La Teledetección al servicio de la Arqueología en la provincia de Santa Cruz, Patagonia Argentina.

MARCHIONNI, D.; GOÑI, R.; CASSIODORO G.; GUICHON, F; RE. A.; DELLEPIANE J.; FLORES CONI J.; GARCÍA GURAIEB, S.

Congreso; Advances in remote sensing for cultural heritage; 2015

The use of satellite images as a working tool in archaeological investigation becomes a promising field of application mainly in remote regions as Patagonia (Argentina), which hosted diverse groups of hunter- gatherers in a scenery of specific geomorphologic and climatic characteristics during the Holocene. The inaccessibility of the region, in southernmost South America, highlights remote sensing as a useful investigation tool. Satellite images are an inexhaustible source of information to understand the circulation and access of specific areas by these populations, in the frame of an environmental context where its main characteristic is the differential distribution of water in the landscape, as well as to understand the potential restrictions for human settlements related to the extreme climatic conditions (Last Maximum Glacial).The main ideas for an investigation are proposed, through an interdisciplinary frame, which seeks to reconstruct the scenery which humans encountered in this region along the Holocene. The unstable climatic conditions from this period brought profound and sudden changes in the landscape and in the available resources. This approach will enable a comprehension and hierarchization of the spaces which were occupied in this region related to environmental characteristics such as presence of faunistical, bothanic and mineral resources, circulation paths, water availability, accessibility to sites, etc. The results obtained will allow the definition of guiding elements for the archaeological research in unknown areas from this vast region.