Is fishing intensification a direct route to hunter-gatherer complexity? A case study from the Beagle Channel region (Tierra del Fuego, southern South America)

ZANGRANDO A. F.

World Archaeology

Routledge. Taylor & Francis Group

Lugar: Glasgow; Año: 2009 vol. 41 p. 589 - 608

0043-8243

This paper presents a case study of fish intensification in the subsistence of hunter-gatherers andfishers who inhabited the Beagle Channel region in southern South America. The main goal is toidentify and to understand the multiple factors and conditions under which fishing intensificationoperated in this area, regarding it as a process integrated by multiple potential strategies.Ichthyoarchaeological assemblages from eight sites are examined against the predictions of a generalintensification model evaluating variations in animal-based subsistence through time. Spatial,environmental and historical dimensions of the intensification process are analysed and evidence ofincreased effort in fishing activities is observed. Results support the existence of a foragingreorganization on a regional scale, a mechanism by which fish productivity was raised.