Coastal colonisation of the southern tip of the world

TIVOLI, A.; TIVOLI, A.; ZANGRANDO, A. F.; ZANGRANDO, A. F.; FERNÁNDEZ ROPERO, M.C.; FERNÁNDEZ ROPERO, M.C.

York

Congreso; The Prehistoric Society Europa Conference 2018; 2018

The Prehistoric Society

In this paper we address some problems concerning the colonisation of Tierra del Fuego (southern South America), and in particular the role of coasts and marine environments in such process. Hunter-gatherer populations arrived to this region during the final Pleistocene. Archaeology research indicates that coastal-marine adaptations took place in the Fuegian archipelago millennia later (~6000 uncal. BP) as shown by the different composition and distribution of sites and their faunal and artefactual contents. Although coastal sites can be traced back to the early Holocene at the south coast of Tierra del Fuego, these occupations were interpreted as visits of foragers coming from inland environments. These notions about the prehistory of the region established a temporal discontinuity of more than approximately 5000 years between the first arrival of human populations and the colonisation of coastal and marine environments. Site formation and taphonomic factors can, however, distort our perceptions of coastal occupations and subsistence patterns. Early coastal sites are characterized by very poor preservation of organic material, which creates difficulties in the exploration of strategies of animal resource procurement. No shell midden formation is known previous to 6000 BP in the region. Although further studies are still required, interpretations about these early coastal foragers in Tierra del Fuego emphasize the technology and typology of lithic assemblages. We address two aims in this paper: 1. To discuss preconceptions and archaeological biases in relation to first coastal settlements in the south coast of Tierra del Fuego; 2. To assess problems of site formation and taphonomy, and the interpretation of archaeological discontinuities in the distribution of early coastal sites in the region.