People and sheep, wind and water: geomorphic processes and human impacts in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, and consequences for the archaeological record.

FANNING PATRICIA; SALEMME MÓNICA; PICKARD JOHN; SANTIAGO FERNANDO; ORÍA JIMENA

Queenstown,Tasmania (Australia)

Workshop; Australian and New Zealand Geomorphology Group Conference; 2008

Department of primary Industries and Water. TASMANIA

Tierra del Fuego more often invokes visions of rain and snow, Nothofagus forests and peat bogs, and mountains and glaciers, than the widespread grasslands on rolling terrain that are characteristic of the northeast of the island. The geomorphic environments and history of human settlement of northeastern Tierra del Fuego, Argentina (52030’S – 540S), have many similarities with the semi-arid rangelands of western NSW, Australia (290S – 34035’S). We present an overview of these similarities, and some initial observations on the consequences for the formation, preservation and visibility of the archaeological record.