Between mountains and glacial valleys: archaeology in the mountain ranges of the central strip of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina)

Abstract

Studies about mobility, management of biotic and abiotic resources, exchange of material goods, ideas and information in hunter-gatherer societies, are a fundamental basis in order to discuss the socio-cultural dynamics of territorial occupation and exploitation of different environments and resources over time. In this paper, we investigate this subject in the Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego (Southern Patagonia, Argentina). The hunter-gatherer societies that inhabited the island until the end of the 19th century occupied different environments, where resources varied, from the Atlantic coast to the Magellanic forest, the central mountains and the northern steppe. Ethnographic information about the native societies suggests that there were important social interaction networks, with circulation of people and goods, north-south of the mountains, through mountain passes. We believe that there were also passages that should have allowed mobility east-west. In order to investigate these hypotheses, we decided to analyse the archaeological information for the area. The results obtained both in excavations and surveys along the last twenty years, indicate that mountain environments, intermountain valleys and high altitude passes were used since at least mid-Holocene. This information confirms that mountain corridors were part of communication networks that involved circulation of different types of goods, acquisition of exotic resources and different forms of social interaction among the populations that inhabited the island.