Geographic Features Linked to the Mapuche Trentren and Caicai Myth in Chile and Argentina

A geomythological database catalogs and georeferences geographical features linked to the Mapuche cosmogony of Trentrén and Caicai. The inventory includes diverse units such as plateaus, points, and islands, identified through a critical review of bibliographic and cartographic sources. It was created by Cristian Bastías-Curivil and is available under a CC-BY-4.0 license.

Use Cases

• Spatial analysis of myth-associated landforms based on the provided KMZ and Shapefile geospatial data.
• Assessing the certainty of mythological site identification based on the 'Degree of Certainty' classification column.
• Integrating ancestral knowledge into environmental geology studies based on the described application domains.
• Cross-referencing cartographic sources like the Military Geographic Institute of Chile (IGM) with academic literature for site validation.

Strengths

• Includes a 'Degree of Certainty' column with three explicit classification categories (certain, proposed, uncertain).
• Integrates multiple data formats: an Excel file for tabular data, plus KMZ and Shapefiles for spatial location.
• Sources are documented as including cartography from the Military Geographic Institute of Chile (IGM), academic articles, books, and personal communications.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is small (87.3 KB), indicating a limited scope of features.

Provenance

Source

Cristian Bastías-Curivil, via figshare.

Collection Method

Identified through a critical review of bibliographic and cartographic sources.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-21 03:57:38; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Chile and Argentina.