Human Ranking of Spaces and the Role of Caches: Case Studies from the South of Patagonia (Argentina)

CORTEGOSO V. ; V. DURAN; FRANCO, N. ; LUCERO, G

Orlando

Congreso; SAA 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology; 2016

Society for American Archaeology

Storage of artifacts is a common behavior among hunter-gatherers. Archaeologically, caches have been identified in different places. In this paper, we focus on the discussion of the role of caches recovered in two different environments in southern Patagonia: the southern end of the Deseado Massif and the upper Santa Cruz river basin. In the first case, two caches, attributed to the colonization of this environment have been identified, while in the second case, the cache recovered would correspond to the effective occupation of this area. Cache information is integrated into the known archaeological record of both spaces and the ones located close to them and compared with data on raw material availability. Available paleoenvironmental information, dealing with the existence of arid periods, is also taken into account. This study is framed on GIS least-cost models for human circulation, which are used in order to model and study mobility patterns in heterogeneous landscapes. Information obtained allows us to discuss selection criteria used by hunter-gatherers during different moments of peopling of these environments.