HORTICULTURAL PRACTICES. AN APPROACH TO THEIR STUDY AT LTC1 AND CDLPB ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES (UPPER DELTA OF THE PARANÁ RIVER, ENTRE RÍOS, ARGENTINA) BASED ON THE ANALYSIS OF BIOSILICEOUS MICROREMAINS

COLOBIG, M. DE LOS MILAGROS; COSTA ANGRIZANI, RODRIGO; BONOMO, MARIANO

Praga

Congreso; 9th World Archaeological Congress; 2022

World Archaeological Congress

The southern expansion of cultivation is a central theme in the archaeology of north-eastern Argentina. However, its approach has not been easy because the environmental characteristics of the region have contributed to the poor preservation of plants and consequently to their limited visibility in the archaeological record. In recent years, biosiliceous microremains, highly resistant to humid conditions, have been recovered, which have provided direct evidence of plants used in different settlements, such as Cucurbitaceae, Bambusoideae, Arecaceae, Oryzoideae and Maideae. Specifically, to study the levels of cultivation, a series of markers have been developed to find patterns in settlements and sedimentary profiles that allow them to be associated with horticultural practices. These markers are related to chronicle information, comparison with ethnographic societies with mixed subsistence economies, discriminant function to find phytoliths assignable to maize, burnt lens levels, organic matter levels, water level and silica content. The studied sites LTC1 and CDLPB are both characterized as Cerritos (elevations of natural or anthropogenic origin) with settlements that record domestic activities, burials, and horticultural practices, where mainly sherds and faunal remains were found. The presence of the Goya Malabrigo Archaeological Entity has been identified in both sites, and in the second one, materials assignable to the Guaraní groups are considered one of the southernmost enclaves recorded to date. The results of the phytoliths analyses have made it possible to detect defined levels of Zea mays cultivation, alternately associated with Cucurbitaceae and other non-cultivated resources like Oryzoideae, Bambusoideae, Arecaceae that formed part of the subsistence.