INVESTIGADORES
BERON Monica Alejandra
artículos
Título:
First Records of Prehispanic Dogs in Southern South America (Pampa-Patagonia, Argentina)
Autor/es:
LUCIANO PRATES, FRANCISCO J. PREVOSTI, AND MONICA BERON
Revista:
CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY
Editorial:
Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.
Referencias:
Año: 2010 vol. 51 p. 273 - 280
ISSN:
0011-3204
Resumen:
We present the first solid evidence for prehispanic dogs in
southern South America (from Patagonia and the Pampas,
Argentina). Although several canine remains previously found
in Pampa-Patagonia were attributed at first to dogs, they were
subsequently determined to have been extinct foxes and/or
discarded for lack of clear diagnostic features or for unreliable
chronological information. The Patagonian remains presented
here consist of dental fragments found at the Angostura 1
site, a campsite located near the Negro River. The Pampean
evidence consists of a complete skeleton found at a cemetery
(the Chenque 1 site) located in the Lihue Calel National Park.
Both sites date to ca. 930 BP and are interpreted as having
been occupied by hunter-gatherer societies. Unlike in North
America, the presence of prehispanic dogs in South America
has always been associated with complex societies (mainly in
Peru and Ecuador) and not with egalitarian hunter-gatherers.
This paper proposes that the spread of dogs in South America
occurred mainly among Andean complex societies (especially
from 3500 BP). Introduction of dogs into egalitarian huntergatherer
societies in the Southern Cone would have occurred
later, around 1000 BP, when these societies appear to have
increased long-distance social contacts.