Bioarchaeology of interethnic violence. A model to approach the indigenous attack on Fort San Jose (Valdes Peninsula, Chubut, Argentina)

Abstract

The available documentary sources show that in 1810 an indigenous attack put an end to the Spanish occupations in Fuerte San José and Puesto de la Fuente (1779-1810) in Peninsula Valdés, Chubut. However, historical information about this episode is scarce and ambiguous, which is why our project has recently developed a specific line of research to discuss this incident within the trajectory of interethnic relations in these settlements. In this context, we present here a model with various possible scenarios to materially characterize the attack based on: a) historical documentation referring to the characteristics and material conditions of the indigenous attack of 1810 on the settlements of Peninsula Valdés; b) broader ethnohistorical sources and studies on material aspects of regional interethnic conflict in the period studied; c) general bioarchaeological information on situations of interpersonal violence and interethnic conflict in different contexts and their material consequences in terms of the bioarchaeological record, including taphonomic aspects linked to the preservation of human remains; d) osteological, archaeological and taphonomic data available and specific to the Fuerte San José context. We then derive bioarchaeological expectations (contextual and osteological) from the model, that will allow us to develop specific strategies in the identification and study of the bioarchaeological record of the malón and differentiate it from other events of mortality and burial of human remains in the settlement. We aim to contribute to the growing field of bioarchaeology of violence, within the framework of ongoing research into historical bioarchaeology in the colonial settlements of Peninsula Valdés.