Arqueología

Blades as a distinct technological system. Analysis of lithic assemblages of the Cerro Casa de Piedra 7 site (Santa Cruz, Argentina) during the Middle Holocene.

Nicolás Maveroff, María Teresa Civalero — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:53:21 +0000

The present article explores the lithic technological organization at the Cerro Casa de Piedra 7 (CCP7) site, located in the lake-mountain area of northwest Santa Cruz, Argentina. CCP7 has a broad chronological sequence that shows the incorporation of lithic blade technology from ca. 7800 cal BP. This is not an isolated phenomenon, as at a regional level this new technology begins to become visible from the middle Holocene, forming an alternative to flake technology. In this study, artifacts made on blades were compared with those manufactured on other types of blanks. In this way, the aim was to evaluate the internal variability of the assemblage, identify manufacturing patterns, and propose possible uses related to the blades subset. The results indicate a certain degree of standardization of the pieces, an efficient use of their edges, a careful selection of raw materials, and specialized designs to perform specific tasks. All this suggests that the adoption of this new technology did not respond so much to a maximization of lithic resources, but rather to a search to optimize the efficiency and versatility of these tools. Thus, this work provides new information on the introduction and development of blade technology in central-southern Patagonia and invites us to consider what motivated its incorporation and/or adoption by the hunter-gatherer groups that inhabited the region from the middle Holocene onwards.

María de las Mercedes Constanzó, anthropologist: a transgressor in times of social turbulence

Geraldine Andrea Gluzman — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 17:42:22 +0000

This work aims to contribute to recovering women’s trajectories in the academic field of anthropology from a gender perspective. This approach involves integrating their work with that of men, on which traditional historiography has focused, reflecting on the established gender relations. Specifically, it addresses the academic itinerary of Dr. María de las Mercedes Constanzó (1909-1998), a distinguished physical anthropologist and a pioneer in the discipline in Argentina. The reconstruction of her career entails, on the one hand, analyzing her main scientific works, participation in academic events, and official documentation related to her teaching and research activities. On the other hand, interviews were conducted with the researcher's family. While the first group of sources provides institutional information and insights into the macrohistory of the discipline, access to personal data contributes to understanding the microhistory, resulting in a more comprehensive view of her professional career and the history of anthropology. By situating her experiences within the national and disciplinary historical framework, this study explores both the limitations imposed on women in a patriarchal society and the strategies used to overcome them.

Food preparation and consumption practices in Aguada societies of the Ambato Valley, Catamarca (VI-XI centuries A.D.): an approach from plant microremains

Pilar Escudero Pacheco, Aldana Tavarone, Andrés Laguens — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 17:49:58 +0000

In the Ambato Valley, archaeological sites record activities related to food processing and storage under conditions of social and economic inequality, with differential access to resources. Within this framework, understanding the specifics of these activities is of interest to better comprehend the role played by the resource-food in the formation of these past societies. This study focused on identifying silicophytoliths and starch grains on residues from ceramic fragments, which were classified following previous research according to their technological and morphological aspects. In this way, we sought to infer methods of food preparation and consumption at the Piedras Blancas site, establishing a correlation between the recovered plant microremains and their presence in different varieties of ceramic vessels, considering aspects such as paste composition, shapes, and functions. Findings included maize (Zea mays), carob (Neltuma sp.), potato (Solanum tuberosum), bean (Phaseolus sp.), ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus) and morphotypes related to the Cucurbitaceae and Arecaceae families. Various processing techniques were identified, such as grinding and exposure of different parts of the plant to various heat sources. These results suggest a plant consumption pattern like that of other sites in the valley, indicating that food and processing practices were widely shared across different social sectors.

Grinding in the Somuncurá plateau foothills (Northeastern Patagonia) through archaeological collections and vegetal microremains studies

Daniela Saghessi — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 15:02:22 +0000

Throughout the Somuncurá plateau and its foothills, stone constructions represent some of the most visible archaeological evidence. Although they have been linked to the communal hunting of guanacos, their morphological diversity and association with different remains could indicate other functions. Recent advances in the archaeobotany of Argentinian Patagonia have suggested a greater importance of plant resources for hunter-gatherer groups in the region, increasing the species consumed and associated practices. This work evaluates the role of grinding in the diet of hunter-gatherer groups who inhabited the foothills of the Somuncurá plateau through the analysis of two archaeological collections. A lithic techno-morphological and morpho-functional study, and an archaeobotanical analysis of plant microremains were carried out. The results suggest that basalt is the main used raw material and that differences in the final size of the artefacts may be related to the distance from the lithic source areas. Archaeobotanical analyses show the processing of local species (Neltuma sp.), non-local species (Araucaria araucana (Molina) K. Koch), and seaweed remains recovered for the first time, that were possibly used as condiments. Finally, the spatial association of one of the collections with stone structures would support the hypothesis that some of the constructions could have had residential functions.

Archaeology, veterans of the Malvinas War and mental health: an unprecedented experience in Latin America

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 17:05:34 +0000

In this article we will present a pioneering experience that evaluates the therapeutic potential of archaeological practice in relation to the mental health of veterans of the Malvinas War (1982). The framework project connects professionals from archaeology, history and mental health sciences (psychiatrists, psychologists and music therapists). Through the evaluations and observations conducted by each discipline, the preliminary results of the first three archaeological field experiences with veterans will be developed. Based on the scarce precedents existing in other parts of the world, this interdisciplinary team seeks to apply this type of practice, for the first time in Latin America, with those who starred in the only international war in which the Argentine Republic took part. We are referring to the South Atlantic conflict of 1982, in which Argentinean forces fought against the British Empire, and which still constitutes an open wound in the Argentinean social fabric.

Bajo El Cóndor 1 site: contribution to the use of space through lithic and faunal surface assemblages (Pali Aike Volcanic Field, Southern Patagonia, Argentina)

Natalia Andrea Cirigliano, Lorena L’Heureux — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This paper presents the information obtained from the study of lithic and faunal surface assemblages recovered at the Bajo El Condor 1 site, located in the Gallegos-Chico interfluve (Pali Aike volcanic field, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina). Our goal is to identify the activities carried out by hunter-gatherer populations, in order to assess their use of the space in the site. Overall, we recognized the main use of local lithic raw materials in the production of artifacts, the provisioning of the site with dark fine-grained rocks of the Potrok Aike type, and abundant evidence of the initial stages of lithic knapping activities along with scant finished tools, and the exploitation of Lama guanicoe. The results are complemented by those of local rock art studies, suggesting a brief and planned use of the site, at least during the last period of human occupation at Pali Aike.

Raising life in republican times. An approach from Andean and peasant practices at a Puna´s house (Antofagasta de la Sierra, Catamarca)

Maria Soledad Martinez, María Belén Velárdez Fresia — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 14:54:51 +0000

The response of local societies in their own ancestral and multicultural territories,
to colonial and modern domination has been the subject of multiple social research
studies. In this paper, we analyze the ways of living of the families from the Puna,
between the last decades of the nineteenth century and the first third of the twentieth
century, from an archaeological perspective. We address the social practices of
shepherds and weavers, studying the material evidence in a rural house located in
the Puna de Atacama, province of Catamarca, Northwest Argentina. We suggest the
ontological confluence to approach the local experience of living in the Puna and
in a wider context, the State, considering especially the persistence of certain daily
practices, intimately connected with Andean ontologies, that claim both the identity
and ancestry of the Puna, of deep pre-Hispanic roots. We discuss how the local and
foreign are reconfigured in the connection of that which is imposed, resisted, and
chosen.