Holocene landscape changes and wood use in Patagonia: Plant macroremains from Cerro Casa de Piedra 7

This paper studies the different practices employed in the acquisition of woody material used by hunter–gatherer societies from the northwestern region of the Santa Cruz Province, Argentine Patagonia, during the early and middle Holocene. In addressing this theme, we study carbonized and non-carbonized wood recovered from six stratigraphic levels from the Cerro Casa de Piedra 7 site. This research revealed that during the lowest level of occupation, a distinct range of woody species were utilized; these were subsequently absent in the rest of the stratigraphical levels studied. In fact, all the other levels analyzed presented the homogeneous presence of a single plant species: Nothofagus pumilio. This species has the largest representation among both the charcoal and uncharred wood fragments of the six levels studied. The study of the assemblage samples allowed us to identify differences between the various archaeological levels, which could be the product of behavioral and/or environmental differences.Fil: Caruso Fermé, Laura. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Civalero, Maria Teresa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Methods of acquisition and use of firewood among hunter-gatherer groups in Patagonia (Argentina) during the Holocene

The present article examines the ways of obtaining firewood and of using it by Patagonian hunter-gatherer groups and the relationship with their high mobility. With these goals, we have selected a range of archaeological sites in varied types of vegetation: forest, forest-steppe ecotone and steppe (according to pollen reconstructions and current records) in several different latitudes of Argentinean Patagonia: Paredón Lanfré (Río Negro province); Cerro Pintado (Chubut province); Cerro Casa de Piedra 7 and Orejas de Burro 1 (Santa Cruz province). The taxa, including Nothofagus pumilio, Austrocedrus chilensis, Ribes magellanicum, Embothrium coccineum and Fabiana imbricata, found among the scattered charcoal remains in the sediments of the four Patagonian sites, show how firewood was gathered in types of vegetation similar to the ones that nowadays surround the archaeological sites. The archaeobotanical results allow us to detect differences and similarities of the supply of wood and its relationship with human mobility, site functionality and the types of occupation.Fil: Caruso, Laura Lihue. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin