Luis Borrero´s Model of Peopling of Patagonia: Some Examples of his Application in Lithic and Mobility Studies

FRANCO, NORA VIVIANA

Albuquerque

Congreso; 84vo. Annual Meeting Society for American Archaeology; 2019

Society for American Archaeology

Borrero?s work has greatly influenced Patagonian archaeology. Through his papers and classes, he strongly influenced new generations of archaeologists. In the case of lithic studies, his model of the peopling of Patagonia was integrated with ethnoarchaeological information within an organization of technology framework in order to generate expectations to be tested with the archaeological record of the Upper Santa Cruz River basin. Results obtained, which took into account the availability and quality of lithic resources, allowed researchers to identify the main changes in the way this space was utilized, which were in turn related to environmental changes. In addition, the application of this model, allowed researchers to identify not only an exploration phase of human peopling of this environment at the beginning of the Holocene, but also a new exploration at ca. 500 BP which, according to genetic results recently obtained, corresponds to the introduction of a new human population. In the case of the Southern Deseado Massif, the application of the same model was useful to understand the role of different resources in the human ranking of habitats, as well as the technological and mobility strategies used during initial human dispersal into this environment.