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The research developed from different lines of evidence in the central plateau of Santa Cruz and the Somuncura plateau of Rio Negro, provides information for approaching the hunting strategies carried out by hunter-gatherer societies who inhabited these massifs in the past. The information about both regions results from the analysis of archaeofauna, lithic technology, rock art, stone structures, special topographies and archaeological landscapes. In this work we introduce a summary of the progress achieved so far, from which we have managed to define patterns related to the hunting strategies developed in these Patagonian plateaus, and their variations along time. The results we discuss show changes in hunting strategies, linked to the incorporation of new technologies. While a close encounter strategy is proposed for the Pleistocene-Holocene transition and early Holocene, distance hunting strategies seem to become more relevant towards the mid and late Holocene. This change suggests that the tactics deployed over time tended to incorporate more social actors cooperating in hunting events. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo

En este trabajo se realiza una primera caracterización de los diseños de puntas de proyectil registradas en el sitio Laguna Azul, Parapeto 3 (LA-P3), localizado en el macizo de Somuncurá (Río Negro, Argentina). El objetivo es dar a conocer las tecnologías de caza implementadas por los grupos cazadores-recolectores que habitaron el sitio durante el Holoceno tardío (desde ca. 1900 años AP), a partir del análisis de diferentes variables del diseño, teniendo en consideración la aerodinámica, superficie de refuerzo y tipo de enmangue de acuerdo con el modelo de asignación funcional propuesto por Ratto (2003). Sumado a esto se realizaron análisis complementarios de microdesgaste que permitieron incrementar la información con relación a las formas y materiales empleados en el sistema enastilante. A partir de estos análisis, se identificaron micropulidos y residuos en sectores basales y limbo-proximales que indicarían indicarían el proceso de armado de cabezales líticos analizados; mientras que los estudios del diseño permitieron reconocer por un lado, diferentes estadios de manufactura (preformas, formas básicas, mantenidas y recicladas), y por el otro, el uso de por lo menos dos sistemas técnicos para la captura de presas: arco y flecha y lanza arrojadiza a mano y/o dardo., Here we present an initial characterization of projectile point designs recovered from the Laguna Azul site, Parapet 3 (LA-P3), located in the Somuncurá Massif (Río Negro, Argentina). Our goal was to investigate the hunting technologies implemented by the hunter-gatherer groups that inhabited this site during the Late Holocene (ca. 1900 years BP). We analyzed different design variables and considered aerodynamics, reinforcement surface, and shaft system according to the functional model proposed by Ratto (2003). Supplementary micro-wear analyses were also conducted in order to generate additional data related to the shapes and materials utilized in the shaft system. These analyses identified black micro-residues in the basal sectors, while macroscopic assessments of the design manufacture indicated that different manufacturing stages were involved (pre-shaping, basic forms, maintenance, and recycling) as well as the use of at least two technical systems used to capture prey (bow and arrow and throwing spears or darts)., Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo

Lichens are organisms capable of colonizing almost every type of materials, provided they are stable and have sufficient exposure to light. The growing of lichens on bone surface is rare, due to the speed to which this substrate is weathered and destroyed. For the most part, documented cases occur in extreme environments, such as the Arctic and Antarctic, where bone elements remain unaltered for long periods, although they have also been found in other latitudes. The aim of this paper is to describe the taxonomic diversity of the lichens growing on a set of human bones recovered at a looted Late Holocene aboriginal cairn burial (chenque) in southern continental Patagonia (Piedra Museo archaeological locality, Deseado Massif, Santa Cruz, Argentina). In the analyzed bone assemblage (NISP = 56), a total of 63 lichen thalli were recorded. They were assigned to seven different species, except one case that could only be determined at the genus level. This is the first well-described record of lichen flora growing on human bone remains for South America, having important implications for both archaeological and forensic sciences., Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo

Residue analysis is commonly applied to stone tools functional identification and is often used in conjunction with micro-wear analysis for understanding their past function and also early human behaviour. In spite of their important contribution in archaeological contexts, these studies present drawbacks in their application, since they require an exceptional state of conservation, as well as a correct identification by the observer. In this sense, actualistic studies are needed for a better residues characterization. Therefore, the following work explores the usefulness of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) as a tool to provide a better morphological and compositional identification of micro-residues on Patagonian raw materials. The residue analysis is a methodology rarely used on the studies of lithic technologies in Argentina so this paper constitutes a first approach to the main micro-structural features; distribution and elemental composition of micro-residues on stone tools using EDX spectra. The main results obtained from analytical experiments using SEM-EDX analysis improves the worked material identification and explore the possibility to apply this methodology at the Deseado massif's archaeological record. Fil: Lynch, Virginia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; Argentina Fil: Miotti, Laura Lucia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; Argentina

En el presente trabajo evaluamos la variabilidad existente en la fracturación de los huesos largos de Lama guanicoe (guanaco) durante el Holoceno medio en la Meseta Central de Santa Cruz (Patagonia argentina). Para ello analizamos los conjuntos zooarqueológicos de la capa 2 de AEP-1 de Piedra Museo y del componente 2 de Cueva Maripe en La Primavera. Ambos contextos se emplazan en sectores diferentes de la cuenca de los zanjones Rojo y Blanco y en trabajos previos fueron definidos como espacios domésticos con diversas áreas de actividades (Cattáneo 2002; García Añino 2018; Lynch 2014; Marchionni 2013). Éste trabajo tiene como objetivo alcanzar una mejor comprensión de las estrategias de uso y aprovechamiento de los guanacos por parte de los cazadores-recolectores que habitaron esta región y aportar información de grano fino para el estudio de la variabilidad registrada en los sitios que solemos definir como domésticos o de actividades múltiples. El estudio se centra en el análisis de las distintas actividades que pudieron involucrar la fracturación intencional de los huesos. Los resultados muestran diferencias entre los conjuntos, siendo mayor la variabilidad de actividades que se expresan en los conjuntos de Cueva Maripe., In the present work we evaluate the existing variability in the fracture patterns of the long bones of the Lama guanicoe (guanaco) during the Middle Holocene in the Central Plateau of Santa Cruz (Argentine Patagonia). To do this, we analyzed the zooarchaeological assemblages of layer 2 of AEP-1 of Piedra Museo and of component 2 of Cueva Maripe. Both contexts are located in different sector of the Zanjones Rojo and Blanco basin, which in previous works have been defined as domestic sites with different activity areas (Cattaneo 2002; Garcia Anino 2018; Lynch 2014; Marchionni 2013). The work goals is to reach a better understanding of the use and exploitation strategies of the guanacos by hunter-gatherers that inhabit this region and provide fine-grained information for the study of the registered variability in the sites that we usually define as of multiple activities. The study focuses on the analysis of the different activities that involve the intentional fracture the bones. The results show differences among assemblages, which are expressed as a greater variety of activities in Cueva Maripe., Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo

This paper presents the first advances made in the framework of the actualistictaphonomy project that we recently started in the northeast of the Central Plateauof Santa Cruz, Patagonia Argentina. The main goal of this project is to strengthen, through this line of study, the archaeological interpretations of the área. Here we present the results corresponding to the field works developed between 2016 and 2017 in three archaeological localities, with the objective to assess the potential of the different characteristic environments of the area to accumulate, disperse, preserve, destroy and bury bone remains. The survey was carried out at a broad spatial scale and was based on systematic observations through transects in which taphonomic and environmental data were recorded. The results obtained offer the first approach to determine which are the environments with the greatest potential for the natural incorporation of bones into the archaeological record and the heterogeneity with which different taphonomic agents and processes operate in each one. Thiswork provides new information for the Central Plateau region and reflects the development of a new line of research for the area, from which systematic data are provided that contribute not only to improve the interpretations of the archaeological assemblages from the region, but also favor the comparison with neighboring regions. Fil: Marchionni, Laura. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina Fil: Hermo, Dario Omar. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina Fil: Mosquera, Bruno Hernan. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Mineralogía y Petrología; Argentina Fil: Magnin, Lucia Angelica. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina Fil: Miotti, Laura Lucia. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina Fil: García Añino, Eloisa. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina

This paper aims to link the production of rock paintings in Los Toldos (Argentina) to the human use of the locality in the context of the long term process of the peopling of Patagonia. The study is centered in the construction of a rock art painting sequence from the analysis of superimpositions in Cueva 2 and Cueva 3 sites. Rock art panels were considered as cumulative palimpsests and analyzed through the use of a Harris matrix. Eight painting episodes could be distinguished in Cueva 2, which were related to five painting episodes detected in Cueva 3. The temporal relationships of the different painting episodes respect to a series of natural imprints in the rock supports provided elements for the hypothetical estimation of a coarse grained temporal framework. The first painting episode is underrepresented due to its state of preservation and position in the base of the sequence. Together with the second episode, it is associated to the earliest human occupations of the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. The third, fourth and fifth painting episodes are the most intense and relate to the most intensive human occupations of the middle Holocene. The late Holocene episodes are represented by fewer diverse motifs in Cueva 2. The results of our analysis constitute the baseline from which future compositional analyses need to be performed in order to evaluate the possibility of dating rock art by chronometric methods.

The Las Cuevas Canyon at Los Toldos locality (Santa Cruz, Argentina) has played a prominent and controversial role in the debate about the peopling of America. In spite of the high concentration of paintings in Los Toldos, its rock art has not been included as a significant variable in the discussion. This work introduces original information from the systematic study of six archaeological sites at the Las Cuevas Canyon with the aim of laying the foundations for a comparative study at local and regional scales. For this purpose, aspects such as the distribution of motifs, the superimpositions and the size of the hand stencils are evaluated. The results shed light on the practices of different social actors in the canyon, and allow us to propose a sequence of rock art production. The discussion is contextualized within the regional archaeological scholarship of Southern Patagonia. Fil: Carden, Natalia Marina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Paleontológicas del Cuaternario Pampeano. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Paleontológicas del Cuaternario Pampeano; Argentina Fil: Miotti, Laura Lucia. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Blanco, Rocío Vanesa. Administración de Parques Nacionales. Dirección Regional Patagonia Austral; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina

This work presents an updated revision of the information about Pleistocene fauna records in archeological sites of the Pampa and Patagonian regions of South America. The purpose is to assess the role played by humans within the extinction process of Pleistocene mammals in the South Cone and the effects that the disappearance of Pleistocene large mammals had in human populations which colonized both regions. This is based on the theory of “Broken Zig-Zag”, which considers that the process was gradual in time and in different species, taking place between 15 Ka BP and 8.5 Ka BP in Patagonia and during a longer period, until ca. 7.5 Ka BP in Pampa. For this aim it was considered all those sites with accurate chronological and taxonomic information about the presence of extinct species of mega and large mammals of xenarthrans, camelids, equids and carnivores. Thus, the work is focused on three analytical lines: regional analysis of radiocarbon records of first and last taxonomic appearance, ecology and etiology of species with archeological record and variability of associations of the archaeofauna with material culture. We discuss how the first humans took possession of Pampa and Patagonian regions during and after the last part of the continental extinction process. Thus, there is a contribution with new hypotheses about the differential use of the extinct fauna in both regions. This interdisciplinary approach of social and environmental agency has not been considered in the specialized bibliography so far; therefore novel information is given for interpreting the way in which humans took possession of the fauna, not only as subsistence resources but also as other important agents in the socio-economic and symbolic relationship of humans with the landscape. On the whole, the final result is that the gregarious species of large herbivores (camelids) were the most important resources for hunter-gatherers from the beginning of human colonization. The extinct fauna influenced subsistence complementarily, though it played an important role in the social and symbolic spheres., Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo

Los materiales recuperados de excavaciones arqueológicas han sido afectados por diversos procesos post-depositacionales; ya sea de carácter natural como así también antrópico. Estos procesos ocasionan traslados y reorganización de los objetos alterando, en gran medida, la integridad de los mismos. En tal sentido, la evaluación de los múltiples procesos culturales y naturales que intervienen en la formación de los depósitos arqueológicos, es una herramienta fundamental para inferir las condiciones que contribuyeron a la formación de los sitios arqueológicos en general. Los objetos líticos tallados son indicio material, a partir del cual, se pueden realizar estudios de procesos de formación y comportamiento del registro arqueológico mediante análogos experimentales. En este caso, el objetivo del trabajo ha sido profundizar los conocimientos acerca de estos procesos y de su accionar sobre los rastros de uso detectados en los artefactos líticos del sitio arqueológico Cueva Maripe (Santa Cruz, Argentina), con ocupaciones humanas desde inicios del Holoceno. La acción del agua como agente corrosivo pudo haber influenciado las modificaciones de las superficies y filos del material lítico, afectando diferencialmente el grado de preservación de los microrrastros en los distintos sectores de la cueva. Para evaluar la variabilidad funcional de artefactos, presentamos los resultados obtenidos de la aplicación de dos vías analíticas independientes: análisis funcional y análisis diatomológico., The materials recovered from archaeological excavations, has been affected by different post-depositional processes, whether natural or anthropic. This processes results in transfer, mix and reorganization of the objects limiting to a large extent, the integrity thereof. In this sense, the assessment of multiple cultural and natural processes involved in the formation of archaeological deposits, is essential to infer the conditions that contributes to the formation of archaeological sites in general. The stone tools are the material sign from which can begin the study of site formation processes and their behavior on archaeological record by experimental analogue. Thus, the objective of this study was to deepen the knowledge about these processes and their actions on the use traces found in lithic artifacts recovered from the Maripe Cave (Santa Cruz, Argentina) archaeological site with human occupations since early Holocene. The action of water as modifying agent may have influenced the changes of the surfaces and edges of stone tools, affecting differentially the conservation degree of micro-wear traces in different sectors of the cave. To assess the functional variability of artifacts, we present the results applying two independent studies: functional and diatom analysis., Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo

The aim of this paper is to study the end-scrapers recovered from Cueva Maripe site (Santa Cruz Province, Argentina). These artifacts have been repeatedly recorded along the entire sequence of the site occupations; therefore, the following work is focused on the morphological and functional variability of these instruments, to discuss some expectations regarding the permanence of certain kinds of design over time. The results allowed identifying different activities developed with these tools along the Cueva Maripe occupations, as the work on bone, wood, and hide. However, the morphological variability identified was mainly related to different kinds of flakes or blades selection and on the particular features of the edges which would indicate some versatility in design and little functional specialization. These features would account for the permanence of these instruments in the site from the early Holocene, as well as at a regional level in the central plateau of Santa Cruz. Fil: Lynch, Virginia. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Miotti, Laura Lucia. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Arqueología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina

South America appears as a paradox for building the images of the New World's human colonization. It is a paradox, because according to the models of the Peopling of America, it was the last part of the continent to be occupied by humans, but in spite of that sites as old as or older than the “Clovis” sites from North America, started to be discovered since the last century. It is a laboratory, because the amount of the Pleistocene archaeological sites is as great as their variability. In this way, since the last two decades, the hemi-continent is placed in a privileged situation for questioning and reconstructing theories concerning the first Americans, and also for answering questions as when did they arrive, how did they arrive, what strategies (social, ecological and economic) did they develop for the colonization of such different environments, which were their ideas for achieving this colonization, and how does their use of space and resources reflect in the archaeological record. The model “Clovis the first”, brings an image of unidirectional migration of the first people, from the great North American plains to southern Patagonia. For a decade, this model showed itself insufficient for explaining the great archaeological variability of America and especially for referring those South American contexts directly to a Clovis migration. The new findings in South America are creating more anomalies for this model, which predicts that the arrival of Pleistocene hunter–gatherers should be around 10,000 years in Patagonia. The object of this paper is to discuss these models in view of South American archaeological evidence, and thus propose answers for removing the paradox. The axes which are considered are: the geographical and chronological distribution of the main localities of Patagonia and South America; the function of the sites within regional mobility systems; the use of subsistence resources; the differences in the circulation of lithic raw materials; and the different taphonomical histories. These characteristics will be compared with models of social network among mobile peoples and American paleolandscapes at the Pleistocene/Holocene transition and a new alternative route of peopling in South America will be presented. In this sense, the data of Patagonia are highly relevant.

We present the environmental and archeological results of research at Cerro Amigo Oeste, a mesa-top archeological site with Fishtail points located on the Somuncurá Plateau, northern Patagonia, Argentina. Comparison with other South American sites is used to interpret archeological landscapes of colonization. The objects, features, and beings of landscape are understood as reflecting the materiality of social relations as well as patterns of production, retooling, and mobility. Cerro Amigo Oeste is in a very special location due to its high elevation and extensive view of the landscape, as well as its archeological and ethnographic significance. It can be considered a node or hub of communication in the social network among hunter-gatherers far and near in the late Pleistocene., Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo

Se presentan análisis tecnológicos realizados sobre un conjunto de puntas cola de pescado registrados en sitios en torno a la laguna de Las Vacas, en la meseta de Somuncurá (provincia de Río Negro, Argentina). Se comparan el uso de las materias primas y determinados atributos tecnológicos de dichos artefactos. Finalmente se discuten las variables analizadas en relación con la producción, uso y descarte de puntas cola de pescado en este sector norpatagónico., We present the technological analysis performed of a fishtail points assemblage registered in archaeological sites located around the De Las Vacas Lagoon, in Somuncurá Plateau (Río Negro Province, Argentina). We compare raw materials use and some technological attributes of these artifacts. Finally we discuss the analyzed variables in relation with the production and discard of fishtail points in this northpatagonian space., Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

Human subsistence systems in the Pampa and Patagonia regions evolved from generalists during the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene to specialists during the Middle Holocene, according to diversity and relative taxonomic richness counts. The general hypothesis is summarized as follows: 1) at the end of the Pleistocene and beginning of the Holocene (interval between 13.0 and 8.5 ka), the Pampean and Patagonian landscape was different from the present one, with a mammal biodiversity larger than in the Middle Holocene; 2) during the Middle Holocene, the highest mammal taxonomic richness corresponds to one species, Lama guanicoe . Although available biomass was the same for the hunter-gatherers, it was due to the larger abundance of individuals of that single species; 3) the emerged continental surface during the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene was more extensive than during the Middle Holocene. In ecological terms, this greater land mass is reflected in an equally larger biodiversity, even assuming that populations of Pleistocenic megafauna were diminishing in number since ca. 13,500 years BP. Based on the analysis of our own information and published data, we state that the human groups which colonized the Pampean and Patagonian regions towards the end of the Pleistocene and beginning of the Holocene used generalist strategies encompassing a wide range of faunal resources (birds and mammals, especially of terrestrial habitats). Plasticity of hunter-gatherer societies, plus a complex technology, a higher social mobility and unfilled territories, allowed them to rapidly replace one resource for another in conditions of environmental stress. This lifestyle resulted in the occupation of different ecological zones (niches) and the evolution to specialized systems, based on one or a few mammal species, once the colonization and support in the different environments were successful and the resources of the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene disappeared.

The archaeology of the Pleistocene–Holocene Transition in the Pampas and Fuego-Patagonia is analyzed in light of the results obtained at recently excavated archaeological sites. These sites offer detailed artifactual, faunistic, chronological, and paleoecological information. Results from paleoecological research performed off site are also presented. Changes in climate, vegetation, and faunal composition are recorded, but the archaeological assemblages do not exhibit any clear-cut correspondent changes.

La frecuencia de restos de autopodios de guanacos (Lama guanicoe) en los sitios arqueológicos de Patagonia indica que estas unidades tienen un patrón de hallazgo sobredimensionado frente a otras partes anatómicas del esqueleto. Las respuestas habituales a dichas frecuencias se refieren a cuestiones tafonómicas o a patrones de trozamiento y transporte diferencial. Por lo tanto, estas unidades de bajo retorno económico y alto índice de supervivencia, plantean un problema de equifinalidad. Aquí se discuten estas hipótesis a la luz del análisis comparativo de conjuntos zooarqueológicos de la Meseta Central de Santa Cruz, el que, sumado a la información etnográfica y de composición química de las grasas de artiodáctilos, amplía las interpretaciones zooarqueológicas, ayudando a minimizar la equifinalidad., The frequency of autopodial remains of guanacos (Lama guanicoe) in Patagonia archaeological sites indicates that these units present a finding oversized against other anatomical parts of the skeleton. The usual responses to these patterns are related to taphonomic issues or differential butchering and transport. Therefore, these units with low economic return and high survival rate, present an equifinality problem. These hypotheses are discussed in light of the comparative analysis of sets zooarchaeological Central Plateau of Santa Cruz, which, combined with ethnographic and chemical composition of fats of artiodactyls extend zooarchaeological interpretations helping to minimize equifinality., Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo

Se describe, a modo de introducción, el contenido de un volumen especial de la revista, a propósito de la realización de una sesión temática en el V Simposio sobre el poblamiento temprano en América Latina, que tuvo lugar en La Plata en noviembre 2010. Fil: Salemme, Monica Cira. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego; Argentina Fil: Miotti, Laura Lucia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Departamento Científico de Arqueología; Argentina

The taphonomic history of the Middle Holocene archaeological component at the AEP-1 site was studied based on the analysis of bone modifications of the archaeofaunistic assemblage and the features of the geological matrix. Such indicators represent excellent examples of the agents and generating processes of the archeological context at the Piedra Museo AEP-1 rock shelter, located in the Deseado Massif, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. The present day environment is the remains of a paleolagoon, within the arid basaltic plateau. The analyzed zooarcheological context comes from stratigraphic unit 2 (SU 2), which constitutes the IIA horizon of a local paleosol. The pedogenetic process started to develop beginning in 7000 BP. The SU 2 matrix of the palaeosoil is of eolian origin, with a pedogenetic reorganization, where root and insect activity are highly developed. Therefore, the study of bioturbations and diagenesis (i.e. etching, stained and differential weathering of bone specimens) were analyzed. However, the large number of postdepositional bone modifications was not enough to obliterate the marks of human activity on bone material made during the Middle Holocene, which supports the previous hypothesis that the site could have been an area of multiple activities with loci of secondary and final processing of prey. Fil: Miotti, Laura Lucia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; Argentina Fil: Marchionni, Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; Argentina

Publisher Summary This chapter deals with the available archeological knowledge, building a history of the peopling, the mobility of human groups and their relationship with the environment until the arrival of the Europeans. This chapter focuses on Patagonia—both east and west of the Andean ranges—and examines the archeological contexts and available radiocarbon dates for three chronological intervals: (1) the Pleistocene, (2) the Middle Holocene, and (3) the Late Holocene. Six main issues have been considered in the analysis of the peopling of Patagonia's landscapes: (1) the most important environmental conditions that could have affected human occupation during each interval; (2) the chronological gaps, visible through the analysis of radiocarbon data; (3) the generalist or specialist adaptations in the use of faunal resources; (4) the rock art; (5) the human burials; and (6) the allochthonous raw materials. Extreme environmental conditions during the latest Pleistocene would have been the scenario under which the first human groups entered the continent. But these harsh circumstances did not threaten them to begin the exploration and colonization of the new available lands.

Since 1998, the idea of discussing different topics referring to the peopling of the Southern Cone at the Pleistocene/Holocene transition was occupying our interests. Finally, and with the agreement of INQUA through the Working Group “The Archaeology of the Pleistocene/Holocene transition”, a meeting was held in Argentina in December 2000 with the aims of stimulating dialogue about the existing information, and mitigating the problem of heretofore-scarce communication among those colleagues working on the archaeology of the First Americans in South America. The workshop was organized by us, with the valuable collaboration of many Argentine colleagues and friends. Fil: Miotti, Laura Lucia. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Salemme, Monica Cira. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina

Cultural and faunal remains from archaeological sites of the Rio de La Plata littoral, Argentina, have been studied, attempting to verify their primary associations and occupations during the Holocene. the sites were localized within shell beach ridges more or less parallel to the present shore and are composed of bivalves, gastropods, scarce barnacles, and sandy sediments. the thanatocoenosis found could be equivalent to a transitional area between fluviomarine (mixohaline) and oceanic (polyeuhaline) gradients, i.e., an environment with greater salinity conditions than that of the adjacent coast in the present estuary. These deposits correspond to the Las Escobas Formation (Holocene). Archaeological remains were found from the base of the shell ridge up into the overlying sediments. the hypothesis proposed here is that the human occupation is not contemporaneous with the formation of the shell ridge. the cultural sequence in this kind of site can be altered by disturbances of the stratigraphy as a consequence of environmental and geological events.