Archaeologists study the traces of the first settlers of Patagonia | According to the hypothesis, the region has been inhabited for 12 thousand years.

2023-09-26 04:31:13

An archeology team from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Museum of the National University of La Plata and Conicet has been working for three decades at sites in the town of La María, located south of the central plateau of Santa Cruz. Under the direction of researcher Rafael Paunero, they found a record of twelve thousand years of human occupation that includes lithic technology (stone tools with different types of rocks and minerals), remains of hearths and cave paintings.

“Our studies show that nomadic societies lived in this region that moved in a planned manner within socially defined territories. Their everyday social practices included work, play, obtaining resources, and selecting camping sites. They also painted, manufactured clothing and tools,” says archaeologist Catalina Valiza Davis.

In this sense, the societies that lived there knew their territories comprehensively and established close links with the landscapes, animals, plants and minerals. According to the evidence found, these populations hunted guanacos, choiques and foxes. They also collected plants and bird eggs, and supplied themselves with rocks and pigments.

For their part, the artifacts found in excavations indicate that they had specific knowledge, skills and techniques that allowed them to make instruments out of stone, bone and wood. In addition, pigments were used to decorate, paint walls, awnings, clothing and the body.

“Sometimes we tend to think that cave paintings fulfilled a decorative function, but in these caves we believe that these populations left messages of all kinds. There are very clear images of animals and hunting scenes that could indicate how they obtained food. The instruments or the distance at which the prey is from the hunter are observed very well,” explains Raúl González Dubox, archaeologist from the same working group.

Although it may seem anecdotal, these investigations allow us to account for a historical process of more than 12 thousand years in the Province.

Fire, stone and paint

Both from the archaeological record and the study of travelers’ chronicles, it is known that different communities used fire with social, symbolic and technological functions. In Patagonia, the people maintained this way of organizing life for many millennia, although at different times this was expressed differently.

For example, in one of the latest investigations carried out at the Cueva del Nido site –located in Santa Cruz–, scientists showed how this space was repeatedly inhabited. There they made their stone instruments and found a multiplicity of cave paintings.

Also, in some caves there are many superimposed images of the hands of children and adults that were probably used as a traffic sign. “We sensed that these were messages aimed at transmitting a certain feeling of confidence in relation to the safety of the place to live in,” explains González Dubox.

Many archaeologies

Every September 18 in Argentina, Archeology Day is celebrated in tribute to the birth of Florentino Ameghino, one of the most important Argentine scientists of the late 19th century. “Far from being a uniform discipline, it presents a diversity of perspectives and ways of doing things. The different ways of life adopted by the original societies and the great extension of the national territory demand numerous archaeologies,” highlights the researcher.

And he continues: “In our case, through surveys, excavations and surveys of rock art sites, we seek to recover material evidence that allows us to investigate the social organization and daily life of the people who inhabited Patagonia. We focused on their links with animals and plants, the ways they ate, the technologies they developed and the ways of communicating.”