«The Diaguitas are alive in El Olivar»

Abstract

We propose some reflections on ethics and politics about the archaeological research of the Diaguita El Olivar settlement and cemetery (La Serena, Chile), exposing the misunderstandings of the paradigms of archaeology, state and diaguita communities. Despite the state recognition achieved in 2006 on the basis of archaeological and ethno-historical knowledge, Chilean Diaguitas are today faced against the discourse of some who do not give recognition to their people, and refer their existence to the past. To this invisibility is added a double discourse of government institutions that accept and then deny indigenous rights to their convenience. We consider that these situations are due to a lack of knowledge and appreciation of indigenous rights, as well as the ambiguity of the social role of archaeology in current indigenous matters in Chile. As long as pre-columbian indigenous cemeteries remain in a category of heritage objects exclusively related to the past, the scientistic archaeological discourse will continue to endorse the silencing and symbolic extermination of our native peoples. From a decolonial focus, we propose a more ethically responsible perspective for archaeological work in relation to indigenous heritages, integrating the feelthinkings, cosmovivences and wills of native peoples.