Search

Desert environments have generally been considered unsuitable places for the development of human communities. However, archaeological research shows that they have been intensively populated and traveled landscapes. These environments share common characteristics (scarcity of surface water, desert vegetation, high evapotranspiration, water imbalance, among others). But archaeological investigations account for the variability of both, desert settings and social trajectories of their populations. In Western Pampa (southwest of La Pampa province, Argentina), the distribution and availability of fresh water is the main variable for spatial organization of prehispanic populations. Also the crossroads of Indian trails or rastrilladas, articulated and connected places that mitigated its hostility, such as dune fields, springs, hill ranges, natural pools, temporary or permanent ponds. It is around these reservoirs that prehispanic human activities are recorded. Archaeological sites are sometimes ephemeral, in other of recurrent use. Considering the significant environmental dynamics of this landscape, it is possible to discuss the differential organizational patterns recorded alongside this arid region. Fil: Beron, Monica Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina

ResumenLos estudios sobre macro y microrrestos botánicos en contextos de cazadores-recolectoresde Pampa y Norpatagonia se han incrementado, al igual que el conocimiento del impacto de las plantas en la dieta de estas poblaciones. Con este propósito se han integrado diversos indicadores y técnicas analíticas. En algunos casos se registra el uso simultáneo de plantas silvestres y cultígenos. El marco temporal de uso de plantas domesticadas en la macroregión se ha desarrollado hasta ca. 2000 años a.P., mientras que la escala espacial se extiende entre el área cordillerana hasta las provincias fitogeográficas del monte y el espinal (34º a 40º S y 72º a 63º O aproximadamente). En este trabajo se presentan datos novedosos referidos a la presencia simultánea de maíz (Zea mays), cereales y leguminosas silvestres (Prosopis sp.y Poaceae) en contextos de cazadores-recolectores de la Pampa Occidental Argentina. Estos datos provienen del análisis de microfósiles en diferentes soportes: cerámica, artefactos de molienda y dientes humanos. Estos resultados permitieron conocer el rol que tuvieron las plantas para estas sociedades. A su vez, los datos fueron integrados, con investigaciones que focalizan el estudio de restos vegetales, tanto silvestres como domesticados, en una escala macroregional.

The ethnohistorical and archaeological bibliography on mortuary practices of the indigenous societies of Pampa and Patagonia refers extensively to the use of the envelope of bodies, for different purposes. One has been to facilitate the transport of the deceased until their final place of burial. This practice has been registered on the Chenque I site, a hunters- and-gatherers cemetery located in the Parque Nacional Lihue Calel, La Pampa, Argentina, used during the last part of late Holocene. It was applied both for primary as to secondary burials, being single and multiple. Some burials surrounded by a whitish doughy substance, where shell beads are imbricated, were recovered during the excavations carried out in various areas of the site. The purpose of this paper is to communicate the results of the verification methods applied to the aforementioned substance to corroborate that it is the product of the taphonomic degradation of leather. These methods allowed an approach to the identification of the species employed, possibly Rheidae. Secondly, the state of preservation of enveloped burials was compared with others without it, in order to inquire whether this mortuary practice had an effective role in protecting the human remains.