at the left of the frame from previous initial vies of the staged craft production group. She is wearing earrings made from commercial beads and wears a necklace with fewer beads than Landaeta’s wife. However, she has a varied set of ways she has strung her beads in different patterns. There are several long and dark pendant items on the third and larges of the three that are “choker” style near her neck. These pendants are likely Pumé carvings of either geometric or small animal forms, although one of the prominent ones of a lighter color on the right side of her neck (the viewers left) may be a tree seed. Her sudden laughter, turning her head, and covering her mouth are typical joking embarrassment responses and indicate a probable statement from additional Pumé to the right who are likely watching this event must be observing and commenting. As she turns here head, a strip of cloth at the back of her neck from her necklace shows a similar attachment to that seen on Landaeta’s wife. 05:56-06: 04= Three shirtless young men. They appear to be in front of the river. They may be featured in Plate X. These may be the same men in the scene between 01.26-01.42 who were carrying caiman meat on the carrying poles. The “bowl cut” bangs of the man on the left and the short hair of the main on the right suggest there is a pair of scissors in this community. Their relatively plump condition is similar to what is seen among current rive river Pumé. It also may represent seasonal weight gain from the relative food abundance in the dry season. Such indication of food abundance is not seen among the modern savanna Pumé populations. This kind of food abundance also is reflected in the weight of Landaeta’s wife noticeable in several of the previous scenes. 06:04-06:32= scene of people at the margin of a stream bathing. This may be the same location as the scene from 02.33-02.53. It does not appear that this is temporally associated with that scene as no canoes are in the stream or lagoon. There is a slight break in the film at 06:06 following some obvious damage that results in slight jump cut but with the camera still focused in the same position. At the beginning of the shot a group includes a man and woman at the right and a group of 4 children are playing in and around a canoe. The view of that canoe shows the interior of this dugout and one of the thwarts is visible at the far end of this canoe. Although not visible, the children’s position in the near end of this canoe suggests the presence of an additional thwart. One boys and one girl are in the canoe and two children in the water next to the canoe both appear to be boys. The man in the white loincloth at the right is not bathing, but simply rubbing his leg. The woman in front of him is in the shallow margin of the stream is bathing. Her traditional loincloth belt can be seen as she bends over and rotates to the right. These are almost certainly a married couple, but the children do not have to be theirs, it is common for young children to accompany kin (especially maternal aunts) to bathing. The boy nearest the woman and to the viewers left brings his hand to his mouth to drink. The boy standing in the canoe is wearing a loincloth. Both the pendant front and rear portions of his loincloth can clearly be seen. The dark loincloth belt and lack of visible cloth pendant material strongly suggests a girl. As the camera pans, it is evident the woman to the left of the canoe is bathing. Her loincloth belt is clearly visible. She appears to have her dress held to her side or tucked on her thigh. The man to her left is not bathing, but seems to have a shirt thrown over his shoulder. It is unclear whether he is wearing a loincloth or shorts. As the camera pans left, another group of people are visible just left of a tree, although the number cannot initially be counted. The subsequent film makes it appear this represents a man and a woman but apparently no children. The man on the right drinks from a gourd then pours water over his head. The woman directly to his left appears to also be holding a gourd bowl. As this bathing scene unfolds just to the left a woman in a loincloth walks to the water carrying something that is probably her dress. There is a canoe moored near to where she goes on the shore and she may be placing her dress on the canoe. She is followed by a man in a white loincloth who is probably her husband. Three children walk to the shore in close association with him. The sex of the children is unclear. The longer hair of the second child in this group may indicate she is a girl. Just as this man and the children are seen coming down to the water, the woman to the left of the canoe at he extreme right of the initial shot tosses her dress onto the shore and the man to her left moves back to sit further from the water. It is still unclear if he is wearing a loincloth or shorts. The paleness of his thighs he is either wearing short pants or exhibits a tan from habitually wearing pants that come down close to his knees. As noted in the scene from 02.33-02.53, the very clean white loincloths on the men (especially the man at the extreme right and to a lesser extent the man on the far left following the woman gong to the canoe) may indicate that Petrullo staged some of the nudity in this shot. 06:32-06:50= scene of 3 children leaving the shore and one woman bathing. The children are following an older individual who is only partly visible for a brief period and it is unclear if this is an older child or an adult. Two of the children are boys wearing cloth loincloths. The youngest is a girl wearing the moriche palm leaf fiber loincloth and has long hair. The details of the rear tuck of the female loincloth is apparent on this girl. As the last boy to leave the frame steps away from the canoe several design and interior details are apparent. The stern is squared and the bow extends into the water. A double thwart (one above the other) is visible at the bow end but none is seen at the stern. A paddle rests in the canoe with the pommel resting on the starboard (right) gunwale. A cloth resting on the port stern gunwale is probably the bathing woman’s dress. The bathing woman’s hair is in a brad and she is pouring water over her head with a taparro gourd (Crescentia). No commercial soap is being used, and there is no native soap product identified in any recent ethnobotanical surveys of the Pumé. This shot clearly shows the dark loincloth belt that is made of women’s long hair. The loincloth itself is moriche palm leaf fiber that has been dyed red. The lighter color of the loincloth can be seen in contrast to the belt. The loincloth example collected by Petrullo (#) and those by Leeds in 1958 (#s) have one end that shield the pudendum sewn to an un-dyed moriche palm fiber spreader. The length of the fibers are drawn between the legs and the and the loose ends of the tail are brought under the belt and over, then wound into a bun that Petrullo describes as a “tail”. As the woman stands, the manner in which the loincloth is folded over the belt can be readily seen. The well-nourished condition of this young woman is apparent in this unclothed image. She leaves the water an places her gourd on the ground. This appears to be in preparation fro dressing as she has freed both hands and did not simply grab her dress. There is an edit at 06:50 after she has put down the gourd and appears to be reaching for her dress. 06:50-06:57= This is a continuation of the previous scene as this young woman returns to camp from bathing. It is unclear whether Petrullo might have wanted to cut out some aspect of the woman’s dressing. The change in position and the continuation with her carrying the gourd bowl from the previous scene (where it was on the ground) suggest that more than a few frames are missing, and it is not just her grabbing her dress from the gunwale that has been edited out. I suspect that she tried to put on her dress and Petrullo may well have wanted to continue to film her unclothed. The missing frames are probably not a stop in filming but potentially some interference to prevent her from dressing. As the woman leaves she carries her dress from the canoe gunwale and takes her gourd back to camp. This also provides a good view of how the woman’s moriche palm leaf fiber loincloth is folded over the hair belt. This woman could be pregnant although the view of her belly in the previous shot as she got up from the water and turned around may indicate weight accumulation rather than pregnancy. As she move out o the frame, several other Pumé are leaving the bathing area. At least one adult male is visible in a very clean white (and probably new) loincloth. Two other tall individuals are visible who may be adults. As the bathing woman leaves the frame, from left to right there is a boy, the adult man in the white loincloth, a shorter juvenile male, as possible adult male at the furthest distance from the camera, a young adult (or late adolescent) male in a loincloth, a child of indeterminate sex (although this individual appears to be wearing a cloth loincloth or at least not a female loincloth and is likely a boy), and an adult woman holding a gourd from bathing and her dress 06:57-07:09= fire making and manufacturing scene in camp. The woman on the left appears to be braiding palm leaf fiber (either moriche or macanila) for storage and use in weaving a fine items later. Se is only working with the raw material and is not weaving anything. Note the tan lines on her arms indicating that Petrullo has requested her to undress. The cloth between her legs is probably her dress. The man’s hat and another piece of clothing are apparent in front of her. The man is wearing a clean, white loincloth and is tearing pieces of a cloth that appears similarly clean. He tears the cloth lengthwise then tears them in half in preparation for using them as tinder. In front of the man is a large round gourd (probably Lagenaria sp.) to the right that is probably a water container. At the left is a large Crescentia gourd bowl (like the ones seen in the bathing scenes) that is resting upside down. To the left of that (in front of the hat) is a large commercial metal cauldron resting upside down. This size is the most desirable cooking vessel owned by a Pumé woman, and is would have been a costly item at this time. It shows significant sooting from much use. One moriche palm leaf storage and carrying basket is visible at the far left of the frame (similar to that being woven by Lanfdaeta’s wife). This young couple is sitting in front of poles that are part of a dry season shade, although there is no evidence of any roofing. This is probably a temporary set of poles that are used to support a cloth shade that can be employed situationally in response to the sun’s position and is not a permanent structure. This would represent and outside work area not far from their actual dry season shelter that uses occasional shade through the use of poles and cloth (or palm leaf mat). The presence of the poles with no visible shade being produced suggests that Petrullo may have asked them to take down the shade so that he could film. It is unclear in this image what any of the other items in the foreground may be. The vessel visible over the man’s right shoulder (on the viewer’s left) may be another metal cooking vessel. It is unlikely to be a ceramic cooking vessel, which were quite rare at least among the river Pumé at the time that Petrullo did this fieldwork. A person performing some manufacturing event that cannot be distinguished is seen in the upper left corner of the frame at an adjacent structure or exterior work area. 06:07-07:18=Jump cut from the previous scene showing the man using a fire drill set. He is presumably using some of the cloth tinder that he shredded in the previous scene. The gourds have been cleared away to improve visibility of his fire hearth. His wife is actively watching him make fire by friction. Men are the only people mentioned by living Pumé who use fire drills, although no restrictions are mentioned for this activity. There appear to be two sticks on the ground in front of him (visible primarily in the lower right portion of the frame). Most Pumé fire drills sets include similarly sized sticks where one is the drill and the other the hearth. Neither of the sticks appears to be in the correct position in front of him to represent the hearth stick. These may be examples made for Petrullo, or sticks for other purposes. It is unclear which item in front of the man is the hearth for the drill. Leeds collected two broader pieces of wood used as fire drill hearths (#s). The flat item next to the man’s left thigh and adjacent to the point of the fire drill is not a component of any fire drill use I have ever witnessed. It moves like a piece of paper and may have been provided by Petrulllo. Some smoke is visible at 07:16 and at 7:18 just before he stops. The double-handed technique is the common Pumé method for using a fire drill. The Pumé state that this way to make fire really hurts the hands. It is interesting that in both this footage and it the photos Petrullo published (ref) that young men are shown practicing this fire making method. Unlike many other ethnographic settings, this demonstrates that the skill is actively known and used by the younger members of the community, and is not an outmoded way of making fire known only to “old-timers”. Although only older river Pumé currently know how to use the fire drill, in the savanna communities, the acknowledged experts at fire drill use are still younger men, showing the active retention and use of this fire-making technique. 07:18-07:31=Jump cut from the previous scene showing the woman weaving a hank of palm leaf fiber into a braid for storage. In addition to the tan lines on her arms, she has a tan line on her neck, again demonstrating that Petrullo has requested a disrobed condition for many of his subjects. The activity of the person in the left background can now be seen to be someone rolling moriche palm leaf fiber cordage on their thigh. The sex of that person cannot be determined. It does appear they are using an outside work area to do the string manufacturing. That person appears to be sitting on a moriche palm leaf mat. Behind the woman is a dry season shelter with possessions apparent on the ground such as large water gourds and possibly ceramic vessels. 07:31-07:32=The same manufacturing work group as shown from 01:42-02:00 [Detailed notes are courtesy of Dr. Russell Greaves, 2/29/2012] |
| Video Category | Expedition & Excavation Footage |
| Topics | Venezuela, Grassy plains, Native Americans of South America, Pumé, Pumé people, Venezuela, Llanos, Ranching, Weaving, Arrow fishing |