Toconoté

The Tonocotés or Tonokotés are an aboriginal people inhabiting the provinces of Santiago del Estero and Tucumán in Argentina.

The Spaniards called the tonocotés and other peoples of the former Tucumán as Juríes, deformation of the Quechua word xuri that means Rhea, because of the kind of loincloth feathers of this bird that the natives wore and that they moved into real flocks.

The houses were built on artificial mounds forming elevation, were round and made with slightly durable material and thatch.

They are partially mestizos descended from the ancient tonocotés and speak their own dialect derived from Santiago del Estero's quichua.

They are distributed in 19 rural communities with about 6,000 residents in the departments of San Martín, Figueroa and Avellaneda from Santiago del Estero.