Was there a process of regionalization in Northeastern Patagonia during the Late Holocene?

MARTÍNEZ, GUSTAVO A.; CARDEN, NATALIA; BORGES VAZ, ERIKA; SANTOS VALERO, FLORENCIA; STOESSEL, LUCIANA; FLENSBORG, GUSTAVO; ALCARÁZ, ANA PAULA

Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology

Taylor and Francis, Inc.

Año: 2017

The objective of this article is to evaluate if changes in the social organization of hunter-gatherer groups from northeastern Patagonia (Argentina) during the Final Late Holocene (ca. 1000?250 years BP) maybe understood as a regionalization process. A portion of this region,the lower course of the Colorado River, is taken as a case study. Thisarid/semi-arid area is part of an ecotone between the Pampas andnortheastern Patagonia situated beside the Atlantic coast. Most of theevidence for occupation is concentrated in the Late Holocene, more precisely from 1000 to 250 BP. The archaeological record of this periodindicates increased human population, along with a greater intensityofsiteoccupation,thefirstsystematicevidenceofcoastaloccupation,reduced mobility and territoriality, diversification and intensification ofsubsistencepractices,changesintheprocurementanduseofexoticrawmaterials, more complex funerary practices, and decreased circulationof specific images in portable artifacts. Based on these data, it is proposed that in some sectors of northeastern Patagonia during the Initial Late Holocene (3000?1000 BP) relatively open social networks operated, while for the Final Late Holocene (1000?250 BP) relatively closedsocial networks took their place within a framework of increasing regionalization. Factors relating to the latter are likely to have includeddemographic packing, spatial circumscription, territorial behaviors,and changes in population dynamics that were accompanied by socialdifferentiation and more intense and competitive social interactionnetworks