South American Archaeology Series – serie

This book collects the contributions to the symposium "The current state of evolutionary archeology in Argentina" that was held in Buenos Aires, for celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of "On the Origin of Species". The meeting was sponsored by the IMHICIHU-CONICET (Instituto Multidisciplinario de Historia y Ciencias Humanas-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas). Contents: PREFACE (Hernan J. Muscio and Marcelo Cardillo); INTRODUCTION (Hernan J. Muscio and Marcelo Cardillo); CULTURAL ADAPTATIONS: IS IT CONCEPTUALLY COHERENT TO APPLY NATURAL SELECTION TO CULTURAL EVOLUTION? (Santiago Ginnobili); THEORY OF CLASSIFICATION AND TAXONOMICAL SCHOOLS: A SYNTHESIS FOR ARCHAEOLOGY (Daniel Garcia Rivero); ENVIRONMENT, SPACE, HISTORY, AND TECHNOLOGICAL EVOLUTION. THE CASE OF THE PATAGONIAN COAST (Marcelo Cardillo); ON THE PROBLEM OF IDENTIFYING HOMOLOGIES IN LITHIC ARTIFACTS (Gustavo Barrientos); LOCAL EXTINTION, POPULATION DYNAMICS AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL PATTERNS OF CULTURAL EVOLUTION: A CASE STUDY IN THE NORTH PUNA OF ARGENTINA (Hernan Muscio); HUMAN HOLOCENE COLONIZATION, DIET BREADTH AND NICHE CONSTRUCTION IN SIERRAS OF CORDOBA [ARGENTINA] (Diego Rivero and Matias Medina); THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LEGACY: EVOLUTION, BIOGEOGRAPHY AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES (Juan Bautista Belardi, Ramiro Barberena, Rafael Goni and Anahi Re)

This book is about how hunter-gatherer groups maintained a relationship with the use and management of fire in the Late Holocene of Southern Precordillera. The line of study developed here as part of the anthracology made use of methodologically systematic analysis of the remains of charcoal from the archaeological site Alero Deodoro Roca B. This industry focused on a time frame of ca. 1900 years AP to ca.3900 years AP. Studies carried out in the Alero Deodoro Roca allow us to understand, on the one hand, the different methods of preservation of charcoal record in the succession of combustion events, and, secondly, to discuss the variability of species present within the composition of the flora in the paleoenvironment. Functional association is proposed for various uses; as a source of heat, cooking, and preparation of raw materials among the possibilities.

As part of a series of research projects on the Archaeology of hunter-gatherers societies in the Southern Pampean Hills this presents, among other things, the study of various aspects of the organization of lithic technology and strategies for the use of lithic resources by prehistoric populations. This is in order to understand the social aspects that allow us to recognize and describe habitus or ways of doing things. In this book we studied lithic assemblages, in the manner described above from stratigraphic levels of the Alero Deodoro Roca (Deodoro Roca Rockshelter) comprising chronologies between ca. 3000 years BP to ca. 3600 years BP. We propose that behind the technical movements, organization of the production, distribution of activities in space, the selection of raw materials and any other technological activity, there are people and groups who make decisions based on the context, needs, history and knowledge. We ask ourselves: What affected material selection for the production of stone tools rocks? Was there a differential selection depending on the desired end product? And if so, was it different in diachronic moments? What techniques were used in the production of what instruments? What productive activities were conducted in Alero Deodoro Roca and which were not? What role did the tools produced have? This study aims to produce relevant and new information that expands our knowledge of technological strategies used by the human groups in order to compare them with those produced in other areas of the Sierras. It will contribute to a process of constructing knowledge about hunter-gatherers of the valleys of Cordoba province, by studying lithic technology and therefore raising new questions for further studies.

The present book aims to study the use of lithic raw materials on the coast of the San Matías gulf (Río Negro, Argentina) during the middle and late Holocene. The understanding of this aspect of human group technology is of fundamental importance as the main archaeological materials recovered at the surface sites of the study area are lithic artefacts made from different types of rock. Thus, understanding how these were selected, reduced and finally discarded will contribute to the understanding of the way of life of the hunter-gatherer groups that inhabited the area during this period. Spanish description: El presente libro tiene como objetivo estudiar el uso de las materias primas líticas en la costa del golfo San Matías (Río Negro, Argentina) durante el Holoceno medio y tardío. El entendimiento de este aspecto de la tecnología de los grupos humanos es de fundamental importancia ya que los principales materiales arqueológicos recuperados en los sitios de superficie del área de estudio son los artefactos líticos fabricados a partir de diferentes tipos de rocas. Así, entender la forma en que éstas fueron seleccionadas, reducidas y finalmente descartadas aportará a la comprensión del modo de vida de los grupos cazadores-recolectores que habitaron el área en el período mencionado.

Magallania defines the region between the Santa Cruz river basin to the north and the Fuegian expression of the Andes to the south. It is one of the southernmost spaces in the world and the last to be occupied by humans, a process that occurred at least at the end of the Pleistocene (11,000 to 9,000 AP) and before the complete formation of the Strait of Magellan (ca. 8000 AP). Thereafter, the Strait functioned as a biogeographic barrier, creating conditions for divergent cultural evolution between the populations of the mainland and Tierra del Fuego. For this reason, the archeology of Magallania offers a unique possibility to inquire about the relationship between the environmental dynamics and the spatial organization of populations of hunter-gatherers settled on both sides of the Strait of Magellan. Spanish Description: En su versión original, Magallania es el nombre acuñado por Martinic para definir la región comprendida entre la cuenca del río Santa Cruz al norte hasta la expresión fueguina de la cordillera de los Andes al sur. Es uno de los espacios más australes del mundo y de los últimos en ser ocupados por humanos, proceso que ocurrió al menos a fines del Pleistoceno (11.000 a 9.000 AP) y antes de la completa formación del estrecho de Magallanes (ca. 8000 AP). A partir de entonces el Estrecho funcionó como una barrera biogeográfica, creando condiciones para que ocurra la evolución cultural divergente entre las poblaciones del continente y la Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. Por este motivo, la arqueología de Magallania ofrece una posibilidad única para indagar acerca de la relación entre la dinámica ambiental y la organización espacial de las poblaciones de cazadores recolectores asentadas a un lado y otro del estrecho de Magallanes.

Urban archeology in the central area of ??the City of Cordoba, Argentina. Excavations at the corporate headquarters of the Bank of the Province of Córdoba (2014-2016).

This book offers a valuable contribution to the development of a methodology to address the study of archaeological quartz artifacts, combining various analytical tools to study these objects so that we might better understand the technological strategies of hunting societies who made use of this raw material. | La meta de este libro es aportar al desarrollo de una metodología para abordar el estudio de artefactos arqueológicos de cuarzo, focalizándose en la combinación de diversas herramientas analíticas que permitan estudiar estos utensilios y contribuir así a una mejor comprensión de las estrategias tecnológicas de las sociedades cazadoras recolectoras que hicieron uso de esta materia prima. Ello implica, por un lado, evaluar el potencial de dicha roca para la producción de instrumentos líticos, considerando las distintas técnicas de talla, así como analizar las propiedades y cualidades de los filos para la realización de diversas actividades de incidencia sobre la materia en general, considerando a las de corte y raspado, en particular. Con el fin de someter a prueba esta propuesta, es que se abordarán como caso de estudio las estrategias tecnológicas implementadas por los grupos cazadores-recolectores que habitaron en el Valle de Calamuchita (provincia de Córdoba) durante el Holoceno medio y tardío, estudiando allí el rol cumplido por el cuarzo como materia prima, así como el uso y manufactura de artefactos de cuarzo en dicho contexto particular. Consta de tres partes principales: la primera de ellas aborda el enfoque metodológico y consta de cinco capítulos; la segunda parte comprende los resultados obtenidos luego de la aplicación de estos desarrollos metodológicos a través de programas experimentales tanto de manufactura como de uso de instrumentos sobre cuarzo ; por último, la tercer parte incluye la aplicación de los resultados obtenidos en el análisis de un caso de estudio en sitios arqueológicos de Calamuchita.

This book presents the results and discussion of archaeofaunal studies which took place in the northern San Matías Gulf (Rio Negro Province) during the last six years, focussing on terrestrial mammals and birds. The general objective of this research is to determine what was the mode of operation of terrestrial vertebrates (small and big), and the importance that they had in the survival of human populations that occupied the coastline during the late Holocene (last 3000 years).