A BIOGEOGRAPHIC APPROACH TO THE FARMING LIMITS IN NORTHERN PATAGONIA, ARGENTINA

GUSTAVO, NEME; GIL, ADOLFO F.; SALGÁN, M. LAURA; GIARDINA, MIGUEL; OTAOLA, CLARA; POMPEI, MARÍA DE LA PAZ; PERALTA, EVA A.; SUGRAÑES, NURIA; FRANCHETTI, FERNANDO; ABBONA, CINTHIA C.

Chungara

Universidad de Tarapaca

Año: 2021

0716-1182

The south of Mendoza province has been characterized as the southern frontier of South American pre-Hispanic agriculture in the oriental Andean slope. This characterization has been based on crops presence in the archaeological sites, and was base in a dichotomic view between hunter-gatherers and farmers. During the last decades the archaeological record have shown a complex and changing situation both at a spatial and temporal level, in relation to the dependence of human groups on this type of resources. Based on a biogeography model, different lines of analysis from the archaeological record are evaluated order to assess the impact of the environmental context on the agriculture spread into the region. The obtained results confirm the low importance of agriculture among human groups and the flexibility shown by them to face different environmental and demographic scenarios. Finally, it is proposed that the Patagonia environmental structure would have had a central role in the limits for the domestic plants dispersal in this region of South America.