Title: The Ona people life and death in Tierra del Fuego /
Authors: Montes de Gonzalez, Ana.; Chapman, Anne, 1922-2010.; Argentine Committee for Anthropological Films.; Documentary Educational Resources (Firm)
Publisher: Documentary Educational Resources,
Year: 2007
Subjects: Ona Indians.; Ethnology Argentina; Tierra del Fuego (Argentina) Social life and customs.
Abstract: It is not known exactly when the Ona or Selk'nam people arrived in Tierra del Fuego, the island that forms the southern-most part of South America, but by the end of the 19th century, when Chileans, Argentinians and immigrant Europeans settled there, their stone age hunting culture had existed for some 9000 years. During the time the island was colonised, many of the Onas were killed and many more died of imported diseases. By 1977, when this film was completed, there were just one true Ona and five mestizos left. Using photographs taken during earlier anthropological expeditions, as well as interviews with the last survivors, this film first tells the story of the Onas' vanished way of life and then recounts how the people and their culture were wiped out by the coming of western civilisation.