PAST HUMAN POPULATIONS AND LANDSCAPES IN THE FUEGIAN ARCHIPELAGO, SOUTHERNMOST SOUTH AMERICA

IVANA LAURA OZÁN; MARÍA CECILIA PALLOCET

QUATERNARY RESEARCH

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2019

0033-5894

This contribution discusses possible relationships between human populations and Holocene environmental deterioration phenomena (cold/arid pulses and volcanic eruptions) in the Fuegian Archipelago (South America), based on summed probability distributions of archaeological dates, paleoenvironmental information, geospatial data and archaeological evidence. During first millennia after peopling, only the Hudson (ca. 7700 cal yr BP) and Monte Burney (ca. 8600 cal yr BP) eruptions might play a role in human dispersion. Particularly, a more intense human occupation around the Beagle Channel and long-distance interactions are proposed as risk-buffer strategies related to the Hudson eruption. A cooling phase and a demographic growth at ca. 5500 cal yr BP might favor more dispersed spatial occupations and a subsistence diversification in the Beagle Channel. In northern steppes, the Monte Burney eruption (ca. 4300 cal yr BP) and an arid episode (ca. 2600 cal yr BP) are proposed as main triggers for changes in land use patterns, long-network interactions and subsistence strategies. Even though occupational changes in the Fuegian Archipelago coexist with environmental deterioration episodes after 1500 cal yr BP, demographic processes and the European colonization most likely explain this trend. Similarities between the steppe/ecotone and forest occupational curves suggest common behavioral patterns across the Holocene.