The contribution of ethnobotany to the interpretation of macroremains: a qualitative step in the history of archaeobotany in Argentina

CAPPARELLI AYLEN; POCHETTINO, MARIA LELIA; LEMA VERÓNICA; LOPEZ, ML,; ANDREONI, DIEGO; CIAMPAGNA MARIA LAURA; LLANO, CARINA

Thessaloniki

Congreso; 16th Conference of the International WorkGroup for Palaeoethnobotany; 2013

School of History and Archaeology, Aristotele University of Thessaloniki

The objective of this presentation is to elucidate the interpretative inputs given by the ethnobotanical contribution to the archaeobotany of macroremains in Argentina during the last stages of the development of the discipline. The presentation includes an exhaustive compilation, site by site, of plant parts of different taxa recovered by the researchers up to the present from each archaeological area of the country: NOA (Northwest), NEA (Northeast), COA (Centre-West), Sierras Pampeanas (Pampa Hills), Pampa and Patagonia. We also consider in the compilation archaeological artifacts made from plants, in the case the species used were already taxonomically identified. The presentation includes the revision of approx. two hundred publications of archaeological sites dated from the Early to the Late Holocene. It is interesting to note that some genera are common to more than one spatial area (i.e. Prosopis, Schinus, Oxalis, andScirpus, and also that the use of some taxa are much extended throughout the time (i.e. Prosopis). A summary of the most relevant archaeobotanical themes investigated in each area (i.e. local domestication and intensification processes, agriculture, horticulture, use of wild vs. cultivated plants, among others) are described, and similarities and differences between areas are established. Finally, the ethnobotanical contribution produced in the history of archaeobotany in Argentina is analysed on the base of the different research projects that are being carried out by the authors during the last 20 years. They include ethnobotanical and experimental studies on wild (i.e. Prosopis, Celtis, among others) and cultivated (Chenopodium quinoa, Cucurbita spp., among others) taxa mainly used for food, that are applied to the recognition of different types of ancient post-harvest processing, which consequently have different archaeological meanings depending on the case (see Capparelli 2011, Capparelli y Lema 2011, Lema 2011, López et al 2011, Cueto et al 2011, Llano 2011, among others). These investigations, the first ones in this thematic area, constitute a qualitative step in the history of archaeobotany in Argentina because allow going beyond the analysis of the simply use-no use of an ancient plant.