Mónica Salemme

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.

Palaeoenvironmental conditions during the early peopling of Southernmost South America (Late Glacial-Early Holocene, 14-8 ka B.P.)

Abstract Environmental conditions in Southernmost South America (the Patagonian Andes and the extra-Andean plains) during the early peopling of the region in Late Glacial/Early Holocene times are herein described. Different glacial advances or stabilization phases in valley glaciers occurred several millennia after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), as a consequence of regional cold climatic episodes. According to Clapperton (1993), two advances during the Late Glacial took place, ca. 15-14 14 C ka and 12-10 14 C ka B.P. A cold event during this last period, probably correlative with the “Younger Dryas” episode in the Northern Hemisphere, has been observed in the palynological record. A tundra environment dominated until ca. 13-10 14 C ka B.P.; afterwards, a gramineous steppe with forest refuges developed. The transition steppe-forest lasted to the Middle Holocene, when the Nothofagus forest took over. The arrival of man in Southernmost South America (ca. 13 14 C ka B.P. or even before) probably took place while glaciers were still present in most Andean valleys, sea level was much lower than today, and tundra environments dominated the extra-Andean plains. Moreover, peopling in the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego would have occurred not later than 11.8 14 C ka B.P., when the present Magellan Straits valley was still occupied by a meltwater discharge, braided stream, fed by the receding “Magellan Glacier”.

Poblamiento, movilidad y territorios entre las sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras de Patagonia

The Pleistocene-Holocene transition was a critical time for the dispersal of human societies all over South America. In fact, people looking for places to settle had to accept high environmental variability during the colonizing process. The case for this paper is Patagonia (Southern South America), where the oldest datings (ca. 13-10.5 ka BP) have been obtained; the three mains spots are: 1) the western Andean basins, 2) the Deseado river basin and 3) the Magellan basin, including northern Tierra del Fuego. Following archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data (palynological, faunal, sedimentological and glaciological information), as well as radiocarbon datings, a hypothesis about the colonization of Patagonia is presented herein. It is proposed that independent peopling entries would have occurred both through the Atlantic and Pacific facades, and that the Andean foothills were colonized much later, only when the available spaces allowed it. All Patagonic space occurences colonized by hunter-gatherers highly mobiles.

Archeological Hunter-Gatherer Landscapes Since the Latest Pleistocene in Fuego-Patagonia

Publisher Summary This chapter deals with the available archeological knowledge, building a history of the peopling, the mobility of human groups and their relationship with the environment until the arrival of the Europeans. This chapter focuses on Patagonia—both east and west of the Andean ranges—and examines the archeological contexts and available radiocarbon dates for three chronological intervals: (1) the Pleistocene, (2) the Middle Holocene, and (3) the Late Holocene. Six main issues have been considered in the analysis of the peopling of Patagonias landscapes: (1) the most important environmental conditions that could have affected human occupation during each interval; (2) the chronological gaps, visible through the analysis of radiocarbon data; (3) the generalist or specialist adaptations in the use of faunal resources; (4) the rock art; (5) the human burials; and (6) the allochthonous raw materials. Extreme environmental conditions during the latest Pleistocene would have been the scenario under which the first human groups entered the continent. But these harsh circumstances did not threaten them to begin the exploration and colonization of the new available lands.

OBSIDIANA VERDE EN LA ESTEPA FUEGUINA: UN HALLAZGO EN AMALIA 4

This paper describes the context of the surface site Amalia 4, regarding a particular data: a green obsidian projectile point that offers the opportunity to suggest a chronological framework, based on the technomorphological analysis. The chronological location of these contexts becomes a challenge for the study of regional archaeology. The finding of green obsidian in a site of the Fuegian steppe provides new data for the discussion on the spatial and chronological distribution of this raw material.

Site formation processes in relation to surface bone assemblages in the Fuegian steppe (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina)

The archaeological record of the northern steppe in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina) is characterized by the occurrence of concentrations of archaeological material at the ground surface, coming from gullies and deflation hollows related to shallow lake coastal environments. This particular distribution becomes a challenge concerning the study of site formation processes, particularly in relation to the burial and exhumation of archaeological materials. Bone assemblages coming from three archaeological contexts (Tres Marías, Amalia 4 and Arturo 1) are analysed here, pointing to the features, damage and stability or movements that reveal their taphonomic histories. Geomorphological landscapes vary from each site, being represented by deflation hollows close to shallow lakes as well as gullies originating from the coast itself. The faunal assemblages are mostly dominated by Lama guanicoe bones. Variability in taxonomic composition, weathering profiles, mobility and stability of materials, as well as evidence of anthropic modifications, among other records, demonstrate the existence of different depositional events. The high variability observed suggests that several pre- and post-depositional processes were involved; thus, it results in complex taphonomic histories and low integrity that make their interpretation difficult in terms of human activities.

Moluscos en contextos arqueológicos de la costa atlántica de Tierra del Fuego: consumo prehistórico e implicancias de su distribución actual

Este trabajo analiza informacion arqueomalacologica proveniente de 3 sitios –dos concheros (tambien denominados conchales) y un sitio a cielo abierto– con fechados radiocarbonicos del Holoceno medio y tardio, ubicados en la estepa fueguina al norte de la ciudad de Rio Grande. Se compara esta informacion con la fauna malacologica procedente de otros sitios arqueologicos del norte de la Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego y con los moluscos que habitan actualmente en la region. Para verificar la distribucion actual se realizaron seis muestreos en las inmediaciones de las localidades arqueologicas mejor conocidas para el norte de la isla. Se realizan interpretaciones sobre la distribucion y paleoecologia de diversas especies de moluscos y su potencialidad como recurso economico en el pasado para los cazadores recolectores pedestres de la isla.

La Arcillosa 2: registro zooarqueológico de la ocupación humana durante el holoceno medio, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

El sitio La Arcillosa 2, ubicado sobre la margen derecha del rio Chico (Tierra del Fuego), a 2 km al oeste de la costa atlantica actual, representa un sitio multicomponente, datado entre 5500 y 3700 anos AP. La accion eolica permanente sobre este sitio fue perturbando la integridad de un conchero que contenia como especie mas abundante valvas de Mytilus edulis. El registro zooarqueologico proveniente del conchero comprende fundamentalmente ejemplares de moluscos y en menores proporciones huesos de vertebrados terrestres y marinos (guanaco, cetaceos, aves, tuco‐tuco, peces, canidos y pinnipedos) asociados a artefactos liticos de diversas materias primas. Se hallaron dos huesos largos de ave decorados con incisiones paralelas que cubren toda la circunferencia de los mismos y una cuenta osea.

The Patrimonialization and the Heritage Value of the Archaeological Record. Tierra del Fuego as a Case Study

Heritage drives along a path that goes from nowadays toward the past, when somebody starts to recognize it and thus come back to the past looking for references that legitimize interests of the present. Then, heritage constitutes a speech, a narrative that joins values, interests, and ideologies as from concrete elements or goods gain sense. At present, an avoidable topic in those heritage activation processes is tourism. The explosive development of this activity hardly pushed and particularly based these kinds of processes from heritage. The increase in tourism promoted the interest for the voyages looking for the consumption of cultural goods. We present here four examples of archaeological/historical sites from Tierra del Fuego (Argentina), where tourism is one of the main industries. Scientific community, indigenous communities, Government actors, and tourism are presented as the best-involved social agents in heritage enhancements. From these cases, we analyze the limits and difficulties to go ahead with the heritage activation and its feasibility.

Faunal Subsistence Resources in the Cañada Honda Locality (Northeastern Buenos Aires Province, Argentina)

Canada Honda is an archaeological locality that yielded seven sites on both margins of the Canada Honda creek and the Rio Areco (Buenos Aires Province). Faunal remains are analyzed in this contribution, with the aim of understanding the economic strategies of the hunter-gatherer groups who inhabited the locality during the Late Holocene (ca. 2000 years B.P.). The methodology integrated taxonomic identification, quantification and analysis of cutmarks, fractures, thermal alteration and taphonomic damages of the identified archaeofaunas.