Those Were the Deserts: Archaeological and Bioarchaeological Evidence of Late Holocene Human Peopling in Southern Patagonia

GOÑI, RAFAEL AGUSTIN; GARCÍA GURAIEB, SOLANA; GUICHON, FRANCISCO

Mendoza

Congreso; 4th Southern Deserts Conference; 2014

Universidad Nacional de Cuyo - Fac. de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales - Laboratorio de Paleo-ecología Humana

The characterization of an area as a ?desert? or?arid? tends to carry a negative connotation,especially in terms of human settlement.However, in southern Patagonia, the progressivedesiccation that took place throughout theHolocene, particularly during the late Holocene(the last 2500 years), established new landscapesand opened spaces suitable for humanoccupation. During the Early and MiddleHolocene, the large water bodies occupied greatextensions of Southern Patagonia and restrictedhuman mobility and circulation whereas themore constrained distribution of water duringthe last three millennia has allowed humanpopulations to widely expand their mobilityranges and niches, incorporating practicallyevery available space, in what has been definedas an ?extensification? process. Also, large tractsof territory previously covered with water weregradually occupied by dunes and duneenvironments, which were, in turn, colonized byshrub species, of which the molle (Schinus sp)played an important role for humans. This shrub,with its relatively large and provides amplecover, gave human populations the ability to findshelter in open-air settings along their newsettlement routes. Thus, human mobility ceasedto be determined by fixed points in space suchas caves and rockshelters, which had been ofvital importance during the Early and MiddleHolocene; settlement of the region was nowpossible in other steppe niches.In this presentation, we posit that localenvironmental desiccation processes far frominhibiting hunter-gatherers? Late Holocenesettlement, strongly favored it. We usearchaeological, bioarchaeological, and satelliteremote sensing data to assess these hypotheses.The case study is from the steppe region ofnorthwestern Santa Cruz Province whichcomprises the lake basins and plateaus betweenLake Salitroso and Lake Cardiel. As stated inprevious research, throughout the LateHolocene, environmental conditions in this areaexperienced a progressive desiccation trendreaching its maximum during signficantdroughts of the Medieval Climatic Anomaly(~1200?600 BP). This would have causedsubstantial changes in hunter-gatherers? landuse and mobility strategies and particularly after1000 BP, a time of marked reductions inresidential mobility. The evidence for the last twomillennia points to a recurrent human use ofthese two low-altitude basins, which would havehad suitable conditions for human habitationduring these times. At Lake Cardiel, the mostintense archaeological signal of humanoccupation is recorded between ~2000 and 1000BP whereas at Lake Salitroso, more redundantand stable use began ~900 BP, suggesting ademographic recovery after droughts during theMedieval Climatic Anomaly. Thus, during the aridLate Holocene, there was a significant increase inthe archaeological evidence throughoutsouthern Patagonia, but at the same time, thereare differences in the timing and nature of theseoccupations. Evidence presented here aims tocontribute to the discussion of the complexitiesof deserts as environments suitable for humansettlement, by showing that that deserts areneither inhospitable nor homogeneous in termshuman habitation and conditions.