In the prehistoric age, inside the actual territory of Uruguay, the Charrúas occupied an area near the River Plate, currently called Departments (States) of Rocha, Maldonado and also the Capital, Montevideo. Nevertheless, their tribes also occupied territories of the Argentinean Mesopotamia, current provinces of Entre Ríos, and Corrientes, due to their nomadic way of life, that they moved constantly.

CHARACTERISTICS:

• They used to be in groups of hunters, recollectors and "fishermen".
• They used as weapon the arch, arrows, “boleadoras” and "head-breakers".
• They practiced a very primitive trade.
• They used to gather in families and tribes.
• They did not know about individual property.
• They did divide their work by sex and by age.
• They lived in houses of rushes, branches and leather.
• They recognized the authority of a chief, especially in the combat.
• They wore a primary gown called "quillapi".
• They had strong beliefs: -The evil spirit called "gualicho", they believed in life after death, being this reason, that they created collective burials, "Cerritos of Indians”. (kind of small hills).
• Mutilations were practiced as a sign of duel.

HOW URUGUAY WAS POPULATED AND THE APPEARANCE OF THE CHARRUAS

It is presumed that the population of Uruguay penetrated into the territory throughout different ways .Initially from the north, assigning to them an approximate antiquity of 9.000 years AC.
The settlers of these nearby zones were called Fuéguidos, Láguidos and Pámpidos, being the last one mentioned (the Pámpidos), the ancestors of our Charrúas.
We must clarify that before the Charrúas, other populations entered to the country of which remains of ceramics stay and seemingly they would have been recollectors, fishermen, and farmers.
There was very much movement of small populations of Indians, it is interesting to talk about those that the built up the known "Cerritos", that can be found in the East of Uruguay; these Indians would be sedentary and partly nomad, but Charrúa was not their ethnic.
As we said the macroethnic Charrúa was racially Pámpida (top hunters), of well developed physical characteristics, they were tall, aesthetic, and they had strong character, they called to each other "Chonik", which in Tehuelche means "we the men", and they were descendants of settlers of the first big wave that came to the continent from the australoid origin. The height of the Pámpidos was about 1.70 m and 1.83 m, big cranium, cheekbones and jaw powerful and salient, and a long and thin nose. They were very fit and they had a balance of the muscular masses, little sexual dimorphism, brown skin, dark eyes, straight and strong hair