Laura Lucía Miotti

Biodiversity, taxonomic richness and specialists-generalists during Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene times in Pampa and Patagonia (Argentina, Southern South America)

Abstract Human subsistence systems in the Pampa and Patagonia regions evolved from generalists during the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene to specialists during the Middle Holocene, according to diversity and relative taxonomic richness counts. The general hypothesis is summarized as follows: 1) at the end of the Pleistocene and beginning of the Holocene (interval between 13.0 and 8.5 ka), the Pampean and Patagonian landscape was different from the present one, with a mammal biodiversity larger than in the Middle Holocene; 2) during the Middle Holocene, the highest mammal taxonomic richness corresponds to one species, Lama guanicoe . Although available biomass was the same for the hunter-gatherers, it was due to the larger abundance of individuals of that single species; 3) the emerged continental surface during the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene was more extensive than during the Middle Holocene. In ecological terms, this greater land mass is reflected in an equally larger biodiversity, even assuming that populations of Pleistocenic megafauna were diminishing in number since ca. 13,500 years BP. Based on the analysis of our own information and published data, we state that the human groups which colonized the Pampean and Patagonian regions towards the end of the Pleistocene and beginning of the Holocene used generalist strategies encompassing a wide range of faunal resources (birds and mammals, especially of terrestrial habitats). Plasticity of hunter-gatherer societies, plus a complex technology, a higher social mobility and unfilled territories, allowed them to rapidly replace one resource for another in conditions of environmental stress. This lifestyle resulted in the occupation of different ecological zones (niches) and the evolution to specialized systems, based on one or a few mammal species, once the colonization and support in the different environments were successful and the resources of the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene disappeared.

Patagonia: a paradox for building images of the first Americans during the Pleistocene/Holocene Transition

Abstract South America appears as a paradox for building the images of the New Worlds human colonization. It is a paradox, because according to the models of the Peopling of America, it was the last part of the continent to be occupied by humans, but in spite of that sites as old as or older than the “Clovis” sites from North America, started to be discovered since the last century. It is a laboratory, because the amount of the Pleistocene archaeological sites is as great as their variability. In this way, since the last two decades, the hemi-continent is placed in a privileged situation for questioning and reconstructing theories concerning the first Americans, and also for answering questions as when did they arrive, how did they arrive, what strategies (social, ecological and economic) did they develop for the colonization of such different environments, which were their ideas for achieving this colonization, and how does their use of space and resources reflect in the archaeological record. The model “Clovis the first”, brings an image of unidirectional migration of the first people, from the great North American plains to southern Patagonia. For a decade, this model showed itself insufficient for explaining the great archaeological variability of America and especially for referring those South American contexts directly to a Clovis migration. The new findings in South America are creating more anomalies for this model, which predicts that the arrival of Pleistocene hunter–gatherers should be around 10,000 years in Patagonia. The object of this paper is to discuss these models in view of South American archaeological evidence, and thus propose answers for removing the paradox. The axes which are considered are: the geographical and chronological distribution of the main localities of Patagonia and South America; the function of the sites within regional mobility systems; the use of subsistence resources; the differences in the circulation of lithic raw materials; and the different taphonomical histories. These characteristics will be compared with models of social network among mobile peoples and American paleolandscapes at the Pleistocene/Holocene transition and a new alternative route of peopling in South America will be presented. In this sense, the data of Patagonia are highly relevant.

A Hill Full of Points in Terra Incognita from Patagonia: Notes and Reflections for Discussing the Way and Tempo of Initial Peopling

Abstract We present the environmental and archeological results of research at Cerro Amigo Oeste, a mesa-top archeological site with Fishtail points located on the Somuncurá Plateau, northern Patagonia, Argentina. Comparison with other South American sites is used to interpret archeological landscapes of colonization. The objects, features, and beings of landscape are understood as reflecting the materiality of social relations as well as patterns of production, retooling, and mobility. Cerro Amigo Oeste is in a very special location due to its high elevation and extensive view of the landscape, as well as its archeological and ethnographic significance. It can be considered a node or hub of communication in the social network among hunter-gatherers far and near in the late Pleistocene.

TECNOLOGÍA Y USO DE MATERIAS PRIMAS EN PUNTAS COLA DE PESCADO DE LA MESETA DE SOMUNCURÁ (PROVINCIA DE RÍO NEGRO, ARGENTINA)

Se presentan analisis tecnologicos realizados sobre un conjunto de puntas cola de pescado registrados en sitios en torno a la laguna de Las Vacas, en la meseta de Somuncura (provincia de Rio Negro, Argentina). Se comparan el uso de las materias primas y determinados atributos tecnologicos de dichos artefactos. Finalmente se discuten las variables analizadas en relacion con la produccion, uso y descarte de puntas cola de pescado en este sector norpatagonico.