Marine Ventures: The Cambaceres Surveys, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

BJERCK, H.; ZANGRANDO, A. F.; HEIDI MJELVA BREIVIK; PIANA, E.L.; NEGRE, J.

2016-02-01/2016-07-01

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Informe arqueológico

Prom.Gral.del Conoc.-Cs.Humanas

This report is related to the Marine Ventures project, and describes field surveys in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina ? The Cambaceres Surveys. This is a detailed survey of the settlements in a 4km2 large area in Cambaceres, located in the eastern part of the Beagle Channel, Argentinean Tierra del Fuego at the far south of South America. The survey mainly concentrated on shell midden formations, both larger and smaller, and the characteristic house pit formations where shell refuse is arranged in a protective ?wall? around the dwelling. While previous surveys are mainly about larger settlements as a whole, our survey is more detailed, and encompasses individual GPS mapping of single structures. This gives the opportunity to see settlement structures more clearly and investigate how simple structures aggregate in larger settlements.The survey includes a total of 1251 structures, of which 804 are dwelling pits, 432 are shell midden domes, and 15 are other sites ? ranging from around 7500 BP (uncal.) to the recent past. The Cambaceres Surveys also includes a targeted test pit survey aimed at locating older settlements without preserved organic material, defined as Early Coastal Forager (ECF) sites. The discovery of the large Binushmuka I settlement is an important result. At this site, two ECF lithic concentrations were discovered, dated to 7300?7500 BP. Details from excavations at Binushmuka is described in a separate report (Zangrando et al. in progress). The test pit survey also includes a number of other localities where ECF settlements could be expected, but with negative results.