Abstract: A recent model predicts certain features of human occupation during the Late Holocene in central-south Patagonia (2500-200 yrs BP). In contrast to earlier periods, mobility was more restricted, and a system of relatively stable residential camps and cemetery chenque. Were supported developed in lower eastern steppes. Whereas the higher forest or ecotonal lands to the west were utilized logistically. In the summer of 2000, a binational team, by Andes and Antorchas foundations, undertook fieldwork to survey and excavate several sectors of the Salitroso, Ghio, Pueyrredón-Posadas basins in Argentina, and the Alto Chacabuco basin in Chile (ca. 47°30' LS). The results responded to the model's expectations, in that no human burials were located in the western sectors in Chile which contrasts greatly with the concentration of localities with chenques in the eastern Argentine sectors.
Abstract: Ethnohistoric records from Tierra del Fuego suggest that precontact Fuegians could be subdivided into three majorgroups: the Yamana, maritime hunter-gatherers of the Beagle Channel and islands to the south; the Selk'nam, terrestrial hunter-gatherers of southernmost Patagonia; and the Haush, a little-known group that seems to have combinedelements of both Yamana and Selk'nam lifeways. However, the observed ethnographic patterns reï¬ect societies whoseway of life was signiï¬cantly altered by European contact, habitat alteration, and exploitation of some of the key re-sources upon which Fuegian peoples were historically dependent. To test the linkage between ethnohistorically recordedsubsistence patterns and prehistoric lifeways in the region, stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes were assayed fromhuman burials that date within the last 1500 years before European contact. Isotopic analyses substantially conï¬rm theethnohistorically documented patterns, but also reveal some anomalies, such as Yamana populations who may havebeen more dependent on terrestrial resources (i.e., guanaco). Data from the Haush region suggest primary dependenceon marine resources, like the Yamana, while the Selk'
nam demonstrate limited use of such resources. Stable isotopic analysis can thus be used to test hypotheses concerning the validity of archaeological and ethnohistoric data.
Abstract: The archaeology of the hunter-gatherers of Patagonia in many aspects has been guided by an ecologic-systemic approach. Archaeological variability has been interpreted synchronically by using functional categories. The character of the occupations, their continuity, and the presence of gaps has not deserved too much attention. This has limited our vision of the dynamics of the people that lived in that vast region.
Here we discuss the variation in use of space and lithic resources at a microregional scale, in order to evaluate its direccionality along time. We analyze the relation between the character of the occupations and long term mobility based on our research at Los Antiguos-Monte Zeballos and Paso Roballos area (Santa Cruz, Argentina).
Abstract: El trabajo presenta las últimas dataciones radiocarbónicas disponibles para nuestra área de investigación de Los Antiguos-Jeinemeni-Monte Zeballos-Ghio, evaluando la presencia de hiatos y su magnitud. La información cronológica de escala local es discutida en un contexto espacial más amplio a fin comprender la historia de la ocupación de este sector cordillerano durante los últimos 3000 años 14C. El estudio se complementa con el análisis de varios indicadores arqueológicos que posibilitan interpretar las variaciones en la intensidad de las ocupaciones, la variedad de las actividades desarrolladas en cada lugar y la duración de las ocupaciones.
Abstract: El problema que discutimos es la falta de continuidad espacial y temporal en la ocupación de un sector cordillerano de la Patagonia Centro-Meridional durante el Holoceno. Para entender esto es fundamental establecer un marco cronológico, conocer el carácter e intensidad de las ocupaciones y evaluar su relación con los factores culturales y ambientales que podrÃan haber operado como condicionantes. El concepto de lugares persistentes (localidades con uso reiterado durante la ocupación a largo plazo de un área) es considerado central para entender el ritmo e historia de la ocupación de una región.
