Carahue La Calchona: project lead

http://theearthcenter.com/ffarchivesmachupe.html

"The Mapuche spiritual leader is called a Machi and are mainly women. A Machi is one that is able to communicate with the Gods and is the mediator between humans and ancestors, spirits and Gods. She is the manifestation of the earthly battle between good and evil, and she or he possessed the knowledge to use both powers to help the sick and dying."

"There came a special dream for me when I was 44: First the drum appeared; then the sacred wasa rattle, and the trutrukas sounding their blasts across the mountain. Then an entire nguillatún ceremony unfolded in my dreams. Our first mother, Ilche Dzomó, stood before me dressed in blue – like a kalfumalén. "

Rosa Callicul

http://www.mith2.umd.edu/nth/db/narrative.php?n_id=17

"The Mapuche Machi uses floripondio (brugmansia sanguinea) to induce dreams and visions in order to cure people. Dreams and visions are interpreted through symbolism."

http://www.greenanarchy.org/index.php?action=viewwritingdetail&writingId=555

"According to U.S. Archeologist Tom Dillehay, and Chilean Geologist Mario Pino, the oldest human settlement on the continent was in Monte Verde II in the South of Chile. In 1976 they found medicinal plants, stones and artifacts in a location 35 kilometers - 21 miles approximately - southwest of Puerto Montt, which are dated from 33,500 years ago. Although this discovery challenges the current theories about the continental population, it was confirmed in 1998 by the U.S. Society for the Progress of Science based in Philadelphia.

http://www.greenanarchy.org/index.php?action=viewwritingdetail&writingId=555

"Monte Verde's great importance is that, granted the site is valid, it breaks the Clovis barrier, that is it is earlier than the widespread Clovis culture which has been accepted for nearly 50 years to be the earliest in the Americas. "

http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/clovis/rose1.html