Current Research in Archaeology of South American Pampas

BONNAT, G. F.; ÁLVAREZ, M. C.; MAZZANTI, D.; BARROS, P.; BONOMO, M.

Springer-Nature

Lugar: Cham; Año: 2024 p. 427

978-3-031-55194-9

The South American Pampas is a huge biome that comprises the southern half of the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, the entire Uruguay, and central-eastern Argentina. In Argentina, the Pampas region constitutes the most important grassland ecosystem in the country (Mateucci, 2012). Based on a usually marked 600 mm isohyet (Burgos, 1968), this region is divided into two subregions: (1) the “Humid Pampas” or “Eastern Pampas” and (2) the “Dry Pampas” or “Western Pampas”. In general, the Humid Pampas receives an average of 1000 mm precipitation per year and it is favored by the wetter winds from the Atlantic Ocean. In the Dry Pampas, the average annual rainfall is 400 mm. Today the typical vegetation of the region is grasslands, and one of the most relevant characteristics is the scarcity of trees (Sala et al., 2001). However, recent studies indicate the presence of xerophytic forests in some hilly sectors during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (Brea et al., 2020). In terms of quantity and abundance of vegetal species, grasses are dominated by the Poaceae family. Currently, a large part of the native grasslands has been replaced by exotic seeded species, especially crops (Cabrera & Zardini, 1993).