The impact of mining on the woody vegetation of the southern Andes: a study of charcoal from the Andean Precordillera in central western Argentina in the 18th and 19th centuries

LUIS MAFFERRA; HORACIO CHIAVAZZA; FIDEL A. ROIG

VEGETATION HISTORY AND ARCHAEOBOTANY

SPRINGER

Año: 2019

0939-6314

Mining has played an important role in the generation of economic wealth since colonial times in South America. However,the impact of historical mining on the environment has not been studied in detail. In view of this, and based on the analysisof archaeological and modern wood data, we discuss the impact of historical mining and human occupation on the woodyvegetation of an arid region in the southern Andes. We present the results of the analysis of archaeobotanical charcoal remainsrecovered from the ?Los Hornillos? mining site located in the Andean Precordillera, northwestern Mendoza Province, Argen-tina. The archaeobotanical materials date from the late 18th to the early 19th century. Based upon wood anatomy, 60% ofcharcoal fragments were associated with Adesmia cf. uspallatensis, a shrub widely distributed there. We assessed the impactand legacy of human occupation on local and regional plant communities based on charcoal evidence, archaeological dataand the age of living A. uspallatensis shrubs growing around the mining site. This analysis allowed us to determine the rateof growth of this species (1.22 mm per year) and mean maximum ages of around 70 years. Therefore, the current develop-ment of woody communities in this area is thought to be representative of recovery after historical mining and occupationacross the Andean Precordillera and suggests that obtaining rewood for mining activities constituted an important factorin uencing past natural vegetation dynamics.