Pablo G. Messineo

El poblamiento temprano de las llanuras pampeanas de Argentina y Uruguay

Based on available information, the early peopling (c. 12,300 to 8,000 BP) of the Pampean plains of Argentina and Uruguay is summarized and discussed within the broader context of the human population of the continent. The evidence presented here indicates that humans initially occupied the plains around 12,300 BP. Data obtained in recent decades within the framework of a regional research project do not support a model of late entry into the continent (known as the “Clovis First” model); neither do they support an extremely early human occupation of the region (i.e. tens of thousands of years). The information obtained indicates that Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherer bands had high residential mobility, exploited a variety of environments, and used both local and exotic raw materials. These foragers based part of their diet on the generalized consumption of land mammals, among which some extinct megamammals, such as American horse and giant ground sloth, could have been key resources. These bands shared with other contemporary groups of the Southern Cone a particular projectile point model, known as “fishtail” projectile point, which was dominant in the technology of the region between ca. 11,000 and 10,000 BP.

Early Holocene Human Remains from the Argentinean Pampas: Cranial Variation in South America and the American Peopling

Abstract Morphological comparisons between the earliest and latest human skeletons of America have suggested the existence of a complex scenario underlying the biological diversification of American populations. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Florentino Ameghino initiated the debate on the antiquity of humans in the Argentinean Pampas, which has been reviewed recently due to new radiocarbon dates obtained. Morphometric analyses from these Argentinean Pampas samples are presented together with early samples from Chile, Brazil, and Colombia. Results show that while there is no clear separation between early and late samples from Chile, samples from Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina show more pronounced differences, the latter presenting the largest morphological variation among early American samples. However, the hypotheses that morphological differences between early and late American samples are related to evolutionary processes are difficult to support using cranial morphometric differences alone. Future studies need to consider a combination of additional evidence (e.g., archaeological and molecular).

LITHIC RAW MATERIALS AND MODES OF EXPLOITATION IN QUARRIES AND WORKSHOPS FROM THE CENTER OF THE PAMPA GRASSLANDS OF ARGENTINA

Abstract Quarry workshops have an important economic, social, cultural, and symbolic role for past hunter-gatherer societies and the northwest Tandilia System would have represented a place of great cultural significance because human groups could have exploited a huge diversity of rocks and minerals. The main objectives in this paper are to analyze different exploitation, production, and use strategies applied on chert and silicified dolomite quarry workshops, and to interpret diverse ways of transport and circulation of these lithic raw materials from procurement areas to other sites in the center of the Pampa grasslands during the Late Holocene. The studies done suggest several modes in raw materials selection in quarries, reduction strategies, tool manufacture, and rock circulation in the landscape. It is proposed that both raw materials could have been transported from workshops to other sites in the form of nodules, different kinds of partially and/or totally decorticated cores, large flakes, and possibly tools. With the reduction of residential mobility in hunter-gatherer groups during the Late Holocene, the most exploited rocks in the center of the Pampa grasslands were those located nearest the sites, such as chert from the Sierras Bayas hills. Two procurement strategies (embedded and special trips by using logistical mobility) could have been applied on chert and silicified dolomite acquisition. On the other hand, human groups occupying territories far from quarries could have obtained them through social exchange and interaction networks.

Technological Organization in Hunting/Scavenging and Butchering Sites of Megamammals in the Pampa Grasslands (Argentina)

Abstract The objectives of this research were to evaluate different modes of lithic acquisition, use, and disposal at three single-component open-air sites associated with the hunting/scavenging and butchering of megamammal species, and to discuss strategies applied in human mobility in the Pampa grasslands of Argentina during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. In the Paso Otero 5 and Campo Laborde assemblages, the last stages of the lithic-reduction sequence were associated with the context of tool use in a curated technological strategy. In La Moderna, the high frequency of quartz debitage, presence of expedient tools manufactured on-site, and close proximity to quartz outcrops are interpreted to represent a situational behavior produced in response to immediate and unanticipated conditions. During the late Pleistocene, at Paso Otero 5 humans exploited rocks from diverse regions, whereas at Campo Laborde and La Moderna hunter-gatherers displayed lower mobility during the early Holocene.