The boleadora, a set of rounded stones attached to long straps of braided leather, is one of the most iconic elements of material culture in the Southern Cone of South America. Originally developed as a hunting tool, this artefact embodies a powerful expression of regional identity and technological memory, linking prehistoric hunters with rural workers of the twentieth century. Crafted, adapted, and transmitted by Patagonian people over millennia, the boleadora stands as a unique testimony to enduring technological knowledge imbued with strong symbolic meaning. Today, its practical use has largely disappeared, and the pressures of globalization threaten the survival of both this craft and the knowledge associated with it.
In one corner of Argentine Patagonia, however, this craft remains alive. The Mamuel Choique settlement is home to artisan-practitioners, or “boleadores”, who still use this technology. In collaboration with the Patagonian Mamuel Choique community, this project seeks to:
- Document the process of boleadora crafting
- Record its diversity of uses
- Assess gender-based perceptions and material dimensions of the craft.
- Investigate how this craft and associated knowledge have adapted to the current world.
Through written and audiovisual documentation (photography, video, sound recordings, and 3D models), alongside diverse ethnographic methods (participant observation and interviews), we will collect, record, and document the technological, practical, and symbolic knowledge associated with the boleadora while ensuring its long-term accessibility for both the community and academia. Through exhibitions and workshops, we will effectively co-produce knowledge and co-develop alternative curatorial standards that will enable archaeological, historical, and contemporary boleadoras to be documented in comparable ways. In doing so, the project will preserve and re-signify the living heritage maintained by traditional Patagonian artisan-practitioners while empowering the community.
PI: Alejandro Serna
Collaborators: Luciano Prates; Jimena Lobo Guerrero Arenas
Research Location: Mamuel Choique, Ñorquincó Department, Río Negro, Patagonia, Argentina
Host Institution: Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA, University of Cambridge)
Top Banner Image: Two boleadoras (throwing stones) resting in the ground. Photo credit: L. Prates, 2018.