Frontiers and Fortlets at the Pampa Region, Argentina

BAGALONI, VANESA; PEDROTTA, VICTORIA

HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY

The Society for Historical Archaeology / Springer

Año: 2018 vol. 52 p. 348 - 371

0440-9213

Research of military fortified sites has been significant in Argentinean Historical Archaeology since its beginnings in the 1990?s. The study of five mid 19th century contemporaneous outpost fortlets from the southern frontier of the Pampa region exemplifies a new perspective to the traditional historical view focused on chronology and the definition of the military line of the frontier. It also improves the understanding of the fortlets by providing its own original interpretations regarding their materiality (settlement pattern, architecture, goods provision and circulation, social interaction, among others). Furthermore, archaeological perspectives have proved not only meaningful in terms of material culture but also in documental research by providing an anthropological interpretation of written and graphic sources, setting a new agenda for the study of fortlets and frontiers in the Pampa region.