Indigenous Origin Research Articles

From South America to the United States: Guayakí and the Transformation of Yerba Mate

In the early 2000s, California-based Guayakí popularized the caffeinated drink, yerba mate, among young people and creative types. With revenues of $100 million, Guayakí dominates the U.S. market where it is synonymous with yerba mate. This essay explores how Guayakí transformed a foreign product with deep local meaning, widespread popularity, and a long history in southern South America from a shared beverage and social practice into a healthy energy drink. Typically, localization entails multinational companies and local consumers adapting and giving new meanings to an exotic foreign product or brand. In contrast, local entrepreneurs radically changed yerba mate while preserving part of its narrative. Guayakí promotes product authenticity based on a narrative of South American Indigenous origins, stimulating qualities, and health benefits that fits with superfoods, while a narrative of green capitalism promotes brand authenticity. But that was not enough to popularize yerba mate. The product had to be adapted to consumer taste preferences and values that challenge the foundational ideas of superfoods and green capitalism. As a result of consumer input acquired through grassroots marketing, Guayakí transformed a shared infusion into something closer to a soft drink—a pre-prepared, individual-sized beverage served in a single-use bottle or can with flavoring and sugar levels tailored to U.S. consumers. The essay exposes the role of local entrepreneurs and consumers in shaping product development and localization. It complicates our understanding of product authenticity and brand authenticity while exposing the limitations of green capitalism, ethical consumerism, and activist entrepreneurship.

Milpa ecologies: Transgenerational foodways in Tlaxcala, Mexico

Through a case study born from archaeological fieldwork in Tlaxcala, Mexico, this article provides an example of place-based foodways that have been used to transmit belief systems and ways of life that resist dominant frameworks of power across time. Foodways, as a site of daily engagements with the full food cycle, can be used to concretize dominant systems of power (e.g., industrial agriculture) but can also be used to build countersystems. Using the example of milpa agriculture and “Maíz Culture,” this case study demonstrates how key ecological philosophies have served as effective and resilient adaptive strategies from which to respond to shifting threats across time—from Aztec and Spanish colonialism to contemporary resistance to neoliberalism. Although agroecology is rooted in indigenous origins, the global adoption of agroecology often focuses heavily on what is planted but fails to center the how—the relationships and values that indigenous ecologies embody. To adopt the planting principles of agroecology without centering indigenous philosophies results in food systems that replicate colonial extraction. While these philosophies are rooted in locally defined practices, they also serve to support a broader unlearning of colonial worldviews within the systems that overshadow the day-to-day experiences of researchers. Using foodways to bridge the time between the archaeological past and agroecological present unmasks normalized worldviews, such as capitalism, neoliberalism, and industrialism to show that, while they are dominant, they are not inevitable nor singular. Please refer to Supplementary Materials, Full text Spanish version of this article, for a full text Spanish version of this article.

The Indigenous Origin of Intermediality in Nigerian Stand-up Comedy

Abstract Intermediality, a conflation of different artistic media into one event, is typically considered to have developed in the West. In this paper, we argue that intermediality existed in pre-colonial performance traditions across Africa, where various modes of artistic enactments merged into one were preferred to enactments partitioned into different generic categories. This study identifies multiple artistic genres inherent in Nigerian stand-up art, with specific reference to various sets of Ayo Makun’s AY Live wherein we identify the blending of joke-telling, theatre, cinema, song performance and dance within each show. We trace indigenous origins of this conflation of forms by illustrating how delineations between “types” of play, as seen in AY Live, did not exist in indigenous performances. This paper thus, extends research on intermediality and African popular culture by detailing the ways in which Nigerian stand-up enactments are packaged as total entertainment in the manner of pre-existing indigenous performances.

Kitchen Table Politics: Bannock and Métis Common Sense in an Era of Nascent Recognition Politics

Abstract: Bannock, a simple bread made of water, flour, and lard—fried or baked—is a staple of Indigenous diets across what is now called Canada. A pan-Indigenous symbol, bannock is a historically dynamic food grounded in both European and Indigenous origins. On both counts, it presents a paradox to the settler imagination, which clings to fixed definitions of Indigenous Peoplehood essentialized in precontact traditions. For Métis, however, bannock is no paradox. Neither its European origins nor its diverse forms and composition across time and place cause confusion. Rather, in oral history interviews Métis positioned bannock as a critical component that sustained a Métis identity through the twentieth century. Bannock offers important lessons for understanding the place of Métis within Canadian history and reveals how Métis mediated state interventions into Indigeneity in the 1980s. Tracing this historical trajectory, I suggest a useful inversion of Mark Rifkin's concept of settler common sense to focus on what I call a Métis common sense; that is, those aspects of a Métis livedness that were obvious for Métis. I follow other Métis writers who have proposed the kitchen table as a site of Métis identity survivance that functions as an alternative to public, androcentric expressions of Métis-ness legible to Canadian recognition politics. Métis interviewees negotiated with, and simultaneously rejected, essentialist assumptions of their Indigeneity. Interviewees understood bannock as a key marker of kinship sustained through female labor and activism within a matrilocal Métis Peoplehood.

Social determinants of health for moderate and severe periodontal disease in rural and urban populations.

We assessed the prevalence of moderate and severe periodontitis and its association with social determinants of health in rural and urban population from the State of Chiapas, in Southern Mexico. A cross-sectional population-based study was conducted in 2013 comprising people 20 years and older. The determinants were categorized as proximal (age, sex, indigenous origin, diabetes, smoking, diet), intermediate (level of schooling, occupation, medical and dental care), and structural (type of institution of health care provision, residence area). Periodontal status was assessed using the Periodontal Screening and Recording (PSR) Index. In total, 467 persons (72.4% women; mean age 43.0 years [s.d 14.7]) participated. Of them, 76.5% lived in rural areas and 56.7% were of indigenous origin. Participants with moderate and severe periodontitis had a significantly lower toothbrushing frequency (44.1% and 44.8%, respectively), and poorer oral hygiene (90% and 90.3%, respectively) compared with people without periodontitis (29.4% for toothbrushing frequency and 74.5% for oral hygiene). Moderate periodontitis was associated with poor oral hygiene (OR=2.63) and no schooling (OR=1.86). Severe periodontitis was associated with age (OR=1.05), poor oral hygiene (OR=3.99), no schooling (OR=2.08), and the interaction term of rural area and indigenous origin (RM=5.23). Social determinants of health play an important role in the development of periodontitis. Preventive oral health programs should thus focus on the specific social, economic, and geographical context of the population.

From Slavery to Servitude: Transformations and Continuities in Hacienda Labor, Well-Being, and Foodways in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Nasca

Abstract The nineteenth century was a dynamic period for hacienda workers on the south coast of Peru. Former Jesuit vineyards with two of the largest enslaved African-descended populations in rural coastal Peru—the haciendas of San Joseph (San José) and San Francisco Xavier (San Javier)—and their annexes in Nasca's Ingenio Valley underwent dramatic transformations with the replacement of their grapevines with cotton and the introduction of new types of workers. Cantonese indentured workers were contracted beginning in the 1830s, and the majority-enslaved workforce was legally emancipated in 1854. Seasonally, highland Andean workers joined the demographically shifting permanent hacienda population. We use evidence from excavated midden contexts at San Joseph, San Xavier, and San Joseph's annex of Hacienda La Ventilla to explore these changing agroindustrial dynamics and worker well-being in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Despite the transformations at the estates, we find that culinary practices developed by enslaved Africans and their descendants during the Jesuit administration, such as the preparation of one-pot meals and stews, continued into the republican era among Cantonese indentured laborers and wage workers of Indigenous, mestizo, and Cantonese origins. We argue that such strategies centered on foodways were a crucial aspect of worker self-care regimes and broader well-being.

Garihma (to Care for)

Garihma (to Care for)

The Pre-Aksumite Period: indigenous origins and development in the Horn of Africa

ABSTRACT The Pre-Aksumite Period (mid-second to late first millennia BC) witnessed the rise of complex societies in the Horn of Africa. Archaeological survey and excavations in the Gulo Makeda region of Eastern Tigrai by the Eastern Tigrai Archaeological Project (ETAP) have produced new data and insights into this critical juncture in the cultural history of the region. Based on data from Mezber and other archaeological sites, we present a new Pre-Aksumite chronology and discuss the material culture, settlement, political organisation, economy, agricultural history and regional interactions of this period. We recommend the use of the term ‘Pre-Aksumite Period’ to encompass this time when the earliest polities developed in the region. Mezber provides us with a glimpse into the lifeways of indigenous peoples inhabiting the northern Horn of Africa who encountered South Arabian visitors to the region during the early first millennium BC. Data from Mezber shift our focus from external influences to considering the culture and development of autochthonous peoples of the Ethiopian/Eritrean highlands who had an active role in negotiating cultural contacts. This perspective constitutes a missing piece of the puzzle needed to better understand the broader socio-economic, political and cultural dynamics of the Pre-Aksumite Period.

The Tree of Abundance: On the Indigenous Emergence in Contemporary Latin American Art

The Tree of Abundance is an origin story for many nations in the Amazon basin. It recounts a time when all people(s) lived under a mother tree, until those with an ax arrived and the tree collapsed. This is the act of coloniality, which produced a new landscape. The story serves as a conceptual metaphor to analyze the production of an emerging generation of contemporary visual makers of indigenous origin. These cultural producers are set in a historical context, which represents long temporalities of cultural-production resistance and re-existence in Latin America (called here Abya Yala). The text introduces a way to rethink contemporary art in the region under conditions of coloniality and names the artists “embodied territories” since they have particular connections to the places they live and work. This article is organized into three parts presenting artwork by several indigenous and intercultural subjects (with emphasis on those living in indigenous territories of Colombia): (1) A short genealogy from modernity to contemporaneity brings indigenous cultural production to the academic space as another source for a critical understanding of the lived experience in Abya Yala. (2) An account of themes derived from the contested histories highlights how indigenous and intercultural artists produce responses to them. (3) The genealogy and themes are then set in spatial terms offering two case studies, on one hand, the toppling of historical figures by indigenous activists as performance in the public space and, on the other, the exhibitions “Visual Sovereignty” and the “Indigenous Salon Manuel Quintín Lame”. The article concludes stressing how this emerging generation builds on long genealogies of sovereign representation, responding with a wide range of contemporary means (visual, textual, bodily, and multimedia) to issues that still affect their communities (land grabs, resource extraction, racialization, marginality, etc.). Adaptation, resistance, and re-existence occur when embodied territories recognize historical realities (time), location (space), and forms of liberation (action) within coloniality.

Ancient river fishing utensils in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula: the Miño river basin between the 4th century BC and the 4th century AD

This paper presents a brief overview of fishing in Galicia during Antiquity on the basis of fishing equipment—in particular hooks and weights—recovered from several sites of indigenous origin (castros or hill forts) and newly-established Roman settlements around the basin of the Miño river. Although the topic has often passed unnoticed by archaeological research and suffers from a distinct lack of literature to guide future efforts, the more or less recent publication of papers dealing with this topic in depth has facilitated the study of the Galician record, which is supported by literary and iconographic sources as well as ethnographic documents. The latter have proved relevant in this context, as the world of fishing tends to hold on to traditions. The author sets out to establish a correlation between the remains of fishing implements found and the possible fishing gear they would have been attached to.

Elemental Variation of Berry Mineral Nutrient Content in Early Maturing Grapes Genotypes Grown Under Sub-tropical Climate

Cultivar development in grapes with increased mineral nutrient composition relies on the selection of genetically unique and complementary breeding lines. The objective of this study was to assess the peel, flesh and seed minerals composition of diverse grape collections of exotic and indigenous origin to select promising parents to develop a breeding population. Twenty-nine genetically diverse grape genotypes were field evaluated using a randomised complete block design with three replications under subtropical climatic conditions of New Delhi, India. The peel + flesh and seed mineral contents were determined using standard procedure. Analyses of variance showed significant (P < 0.05) effects of genotypes on the accumulation of 10 mineral nutrients in grape berry peel + flesh and seeds. The twenty-nine genotypes showed considerable variation for the following ten mineral contents: Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca), Magnesium(Mg), Iron (Fe), Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Manganese (Mn) And Sodium (Na), and varying from 0.96 to 3.30 %; 0.14 to 0.22 %; 0.91 to 2.11 %; 0.23 to 0.38 %; 0.02 to 0.16 %; 27.58 to 77.69 ppm; 8.23 to 19.60 ppm; 14.60 to 64.10 ppm; 1.38 to 11.61 ppm and 0.00 to 0.24 ppm, respectively in berry peel and flesh together. Further, the seed mineral content also varied significantly among the genotypes. It was not assessed in the seedless genotypes due to a lack of seeds. Therefore, nineteen genotypes were tested for 10 mineral elements in their seed samples after drying. It was found significantly variable for nitrogen (0.88 to 2.12 %), phosphorus (0.18 to 0.34 %), potassium (0.35 to 0.87 %), calcium (0.26 to 0.92 %), magnesium (0.19 to 0.42 %), iron (33.02 to 96.94 ppm), copper (14.53 to 24.16 ppm), zinc (18.46 to 80.43 ppm), manganese (12.13 to 34.98 ppm) and sodium (0.01 to 0.12 ppm). The selected grape genotypes are useful genetic resources for population and cultivar development for nutrient composition.

Palm Sunday in central Mexico: among sellers, palms and syncretism

BackgroundDomingo de Ramos, or Palm Sunday, is a traditional Christian religious event where devotees use ramos, which are bouquets currently elaborated from palm leaves and other natural elements. In various countries, it is assumed this use of biodiversity leads to the depletion of the species involved. However, other important aspects must be considered, including the role of the people who produce and sell these ramos, the associated symbolism that has been overlooked, as well as commercial aspects that have barely been documented. This ethnobotanical study evaluates the regional-scale cultural, biological and socioeconomic aspects associated with Domingo de Ramos in central Mexico from an emic perspective.MethodsEthnographic and commercial information was obtained through interviews with ramos sellers in 28 municipalities in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. We specifically sought sociodemographic data regarding the interviewees, as well as information pertaining to the ramos themselves and the palms. These aspects were explored with all of the sellers. The free list method was used to describe the uses and key elements associated with the ramos.ResultsAlthough the ramos are used for religious purposes, they have eight different uses in the daily life of the sellers, the main one being “protection.” They serve to protect families, crops and animals, as well as against several diseases. Likewise, they are considered valuable for diminishing strong storms. This belief in the protection conferred by the ramos preserves pre-Hispanic concepts and is combined with their use in blessing corresponding to Western beliefs. Ramos are made from 35 introduced and native plant species and comprise a base (made of palm, wheat or sotol), a “reliquia” (palm, rosemary, chamomile and laurel) and natural or artificial flowers. The ramos sellers are mostly adult women of indigenous origin and heads of family.ConclusionsThis study of Domingo de Ramos, carried out at a regional scale, highlights a syncretism that is reflected in both the symbolic importance of ramos palm and in the species used, as well as socioeconomic aspects that had not previously been identified in the study area and reflect the occurrence of complex relationships in non-timber forest products that remain little addressed.

Co‐optation without representation: The relationship between the Bolivian state and the indigenous organization CONAMAQ

AbstractThe goal of this article is to examine the process of institutionalization of the Bolivian indigenous organization National Council of Ayllus and Markas of Qullasuyu from its birth until 2019, and its consequences on the dynamics of organization. This organization, as one of the key indigenous representatives in Bolivia, went through its internal crisis under the second Movement for Socialism government led by the president of indigenous origin Evo Morales Ayma. The division and demobilization of the organization in this crisis seems paradoxical considering Morales’ indigenous origin and the anticolonial programmatic agenda that resulted in increasing numbers of indigenous people in state power structures. This paradox of organization crisis in times of indigenous rule and increasing indigenous political representation will be explored by means of process tracing method, to explain the relationship between institutionalization of the organization and its dynamics. For that purpose, the differentiation between institutionalization (substantive representation) and co‐optation (descriptive representation) will be made to reveal if the demobilization of the National Council organization stems from the perceived effectiveness of institutional ways of representation in the sense of satisfying the organization's demands or was caused by state actors’ strategies to mitigate its challengers through co‐optation and patronage.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) production by potential probiotic strains of indigenous fermented foods origin and RSM based production optimization

The study aimed to evaluate the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) producing lactic acid bacterial strains of fermented food origin to be used as potential psychobiotic. A total of 268 isolates were screened for GABA production using the pH indicator method. Five of the isolates were identified as potential GABA producers and were shortlisted further for confirmation of GABA production by NMR and HPLC analysis. One of the strains (G2), identified as Weissella confusa showed the highest production of GABA (246.2 mg/L) while the remaining strains produced only trace amounts. These five strains were assessed for safety and probiotic properties. The strain G2 exhibited the most prominent probiotic properties. It showed good tolerance towards pH(2 and 3), bile salt(0.3–1%), gastro-intestinal fluid, NaCl(1–4%), phenol(0.4–0.6%), auto-aggregation(83%), strong hydrophobicity to xylene(70%) and chloroform(78%), significant antimicrobial activity, susceptibility to antibiotics and strong adherence to Caco-2 cells. From the optimization of culture conditions for GABA production by RSM based approach, G2 was found to produce 293.33 mg/L with a 34h fermentation time, 29.1 °C temperature, and at 1% mono-sodium glutamate concentration. Further studies are needed to assess the efficacy and stability of the isolate in the food matrix and in vivo gut environment, to utilize it as a potential psychobiotic.

Prevalência do aleitamento materno entre povos Indígenas da Tríplice Fronteira: Brasil, Argentina e Paraguai

Abstract Objectives: to verify the prevalence of breastfeeding and the children’s nutritional status of indigenous origin up to two years of age in the triple frontier region: Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. Methods: data from the Sistema de Vigilância Nutricional e Alimentar Indígena (Indigenous Food and Nutrition Surveillance System) were analyzed, being a cross-sectional and descriptive study. The survey was carried out in 2018, with data referring to 2017. Registrations of indigenous children of both sexes,aged zero to two years old were included. Data were extracted from the indigenous children’s follow-up map. The prevalence of breastfeeding and complementary feeding was evaluated. Results: the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding in children under six months of age was 93.4% and complementary breastfeeding was 6.5%. The prevalence of complementary breastfeeding after six months was 71.6% and exclusive breastfeeding after six months was 28.3%. Regarding social benefits, 30.3% of the families accumulated two types of social benefits. Conclusions: the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding was high and surpassed the national prevalence in the first semester of life, there was no early weaning.

Archaeogeneticists on the Origin of the Indo-Europeans, with Particular Emphasis on the Pre-Slavs as Their Oldest Ancestors

Genetic research conducted successively for several years confirms the theory of the indigenous origin of the Slavs. Based on the analysis of mtDNA (female) and Y-DNA (male) haplogroups, geneticists can determine, among others, the kinship of individual nations, their age, mutation or migration routes. Scientists have suggested that the ancestors of modern Slavic populations may be representatives of Neolithic cultures or at least from the Bronze Age in central Europe. Thus, archaeogenetics has become a new field of science, also helpful in ethnogenetic research, and its importance in determining the ethno- and topogeny of the Indo-Europeans, including the Slavs, is invaluable. In this study, I present a short history of archaeogenetic research and discuss the views of major specialists and authors dealing with this subject. At the same time, I pay special attention to the data and conclusions regarding the origin, routes and time of migration of the population, which we can consider to be Proto-Slavic, in order to make even more false the claims of Philo-Germanic scholars who still use the inappropriate term “Indo-Germans” instead of “Indo-Europeans”.

ПОШУКИ ВЛАСНОЇ ІДЕНТИЧНОСТІ ЯК ПОСТМОДЕРНА ГРА У ТВОРЧОСТІ ШЕРМАНА АЛЕКСІ

The article is devoted to the analysis of the texts by Sherman Alexie, a writer of indigenous origin, who is known as an author who seeks to rewrite the history of the American continent with the help of irony. The purpose of the article is to determine the peculiarities of the interpretation of Native American humour since this phenomenon has played an important role in the survival of the Indigenous nations of North America. The task of the research is to find out the basis of ironic humour in the collections “The Toughest Indian in the World”, “The Lone Ranger”, and “Tonto Fistfighting in Heaven.” The research was conducted using historical-cultural, receptive-interpretive and structural methodological approaches. Humour and irony are presented even in the most tragic stories of Sherman Alexie. Thus he was destroying the stereotype of a red-skinned person with an impenetrable face. The writer repeatedly ridiculed various features of white culture. He seeks to seduce the reader with a historical game to get him/her confused in the labyrinth of historical events. Explaining the time chosen to describe the events, Sherman Alexie resorts to playing with many significant events of the 20th century. Although, they are only an allusion to the events of the Indigenous history of the creation of Indian reservation times. The dilemma faced by Alexie’s reader is an attempt to understand what exactly the author is trying to convey to him. Alexie is prone to self-reflection, so he is well aware of the reader’s problems in distinguishing between facts and fiction in his works. The writer densely decorates the texts with various allusions, which are difficult to recognize at first times. The most shocking is his attempt to argue his ideas, which are provocative and frank. He frequently uses semantic speculations around the idea of “Indianness” in the modern world. With his works, the writer challenges the restrictions imposed by the Western paradigm on representatives of indigenous peoples through specific methodologies inherent in the Western European worldview, which is actively imposed by the value system of mainstream society. Conclusion. The system of imposed rules in Alexie’s texts creates a specific game space, and models reality, supplementing it with tense emotional components. In the process of the postmodern game, a “different view” emerges, which deprives the aura of sacredness in the customary ideology for the mainstream consciousness, paradoxically reproducing cultural stereotypes with their “game” reinterpretation. His play is a sphere of emotional communication between the writer and readers. Thanks to emotional symbols that refer to the historical realities of the past and partly to the presence of Native Americans the author conveys the feeling of humiliation and restlessness. Thereby striving to free the consciousness of the average American from the stereotypes of oppression in understanding Indigenous history and culture. Alexie’s pastiche is devoid of positive content and aims to re-read the history of the United States as an unpredictable narrative, which explains the writer’s desire to reinterpret the events of the 20th century as an image of late capitalism. The postcolonial discourse of Sherman Alexie’s works stimulates a wave of resistance among indigenous readers not so much because of a new attempt to create a literary image of a culture that was once part of their colonial periphery. The writer’s protests attempt to introduce the idea that colonialism is over.

FUNAN (Phu Nam) from a new perspective

Funan (Phu Nam) is a historical entity that existed during the first seven centuries CE and left a tremendous cultural heritage. For different reasons, many historical aspects of this kingdom remain unexplored. For a long time, it was studied mainly through scattered and sketchy records collected from ancient Chinese bibliographies. Only after the archaeological discovery of the Oc Eo by Louis Malleret did the historical understanding of the Funan kingdom become fuller. However, due to the war, the research was unable to progress further. After 1975, Funan was revived mainly within circles of archaeological studies. Using novel archaeological evidence, this article reconstructs the lives of Funan inhabitants. It sees Oc Eo as a culture of indigenous origin with a community speaking Malayo-Polynesian languages. It also shows that the Oc Eo indigenous culture had lasting vitality. Despite the fact that the Funan state collapsed in the seventh century, archaeological evidence demonstrates many of its cultural traditions preserved and developed by later southern communities.

Subducted iron and glassy spherules in the upper mantle?

Spherules are documented in ophiolitic mantle rocks such as peridotites and associated chromitites. They consist of: (1) native iron having variable amounts of Ni with/without inclusions of silicate glass or oxides (wüstite), (2) dendritic intergrowth of oxides (magnetite, wüstite and hematite) with/without silicate glass and, (3) silicate glass. Consensually, they are interpreted as indigenous to chromitites and related with high-temperature processes operating in the Earth’s upper mantle. However, their similarity with terrestrial and extraterrestrial spherules found in other settings of the geological record is remarkable. We raise the question on such indigenous origin, relating them to volcanic and cosmic material recycled back to the mantle wedge where chromitites form during subduction.

Генетические типы корундов

It is pointed out that corundum is the only natural modification with corundum Al and O packing motif, which determines the physical and chemical features of noble corundum. Based on the authors' ideas about the genesis of noble corundum with the application of original analytical data, which clarify the consolidated literature data, corundums of the magmatic, metamorphic and detrital series are defined. A scheme of the location of the main deposits of noble corundums of the world is given. It is stated that all properties of noble corundums are determined by their primary indigenous origin. The general condition of corundum formation is protocrystallization from melts in deep magmatic centers under the condition of subsequent rapid solidification of the main mass of the melt. The presented research methods allow determining characteristics and a wide range of application of corundums. Precambrian corundum deposits are of the prevailing genetic type.