Geological and Geographic Resources among Hunter-gatherers of Tierra del Fuego (Southernmost South America): a View from Archaeological and Ethnographic Data

BORRAZZO, KAREN; VAZQUEZ, M.

Geological Resources of Tierra del Fuego

Springer

Año: 2021; p. 219 - 243

This chapter deals with geological resources in a distinctive manner: it explores their use as raw materials and geographic markers within hunter-gatherer societies that occupied the Fuegian Archipelago since the end of the Pleistocene until historic times. Here we summarize archaeological and ethnographic data that allow us to identify past human decision-making, particularly some of the specific reasons for the choices that Fuegian people made about rocks and landscape features, as well as the ideas related to them. The trends observed in both archaeological and ethnographic data emphasize the deep knowledge that these populations have on the spatial distribution, physical properties and the potential use of minerals and rocks in the Fuegian landscape. Ethnographic mythological narratives underscore the central role of geology in building Selk?nam maps of the islandscape.