Archeological Hunter-gatherer landscapes since the latest Pleistocene in Fuego-Patagonia

SALEMME, MONICA; MIOTTI, LAURA

The Late Cenozoic of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego

Elsevier

Lugar: New York - London; Año: 2007; p. 437 - 483

            In this paper, we have focused the attention in Patagonia (both east and west of the Andean Ranges) and we will examine the archaeological contexts and available radiocarbon dates for three chronological intervals: (1) The Pleistocene/Holocene transition and the Early Holocene: a hazardous life at the uttermost end of the continent; (2) The Middle Holocene: the most significant socio-economic and environmental changes for mobile hunter-gatherer societies occurred during this interval (Borrero, 1989-1990, 2001a; Miotti, 1998, 2001, 2003a, 2006c; Miotti and Salemme, 1999, 2003, 2004); (3) The Late Holocene: when the major population dispersal occurred, until the contact with Europeans took place. Five sub-areas will be considered following a north-south direction. The Andean Cordillera must be taken into account as a barrier, permeable only through a few paths and only after 10 ka B.P. when the last glaciation finished, thus allowing the people connection between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. This mountain range -that runs from north to south across the continent but which changes into a west-east direction in the Fuegian Archipelago- is considered as a regional divide not only for most stream basins and different landscapes but also as a filter for peopling processes since the earliest occupations during the latest Pleistocene. The criteria used to subdivide this region into sub-areas have been the main river basins on both slopes (as it has been already considered by Miotti, 2003b, and Miotti and Salemme, 2003).