Where does the South begin? Social variability at the bottom of the

J. BARCELÓ, MA. F. DEL CASTILLO, L. MAMELI, E. MORENO & B. VIDELA

Arctic Anthropology

The University of Wisconsin Press publishes

Lugar: Wisconsin; Año: 2007

1933-8139

For thousends of years, hunter-gatherer societies from southern and central Patagonia inhabited a subantarctic landscape. In this paper we argue against the traditional assumption of simplicity used to describe those societies. We examine population diversity from the ecological, archaeological, and ethnohistorical points of view. The study of variability at the economic and social scale is emphasized. The temporal trajectory of social change is also considered. All this evidence suggests that social variability and complexity were greater than expected. Our approach intends to critically review traditional archaeological approaches, and it suggests new research lines to allow  for a better understanding of social dynamics, and those processes of change explaining the degrees of social complexity and hierarchy arrived in recent times, when the industrial world violently disarticulated those societies.