Between Foragers and Farmers: Climate Change and Human Strategies in Northwestern Patagonia

GIL, ADOLFO F.; VILLALBA, RICARDO; FRANCHETTI, FERNANDO R.; OTAOLA, CLARA; ABBONA, CINTHIA C.; PERALTA, EVA A.; NEME, GUSTAVO

Quaternary

www.mdpi.com/journal/quaternary

Año: 2020 vol. 3

In this paper we explore how changes in human strategies are dierentially modulatedby climate in a border area between hunter-gatherers and farmers. We analyze multiple proxies:radiocarbon summed probability distributions (SPDs), stable C and N isotopes, and zooarchaeologicaldata from northwestern Patagonia. Based on these proxies, we discuss aspects of human population,subsistence, and dietary dynamics in relation to long-term climatic trends marked by variation inthe Southern Annular Mode (SAM). Our results indicate that the farming frontier in northwesternPatagonia was dynamic in both time and space. We show how changes in temperature andprecipitation over the last 1000 years cal BP have influenced the use of domestic plants and thehunting of highest-ranked wild animals, whereas no significant changes in human population sizeoccurred. During the SAM positive phase between 900 and 550 years cal BP, warmer and driersummers are associated with an increase in C4 resource consumption (maize). After 550 years cal BP,when the SAM changes to the negative phase, wetter and cooler summer conditions are related toa change in diet focused on wild resources, especially meat. Over the past 1000 years, there was anon-significant change in the population based on the SPD.