How far to the West? Archaeology of the Peninsula Maipú’s isthmus (Lake San Martín, Santa Cruz province) in its regional context

Abstract

The archaeological landscape of the Tar and San Martín Andean lake basins shows a high artifactual density related with lagoons and sand dunes of the isthmus of Maipú peninsula, which is located southwest of San Martin Lake forest edge. The lagoons exhibit the expedient use of a local available rock (green silicificated toba), while the sand dunes could be seen as an equipped space, with a higher artifactual diversity and evidences of utilized rocks. Technological information is introduced and compared with the one recovered at the east of the study area (south margin of the San Martin lake and Tar lake), where there is a very low proportion of artifacts manufactured in green silicificated toba. The results show the isthmus as the most western space redundantly utilized on a seasonal basis. It is also suggested that it could articulate logistical activities. These data exhibit the differences in the way and the intensity of the space used by hunter gatherer populations between the steppe and the forest. In this way, new information is added to the discussion of the hypothesis proposed by L. Borrero (2004) on the marginality of western spaces in relation with the eastern ones. Finally, the results are put into perspective with those obtained in other near Andean lake basins (Belgrano and Argentino).