Archaeology

The use of Historical sources for interpreting, explaining and evaluating archaeological contextsand/or social processes has been a common practice in Patagonian Archaeology. On the other hand, Archeology as a source for hypothesis in History has not been frequently considered. This situation may be explained by the historical relationship between both disciplines, where archaeologists havefrequently needed documental sources, but historians rarely needed archaeological interaction. Nevertheless, Archaeology represents an important source for interpreting historical regional processes. In the post-contact centuries, even during the 20th century, historical sources leadthe understanding of the Patagonian past scenario and refer specially to the coastal territory leaving the inland almost unreferenced. This situation suggests the necessity to use the archaeological record, in order to understand and explain more deeply the processes under study.This paper proposes that Archaeology has the potential to generate hypothesis in order to be tested in the Historical field. Two study cases are presented herein; one in Neuquén (northern Patagonia) and the other in Santa Cruz (southern Patagonia).

In this paper information is presented regarding new rock art sites located in the south of Lake Strobel Plateau. This information allows the discussion of the internal variability in the use of this plateau by human groups. Its possible
causes are analyzed, including size of concentrations, time elapsed between the execution of different engravings and differences in space use in relation to different ways of access. In addition, hypotheses that were presented in previous articles and that refer to a possible population convergency during the Late Holocene in Lake Strobel Plateau are discussed.

In this paper, an outline of the main results of the archaeological research carried out in Cardiel Lake and Strobel Lake basins in Southam Patagonia (Argentina), is presented. The study is focused on the Iast 2500 14C yem BP. The evidence that has been gathered points to the existence of significant differences in the use of diverse environmental settings across the region by the prehistoric populations. Moreover, the proposed population dynamics indicates the logistical integration of close and distant spatial settings into a broad supra-regional circuitt , and this allows the discussion of the increasingly hierarchical spatial organisation of he aboriginal populations of Southern Patagonia during the Late Holocene.
Key words: Late Holocene. Patagonia. Peopling. Space use.

"During the 19th century, stockbreeding in Argentinean Patagonia
started to advance over the area occupied by the local indigenous people, ethnographically known as Aónikenk or Tehuelches meridionales, introducing significant changes to their settlement patterns. Institutionally, indigenous peoples were circumscribed into specifically designed reserves. The archaeological record shows that particular individuals chose to marginalize themselves from these changes, both spatially and as a strategy to adapt to the new circumstances brought by the arrival of the stockbreeding community. These strategies are little known, as evidence of them was plunged into an “historical silence.” The analysis of two sites, Puesto Yatel and Puesto Quintillán, provides a wide range of material culture evidence for these processes, including architectural features, chipped-glass technology (scrapers), metal, wood, lithic technology, and the archaeofaunal record. This new archaeological evidence is crucial for gaining a detailed understanding of 19th- and 20th-century indigenous communities in Patagonia. "

Research conducted at the Strobel plateau area (Santa Cruz Province) is directed to assess the population dynamics of the area in broad chronological and spatial scales. In this paper we present the analysis of a lithic bolas assemblage associated to Puesto Yatel site, occupied during recent historical moments of the peopling of the area. The lithic bolas assemblage was originally recorded in a small lake setting, most likely showing tools lost in hunting activities. The assemblage is described and key implications for the indigenous historical peopling of the area are commented.

"El análisis tecnológico y funcional de raspadores de vidrio y de gres cerámico recuperados
en dos sitios arqueológicos ubicados en la actual Reserva / Comunidad Tehuelche (Aonikenk)
Camusu Aike aporta a la discusión sobre la variabilidad de contextos en los que fue empleada esta
tecnología desde fines del siglo XIX y siglo XX. La evidencia muestra la manufactura, uso sobre
cuero y descarte de los raspadores y, sobre la base de la distribución lineal de los hallazgos, se
infiere la presencia de toldos. Se compara la información con la obtenida en sitios de adscripción
indígena ubicados en el lago Strobel, caracterizados por el aislamiento familiar rural mediante
estrategias individuales no institucionalizadas. Se contribuye así con el conocimiento de las
poblaciones indígenas en momentos en que se consolidan los cambios impuestos desde el Estado
Nacional así como también la ocupación ganadera del territorio de Santa Cruz.

"GLASS AND STONEWARE SCRAPERS IN THE TEHUELCHE (AONIKENK) RESERVE OF CAMUSU AIKE: CONTRIBUTIONS TO XIX AND XX CENTURY INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS STUDIES IN SANTA CRUZ PROVINCE" The technological and functional analyses of glass and stoneware scrapers recovered from two archaeological sites located in the Tehuelche (Aonikenk) Reservation, nowadays Community, of Camusu Aike contribute to the discussion of the variability of contexts in which this technology was used towards the end of the XIX century and the XX century. The evidence shows the scraper manufacture, hide working, and discard. Based on the lineal display of the findings we infer a toldo type distribution pattern. We compare this information with that of other two sites located at Strobel lake. These are characterized by rural-familiar isolation produced by individual non-institutional strategies. We thus contribute to the knowledge of indigenous peoples during times when National State-imposed changes and the growing stock-breeding occupations were consolidated in the Santa Cruz province.

This article seeks to generate a contribution to the knowledge of the peopling dynamics of hunters in southern Patagonia during
the middle and late Holocene within fluctuating climatic conditions. In order to do this, different archaeological evidences were analyzed from diverse environments in Santa Cruz province (Argentina). An interesting variability in the archaeological record
was identified, in close relation with the environmental modifications registered in the Holocene.

Este trabajo busca generar un aporte al conocimiento de la dinámica poblacional de cazadores, en Patagonia meridional, durante el Holoceno medio y tardío en el marco de condiciones climáticas altamente fluctuantes. Para este fin se analizaron distintas líneas de evidencias arqueológicas provenientes de diferentes ambientes del centro-oeste de la provincia de Santa Cruz, Argentina. Se identificó una interesante variabilidad del registro arqueológico, en estrecha relación con las modificaciones ambientales registradas en el Holoceno.