Foot engravings at the south of the middle Santa Cruz River and the information about human circulation in Southern Patagonia

NORA FRANCO; ANABEL FEELY; MARIANA SACCHI; TERESA CIVALERO; GUSTAVO LUCERO; BRUNO MOSQUERA; IZAGUIRRE, JOAQUÍN; ANTONELA DI VRUNO ; CARLOS ASCHERO; NICOLÁS MAVEROFF; MARCOS RAMBLA; NATALIA FERNÁNDEZ

Valcamonica

Congreso; XX International Rock Art Congress; 2018

Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici y Società Cooperativa Archeologica ?Le Orme dell?Uomo

The role of the Santa Cruz River in human circulation has long been discussed (e.g. Orquera 1987 Belardi et al. 1992). Here we present new information related to this topic generated in rescue works related to the construction of dams, which we analyze in conjunction with the one obtained in research projects.Although surface lithic material shows technological similarities with the one identified at the Upper SantaCruz River, rock motifs and techniques show some differences. Negative hand stencils have just beenidentified at La Porfiada and Cueva Walichu-Punta Bonita archaeological localities (figure 1). Engravingsare only present at La Porfiada, in the middle Santa Cruz River and absent in its upper Basin. They are also not frequent to the South. Human foot engravings, until the moment, have only been located at La Porfiada 1 and are not present in other sites to the South of the Santa Cruz River. On the contrary, they show similarities to the ones present to the North, where they are also not frequent. The similarity between these motifs and the ones identified to the North, in addition to the lack of human foot engravings to the South provides additional evidence of human circulation between both sides of the river (see also Franco et al. 2011). Probably, changes in human circulation occurred through time, a hypothesis which can explain similarities and differences between the Middle and Upper Santa Cruz River and which remains to be tested.