En la Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego las sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras han utilizado materia... more En la Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego las sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras han utilizado materias primas óseas para la manufactura de artefactos desde hace 6000 años AP. Diversas unidades anatómicas de diferentes especies de animales, tales como cetáceos, aves, guanacos (Lama guanicoe), pinnípedos (Otaria flavescens y Arctocephalus australis) y cánidos han sido usados para la manufactura de diferentes tipos de artefactos y adornos. No obstante, pese a la importancia de dicha tecnología poco se conoce sobre su contexto de producción y uso. En este marco, se presentan los resultados alcanzados en el Programa Experimental de Tecnología Ósea en huesos de guanaco, con el fin de identificar, explicar y diferenciar la formación de rastros tecnológicos y de uso sobre artefactos de hueso, a partir del análisis funcional de base microscópica. El desarrollo del Programa Experimental, es imprescindible metodológicamente en este tipo de investigación, dado que permite comprender los procesos y variables que intervienen en la producción y uso de los instrumentos óseos, a partir de la manipulación y el control de las condiciones bajo las cuales los experimentos son producidos y por lo tanto alcanzar datos confiables acerca de las causas que generaron ciertos efectos. Al existir en los estudios experimentales un control explícito de las variables, se pueden observar sus efectos e identificar cuáles son las de mayor relevancia para explicar el registro arqueológico. Durante este trabajo se replicaron seis grupos morfológicos (dos recientemente definidos en un trabajo previo) que se encuentran en los contextos arqueológicos del Norte de la Isla, entre ellos se encuentran las epífisis con negativos de lascados, lascas adheridas y aplastamiento de fibras, los filos largos sobre escápula, las puntas romas, las diáfisis de hueso largo sin formatización con rastros complementarios, las puntas agudas y las bi-puntas. Para ello se llevaron a cabo las siguientes etapas: 1) Búsqueda de materia prima, que abarcó la desarticulación de las carcasa de guanaco y la limpieza de la diversas partes esqueletarias: huesos largos (diáfisis y epífisis) y planos (escápulas), 2) Confección de las piezas a partir de diversas procesos técnicos, entre ellos: aserrado, pulido, raspado, etc., siguiendo la información obtenida de fuentes etnográficas y bibliográficas, 3) Caracterización de los rastros de manufactura, 4) Uso de los instrumentos óseos en diversos procesos productivos, a partir de fuentes y bibliografía especializada y 5) Caracterización de los rastros de uso macro y microscópicos. En suma, consideramos que los datos generados en este desarrollo experimental posibilitarán llevar a cabo inferencias más ajustadas sobre la producción y uso de los artefactos óseos en contextos arqueológicos. De esta manera, aportará al conocimiento tecnológico de las sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras pedestres que ocuparon la estepa Fueguina durante el Holoceno.
Research from the Beagle Channel (Tierra del Fuego) offers a rich ethnographic and historical rec... more Research from the Beagle Channel (Tierra del Fuego) offers a rich ethnographic and historical record produced by the late inclusion of Tierra del Fuego in the industrial world (the Beagle Channel was discovered by R. Fitz-Roy in 1830). This is an interesting frame for using new techniques (social simulation by Agent Based Modelling (ABM)) to generate new hypotheses in archaeology. In this case, the hypothesis is focused on the role of social cooperation in Yámana hunter-fisher-gatherer society
ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to show how an ethnoarchaeological perspective can be profitabl... more ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to show how an ethnoarchaeological perspective can be profitable when applied to improve a crucial issue of the archaeological and anthropological fields of research: processes of social aggregation between hunter- gatherer populations. For that purpose, we present the analytical framework of a project addressed to identify the material correlates of an aggregation event developed by hunter-fisher-gatherer societies who inhabited the southern tip of South America.
Este trabajo explora la variabilidad espacial del registro arqueológico en asentamientos cazadore... more Este trabajo explora la variabilidad espacial del registro arqueológico en asentamientos cazadores-recolectores del litoral atlántico de Tierra del Fuego (Argentina), mediante el desarrollo teórico y metodológico de un conjunto de herramientas de carácter cuantitativo. El objetivo es evaluar la intensidad de ocupación a partir de tres casos de estudio, mediante la aplicación de distintos enfoques provenientes de la estadística espacial, el análisis de la diversidad del registro arqueológico y el estudio de rastros de uso en artefactos líticos. Los resultados de esta propuesta han permitido relacionar el grado de complejidad entre la organización social del espacio, la variabilidad del registro material y los niveles de intensidad de ocupación. ENGLISH: Spatial Variability and Occupation Intensity in Hunter-Gatherer Sites from the Atlantic Coast of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. This work focuses on the spatial variability of the archaeological record at hunter-gatherer sites on the At...
Abstract This paper presents an Experimental Program developed to identify, describe and differen... more Abstract This paper presents an Experimental Program developed to identify, describe and differentiate the production traces from use-wear traces on bone artifacts, through the application of functional analysis framework. For this purpose, several types of guanaco bone tools present in northern sites of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (South America) were replicated. The results enable us to: 1) differentiate and define the microscopic traces related to the manufacture techniques implemented in the production sequence: scraping, abrasion and sawing as well as 2) identify and describe the use-wear traces of different resources (wood, hide and bark). The results have allowed to identify the manufacture traces that were formed in each stage of the production process as well as the use-wear traces of different working procedures. Likewise, the data obtained have enabled us to identify the differences in the use of dry and fresh bones, their effectiveness in different labour processes and their respectively diagnostic traces. Thus, we attained a regional frame of reference to study bone technology carried out by hunter-gatherer societies that occupied the Fuegian steppe during the late Holocene.
The present work aims to quantitatively explore and understand the relationship between mobility ... more The present work aims to quantitatively explore and understand the relationship between mobility types (nautical versus pedestrian), specific technological traits and shared technological knowledge in pedestrian hunter-gatherer and nautical hunter-fisher-gatherer societies from the southernmost portion of South America. To that end, advanced statistical learning techniques are used: state-of-the-art classification algorithms and variable importance analyses. Results show a strong relationship between technological knowledge, traits and mobility types. Occupations can be accurately classified into nautical and pedestrian due to the existence of a non-trivial pattern between mobility and a relatively small fraction of variables from some specific technological categories. Cases where the best-fitted classification algorithm fails to generalize are found significantly interesting. These instances can unveil lack of information, not enough entries in the training set, singular features ...
ABSTRACT For many years the identification of activity areas has been carried out through the spa... more ABSTRACT For many years the identification of activity areas has been carried out through the spatial distribution of lithics, zooarchaeological remains and specific features such as fireplaces. However, these data are rarely combined and integrated with results from specific analytical techniques such as phytoliths, organic matter, carbonates and multielemental analysis. This research presents the first results of an intrasite spatial analysis on a layer from the site Lanashuaia II, a shell-midden located on the Beagle Channel coast (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina). Ethnoarchaeology is used as a methodological tool to give content to the concept of anthropic markers by means of formulating archaeological hypothesis on the basis of ethnological information. This paper presents the application of specific anthropic markers, which have been designed and applied to identify ashy remains and waste areas through different combinations of proxies. The results show how an approach that integrates different techniques enhances data interpretation and allows to give visibility to activities that may not leave visible evidences.
Cetaceans were an important food and raw material resource for the South American hunter-gatherer... more Cetaceans were an important food and raw material resource for the South American hunter-gatherer-fisher (HGF) communities of Tierra del Fuego. Historic ethnographic evidence suggests that relatively mobile HGF groups came together in large numbers to exploit carcasses from individual cetacean stranding events. Substantial accumulations of whale bones within shell middens in the Lanashuaia locality of the Beagle Channel suggests that these social aggregation events may also have occurred in prehistoric periods. The difficulty in assigning taxonomic identifications to the fragmentary whale remains, however, made it difficult to explicitly test this hypothesis. Here, we applied two different biomolecular techniques, collagen peptide mass fingerprinting (ZooMS) and ancient mitochondrial DNA analysis to 42 archeological bone fragments from the Lanashuaia locality to provide accurate species identifications. There was a clear correspondence between ZooMS and DNA results, identifying five different cetacean species (Southern bottlenose, blue, humpback, right, and sei whale) as well as human and sea lion remains. The biomolecular results were not conclusively consistent with HGF social aggregation, revealing an unexpectedly diverse range of cetaceans within the Lanashuaia middens. However, the results could not fully refute the hypothesis that cetacean remains can be used as anthropic markers of aggregation events, as the observed species and haplotypes revealed potential shared exploitation of some whale resources between midden sites.
Determining the use of different archaeological tools has been a principal goal of archaeologists... more Determining the use of different archaeological tools has been a principal goal of archaeologists since the beginning of our discipline. In Argentina, especially in Patagonia, microscopic lithic analysis was launched in 1983 by the innovative work of Mansur, who focused on applying this methodology to artifacts from early contexts (Cardich et al. 1973). These studies as well as the work of Castro (1994) pioneered intensive research in regional archaeology. Because the way tools are used reflects a complex set of social behaviors, their study reveals the social dynamics of past cultures (Álvarez 2003; Keeley 1980; Mansur-Franchomme 1983; Semenov 1964). Thus the aim of this paper is to present the results of our analysis of the processing activities of hunter-gatherers who inhabited the Deseado Massif during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. This was done by applying use-wear analysis to lithic artifacts from the lower component of the Piedra Museo archaeological site. Another aim ...
The objective of this paper is to present a holistic methodological design addressed to analyze t... more The objective of this paper is to present a holistic methodological design addressed to analyze the socio-economic dynamics of fisher-hunter-gatherer societies of the Beagle Channel region (South- ern Tierra del Fuego, Argentina). The method consists on the recovery, identification and study of organic and inorganic residues present on stone tools as well as in archaeological sediments in order to verify if the residues are the consequence of the use of the artifacts as tools or the re- sult of the artifact contamination. It includes several lines of research such us phitolytic analysis, use-wear analysis, blood tests and organic material concentrations within the archaeological lay- ers. We started to apply the approach to an archaeological sample recovered from Lanashuaia I archaeological site, with a XIXth Century date. The analysis performed showed: a) significant variations in phytolit distribution between different areas and layers of Lanashuaia I; b) use wear traces of bone and hide working and c) positive results in some blood tests. These results and the techniques are discussed to highlight the problems and possibilities of each line of research.
This article presents an agent-based model designed to explore the development of cooperation in ... more This article presents an agent-based model designed to explore the development of cooperation in hunter-fisher-gatherer societies that face a dilemma of sharing an unpredictable resource that is randomly distributed in space. The model is a stylised abstraction of the Yamana society, which inhabited the channels and islands of the southernmost part of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina-Chile). According to ethnographic sources, the Yamana developed cooperative behaviour supported by an indirect reciprocity mechanism: whenever someone found an extraordinary confluence of resources, such as a beached whale, they would use smoke signals to announce their find, bringing people together to share food and exchange different types of social capital. The model provides insight on how the spatial concentration of beachings and agents' movements in the space can influence cooperation. We conclude that the emergence of informal and dynamic communities that operate as a vigilance network preserves...
En la Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego las sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras han utilizado materia... more En la Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego las sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras han utilizado materias primas óseas para la manufactura de artefactos desde hace 6000 años AP. Diversas unidades anatómicas de diferentes especies de animales, tales como cetáceos, aves, guanacos (Lama guanicoe), pinnípedos (Otaria flavescens y Arctocephalus australis) y cánidos han sido usados para la manufactura de diferentes tipos de artefactos y adornos. No obstante, pese a la importancia de dicha tecnología poco se conoce sobre su contexto de producción y uso. En este marco, se presentan los resultados alcanzados en el Programa Experimental de Tecnología Ósea en huesos de guanaco, con el fin de identificar, explicar y diferenciar la formación de rastros tecnológicos y de uso sobre artefactos de hueso, a partir del análisis funcional de base microscópica. El desarrollo del Programa Experimental, es imprescindible metodológicamente en este tipo de investigación, dado que permite comprender los procesos y variables que intervienen en la producción y uso de los instrumentos óseos, a partir de la manipulación y el control de las condiciones bajo las cuales los experimentos son producidos y por lo tanto alcanzar datos confiables acerca de las causas que generaron ciertos efectos. Al existir en los estudios experimentales un control explícito de las variables, se pueden observar sus efectos e identificar cuáles son las de mayor relevancia para explicar el registro arqueológico. Durante este trabajo se replicaron seis grupos morfológicos (dos recientemente definidos en un trabajo previo) que se encuentran en los contextos arqueológicos del Norte de la Isla, entre ellos se encuentran las epífisis con negativos de lascados, lascas adheridas y aplastamiento de fibras, los filos largos sobre escápula, las puntas romas, las diáfisis de hueso largo sin formatización con rastros complementarios, las puntas agudas y las bi-puntas. Para ello se llevaron a cabo las siguientes etapas: 1) Búsqueda de materia prima, que abarcó la desarticulación de las carcasa de guanaco y la limpieza de la diversas partes esqueletarias: huesos largos (diáfisis y epífisis) y planos (escápulas), 2) Confección de las piezas a partir de diversas procesos técnicos, entre ellos: aserrado, pulido, raspado, etc., siguiendo la información obtenida de fuentes etnográficas y bibliográficas, 3) Caracterización de los rastros de manufactura, 4) Uso de los instrumentos óseos en diversos procesos productivos, a partir de fuentes y bibliografía especializada y 5) Caracterización de los rastros de uso macro y microscópicos. En suma, consideramos que los datos generados en este desarrollo experimental posibilitarán llevar a cabo inferencias más ajustadas sobre la producción y uso de los artefactos óseos en contextos arqueológicos. De esta manera, aportará al conocimiento tecnológico de las sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras pedestres que ocuparon la estepa Fueguina durante el Holoceno.
Research from the Beagle Channel (Tierra del Fuego) offers a rich ethnographic and historical rec... more Research from the Beagle Channel (Tierra del Fuego) offers a rich ethnographic and historical record produced by the late inclusion of Tierra del Fuego in the industrial world (the Beagle Channel was discovered by R. Fitz-Roy in 1830). This is an interesting frame for using new techniques (social simulation by Agent Based Modelling (ABM)) to generate new hypotheses in archaeology. In this case, the hypothesis is focused on the role of social cooperation in Yámana hunter-fisher-gatherer society
ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to show how an ethnoarchaeological perspective can be profitabl... more ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to show how an ethnoarchaeological perspective can be profitable when applied to improve a crucial issue of the archaeological and anthropological fields of research: processes of social aggregation between hunter- gatherer populations. For that purpose, we present the analytical framework of a project addressed to identify the material correlates of an aggregation event developed by hunter-fisher-gatherer societies who inhabited the southern tip of South America.
Este trabajo explora la variabilidad espacial del registro arqueológico en asentamientos cazadore... more Este trabajo explora la variabilidad espacial del registro arqueológico en asentamientos cazadores-recolectores del litoral atlántico de Tierra del Fuego (Argentina), mediante el desarrollo teórico y metodológico de un conjunto de herramientas de carácter cuantitativo. El objetivo es evaluar la intensidad de ocupación a partir de tres casos de estudio, mediante la aplicación de distintos enfoques provenientes de la estadística espacial, el análisis de la diversidad del registro arqueológico y el estudio de rastros de uso en artefactos líticos. Los resultados de esta propuesta han permitido relacionar el grado de complejidad entre la organización social del espacio, la variabilidad del registro material y los niveles de intensidad de ocupación. ENGLISH: Spatial Variability and Occupation Intensity in Hunter-Gatherer Sites from the Atlantic Coast of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. This work focuses on the spatial variability of the archaeological record at hunter-gatherer sites on the At...
Abstract This paper presents an Experimental Program developed to identify, describe and differen... more Abstract This paper presents an Experimental Program developed to identify, describe and differentiate the production traces from use-wear traces on bone artifacts, through the application of functional analysis framework. For this purpose, several types of guanaco bone tools present in northern sites of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (South America) were replicated. The results enable us to: 1) differentiate and define the microscopic traces related to the manufacture techniques implemented in the production sequence: scraping, abrasion and sawing as well as 2) identify and describe the use-wear traces of different resources (wood, hide and bark). The results have allowed to identify the manufacture traces that were formed in each stage of the production process as well as the use-wear traces of different working procedures. Likewise, the data obtained have enabled us to identify the differences in the use of dry and fresh bones, their effectiveness in different labour processes and their respectively diagnostic traces. Thus, we attained a regional frame of reference to study bone technology carried out by hunter-gatherer societies that occupied the Fuegian steppe during the late Holocene.
The present work aims to quantitatively explore and understand the relationship between mobility ... more The present work aims to quantitatively explore and understand the relationship between mobility types (nautical versus pedestrian), specific technological traits and shared technological knowledge in pedestrian hunter-gatherer and nautical hunter-fisher-gatherer societies from the southernmost portion of South America. To that end, advanced statistical learning techniques are used: state-of-the-art classification algorithms and variable importance analyses. Results show a strong relationship between technological knowledge, traits and mobility types. Occupations can be accurately classified into nautical and pedestrian due to the existence of a non-trivial pattern between mobility and a relatively small fraction of variables from some specific technological categories. Cases where the best-fitted classification algorithm fails to generalize are found significantly interesting. These instances can unveil lack of information, not enough entries in the training set, singular features ...
ABSTRACT For many years the identification of activity areas has been carried out through the spa... more ABSTRACT For many years the identification of activity areas has been carried out through the spatial distribution of lithics, zooarchaeological remains and specific features such as fireplaces. However, these data are rarely combined and integrated with results from specific analytical techniques such as phytoliths, organic matter, carbonates and multielemental analysis. This research presents the first results of an intrasite spatial analysis on a layer from the site Lanashuaia II, a shell-midden located on the Beagle Channel coast (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina). Ethnoarchaeology is used as a methodological tool to give content to the concept of anthropic markers by means of formulating archaeological hypothesis on the basis of ethnological information. This paper presents the application of specific anthropic markers, which have been designed and applied to identify ashy remains and waste areas through different combinations of proxies. The results show how an approach that integrates different techniques enhances data interpretation and allows to give visibility to activities that may not leave visible evidences.
Cetaceans were an important food and raw material resource for the South American hunter-gatherer... more Cetaceans were an important food and raw material resource for the South American hunter-gatherer-fisher (HGF) communities of Tierra del Fuego. Historic ethnographic evidence suggests that relatively mobile HGF groups came together in large numbers to exploit carcasses from individual cetacean stranding events. Substantial accumulations of whale bones within shell middens in the Lanashuaia locality of the Beagle Channel suggests that these social aggregation events may also have occurred in prehistoric periods. The difficulty in assigning taxonomic identifications to the fragmentary whale remains, however, made it difficult to explicitly test this hypothesis. Here, we applied two different biomolecular techniques, collagen peptide mass fingerprinting (ZooMS) and ancient mitochondrial DNA analysis to 42 archeological bone fragments from the Lanashuaia locality to provide accurate species identifications. There was a clear correspondence between ZooMS and DNA results, identifying five different cetacean species (Southern bottlenose, blue, humpback, right, and sei whale) as well as human and sea lion remains. The biomolecular results were not conclusively consistent with HGF social aggregation, revealing an unexpectedly diverse range of cetaceans within the Lanashuaia middens. However, the results could not fully refute the hypothesis that cetacean remains can be used as anthropic markers of aggregation events, as the observed species and haplotypes revealed potential shared exploitation of some whale resources between midden sites.
Determining the use of different archaeological tools has been a principal goal of archaeologists... more Determining the use of different archaeological tools has been a principal goal of archaeologists since the beginning of our discipline. In Argentina, especially in Patagonia, microscopic lithic analysis was launched in 1983 by the innovative work of Mansur, who focused on applying this methodology to artifacts from early contexts (Cardich et al. 1973). These studies as well as the work of Castro (1994) pioneered intensive research in regional archaeology. Because the way tools are used reflects a complex set of social behaviors, their study reveals the social dynamics of past cultures (Álvarez 2003; Keeley 1980; Mansur-Franchomme 1983; Semenov 1964). Thus the aim of this paper is to present the results of our analysis of the processing activities of hunter-gatherers who inhabited the Deseado Massif during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. This was done by applying use-wear analysis to lithic artifacts from the lower component of the Piedra Museo archaeological site. Another aim ...
The objective of this paper is to present a holistic methodological design addressed to analyze t... more The objective of this paper is to present a holistic methodological design addressed to analyze the socio-economic dynamics of fisher-hunter-gatherer societies of the Beagle Channel region (South- ern Tierra del Fuego, Argentina). The method consists on the recovery, identification and study of organic and inorganic residues present on stone tools as well as in archaeological sediments in order to verify if the residues are the consequence of the use of the artifacts as tools or the re- sult of the artifact contamination. It includes several lines of research such us phitolytic analysis, use-wear analysis, blood tests and organic material concentrations within the archaeological lay- ers. We started to apply the approach to an archaeological sample recovered from Lanashuaia I archaeological site, with a XIXth Century date. The analysis performed showed: a) significant variations in phytolit distribution between different areas and layers of Lanashuaia I; b) use wear traces of bone and hide working and c) positive results in some blood tests. These results and the techniques are discussed to highlight the problems and possibilities of each line of research.
This article presents an agent-based model designed to explore the development of cooperation in ... more This article presents an agent-based model designed to explore the development of cooperation in hunter-fisher-gatherer societies that face a dilemma of sharing an unpredictable resource that is randomly distributed in space. The model is a stylised abstraction of the Yamana society, which inhabited the channels and islands of the southernmost part of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina-Chile). According to ethnographic sources, the Yamana developed cooperative behaviour supported by an indirect reciprocity mechanism: whenever someone found an extraordinary confluence of resources, such as a beached whale, they would use smoke signals to announce their find, bringing people together to share food and exchange different types of social capital. The model provides insight on how the spatial concentration of beachings and agents' movements in the space can influence cooperation. We conclude that the emergence of informal and dynamic communities that operate as a vigilance network preserves...
The aim of this paper is to present the results of analysis of 5 gunflints from two colonial arch... more The aim of this paper is to present the results of analysis of 5 gunflints from two colonial archaeological sites located in Patagonia (Argentina Republic). In Argentina there is a long record of importation of these artifacts between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. However, analysis of flints in our country has a short history and still there is not a specialized field among the lithic artifacts study field. Thus, this work constitutes a new contribution to the study of this technology and to the developments on this topic in other parts of the world. In the first place we present the state of detailed analysis of gunflints in Argentina; then, we discussed their presence in archaeological sites in Patagonia. We briefly present general information regarding the production, supply and use in the colonial context of South America, and finally we focus on the sample of artifacts recovered in two colonial sites of the eighteenth century in Patagonia: The New Colony and Fort of Floridablanca (St. Julian, Santa Cruz province) San José fort (Valdés peninsula, Chubut province). Both settlements were created as part of a plan of the Spanish Crown to colonize the Patagonian Atlantic coast, where officials, soldiers, peasants, prisoners, among others, were participants and who related with indigenous people in different ways.Up to this moment, it is not only the unique sample from Spanish colonial archaeological sites located in one of the southernmost reaches of the Spanish Empire, the eastern Patagonia, but also one of the earliest specimens from this area. The questions that guided the analysis of these artifacts related primarily to determine its origin, its functionality and use, as well as the possibility of recycling and reclamation after their disposal. In order to answer these questions we perform a comprehensive analysis of existing records to date on this technology, we did a techno-morphological and a raw material analysis of the gunflints, and a use-wear analysis using a metallographic microscope. By these means we expect to establish the possible origin and use of these flints.
Uploads
Papers by Myrian Alvarez