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Abstract: Human body manipulation and secondary burials are widespread funerary practices in many areas of the world. The archaeology of the Pampas and North-Eastern Patagonia, Argentina, is no exception. In this paper, archaeological case studies from the lower basin of the Colorado River during the Final Late Holocene (ca. 1000–250years BP) are presented and discussed. Secondary burials were recovered that indicated an intentional manipulation of bodies. Evidences of cut marks and the coloring of bone surfaces were recorded. The bundles were composed of individuals of both sexes and diverse age categories. The Pampean region and North-Eastern Patagonia witnessed significant hunter–gatherer population dynamics during the last 1000years BP. Climatic, ecologic, demographic, and economic explanations have been proposed as the background to these changes. In this paper, it is argued that accompanying these factors, as part of a broader socio-cultural scenario, were significant social interaction networks and processes of social complementarity between groups. In this context, it is proposed that the complexity observed in relation to the handling of bodies is part of a worldview in which the body was seen as material culture – as a symbol – that played an important role for the community in group identity maintenance in a cultural context undergoing significant organizational changes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents the study of the extractive metallurgical technology that was employed in four colonial mining-metallurgical sites in the high plateau (Puna) of Jujuy, Argentina, dedicated to silver exploitation during the 17th and 18th centuries. In these archaeological sites, we have identified the presence of reverberatory furnaces. We explore the development of this technology and show the results of the study of the furnaces found in the Puna of Jujuy, their functions and performance, based on our fieldwork and on the results of archaeometric analyses of smelting slag and vitrified clay samples. The excellent conservation of most of the furnaces makes them not only a great source of information for the study of colonial metallurgy in this region, but also a contribution to our understanding of mining and extractive metallurgy in the Andes, of the circulation of workers and technical knowledge and of the changes generated by the Spanish conquest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Patagonian archaeological record, the preservation of wooden artefacts is very restricted. Functional analysis of lithic artefacts is a way to get a better understanding about the use and consumption of the wood. Technological and use-wear analyses are applied in order to reconstruct the production processes of the wooden artefacts, from the raw-material supplying to the production of the finished tools. In this paper we present the results of a taxonomical and techno-functional analysis of the traces preserved on the surface of the two wooden artefact retrieved from layer 17 (9390 ± 40 C14 years BP) and layer 6 (5310 ± 110 BP) at the site of Cerro Casa de Piedra 7 (province of Santa Cruz, Patagonia, Argentina). The interpretation of these two objects is complicated due to the absence of ethnographical references and the lack of similar archaeological findings in Patagonian hunter–gatherers sites. However, through the observation of the use-wear traces it is possible to reconstruct part of the manufacturing process and advance hypothesis on their mode of employment. Due to the distribution of the wears and the mineral-organic residues identified on the surfaces, it is proposed that one of the wooden artefact was probably used for rock-art production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Inca polity deployed a variety of strategies in the establishment of imperial relations with the local communities of the southern provinces. These strategies included the translation of symbols materialized in architectural structures. In this sense, the ceremonial platforms denominated ushnus were spaces with particular significance and high hierarchy. In this paper, we analyze and compare two different platforms located in two sites from the Argentine Northwest, Province of Catamarca. The first archaeological site, El Shincal de Quimivil, has been considered an Inca provincial capital and the second, Hualfín Inca, an important administrative centre. The results show interesting differences between them, such as architectural forms and the archaeological record. These differences reflect not only the way in which the State operated in different territories and the nature of the relationship with local groups, but also the nuances of the historical process involving the Inca establishment in this region of the Argentinean Northwest. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper explores the differential rates of diachronic change developed by diverse features of portable art in southern Tierra del Fuego. It is argued that decorative designs and techniques, which simultaneously constitute each decorated artefact, had asynchronic rates of change throughout the archaeological sequence. Results indicate that: (I) decorated harpoon points (1) had a broader and more complex design repertoire which entailed a higher labour investment and showed a faster rate of change than beads, due to a greater individual input in their decoration, (2) were richly decorated in spite of their high risk of loss/fracture, yet their decoration was concentrated in the early period of the archaeological sequence and then decreased in time due: a) to such loss/fracture risk, which jeopardised the labour invested in their decoration, (b) to a relative decrease in pinniped hunting which might have reduced the socio-economic and symbolic value of harpoons; (II) decorated beads (1) had a simpler and more standardised design repetoire which entailed a lower labour investment and showed a slower rate of change than harpoons, due to a stricter process of teaching/learning or imitation during their production and a collective way of ornamentation during their display, (2) increased with time and have been decorated during the three periods of the archaeological sequence due to: (a) their lower risk of loss/fracture, which did not endanger the labour invested in their decoration, (b) their social function as a shared form of ornamentation; (III) decorative techniques had a slower rate of change than decorative designs throughout the archaeological sequence due to their differential instrinsic variability potentials. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The management and conservation of animal species should be based upon a long-term analysis that considers its geographical distribution and feeding patterns. The study of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes on skeletal remains provides a quantitative approach to the paleodietary reconstructions and constitutes a potent tool for comparing behavioral aspects of the fauna. In this paper we present the first set of isotopic values for modern and archaeological samples of Huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus) from the forests of Central-western Patagonia, Chile. Contrary to initial expectations, our analysis indicates that there is no evidence of an important incidence of the canopy effect on the δ13Ccollagen values, which we suggest is due to an ecological selection that drives the huemul to focus its predation on open sectors within the forest. On the other hand, a wide range of δ15Ncollagen values for huemul was verified. This could reflect the N impoverishment of the forest soils and provide an interesting ecological indicator. The long-term information offered by the archaeological record provides the necessary context for decision-making conducive towards the preservation of Hippocamelus bisulcus in Patagonia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper we use non-ambiguous collections and sightings data from the 18th century to generate potential distribution models of three species of South American ungulates. These ungulates (Lama guanicoe -guanaco-; Ozotoceras bezoarticus -pampas deer- and Blastoceros dichotomus -marsh deer-) have different and specific environmental requirements. Through MaxEnt software, twenty-two environmental variables that characterize the distribution area of each species are defined. Once the models are generated, they are compared with the faunal associations found at Late Holocene archaelogical sites in order to infer paleoenvironmental conditions. We also discuss the role played by humans in the faunal associations which are "anomalous" or inconsistent with those models, like the spatial overlap of guanaco and marsh deer. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Central western Argentina is the southern boundary of prehispanic maize in the archaeological record. This paper explores the stable isotope information from human bone (δ13C, from collagen and δ13C from apatite) and tooth (δ13C from enamel) samples in order to characterize the temporal and spatial trends of these isotopes and to understand them in terms of human diet. We analyzed 104 human individuals from the last 6000 years. Using the model the results shows a high variation in human diet with few human individuals with a notably high significance of C4 plants (probably maize) as an energy source and these samples have a chronology around ca. 1000 years BP. On the other hand a high variation in an individual’s dietary life history is shown by differences between δ13C collagen, apatite and enamel. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents data regarding the provenance of obsidian artefacts in several NW Argentina archaeological sites as well as the geochemical characteristics and geologic ages of the different sources. The goal of our project was to gain knowledge about ancient trade routes through the study of the networks constructed around obsidian procurement and distribution at the onset of an agropastoral economy. The time span considered goes from 2200 years BP to 400 years BP, which also encompasses the time of consolidation of long distance exchange contacts. The objective was accomplished by (1) locating, geochemically characterizing, and dating ten potential sources (seven of which were actually used in the past) in several sectors of the Puna region (between 3500 and 4200 masl) in Northwestern Argentina, and (2) to determine the provenance of 176 obsidian artefacts from 37 sites, not only in the Puna but also in neighboring environments, such as the temperate valleys (between 900 and 3500 masl) and the western border of the subandean forest (yungas) (between 300 and 1500 masl). The methodology employed for source identification was instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) to measure the trace elements in every source specimen and archaeological artefact. This has enabled accurate identification of the geographical origins and main distribution areas for several sources, while discovering changes in source utilization over time. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]