Historia y desarrollo de las investigaciones arqueobotánicas en la Puna Sur Argentina

Article

Summary

In 1982, a group of anthropologists belonging to the Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano (INAPL) took up again Dr. Cigliano proposal about conducting an interdisciplinary study at Antofagasta de la Sierra (ANS) (Southern Argentine Puna, Catamarca). The aim was to evaluate the archaeological potential of the area and try to establish its regional development process. Archaeobotany and ethnobotany were integrated years later into the research topics of the team contributing to this goal through the treatment of different types of plant remains and the application of innovative methods and techniques. ANS is part of the archaeological literature of our country since the early twentieth century due to its mention in the works of some authors such as Ambrosetti (1904) or Boman (1908). During the decades of the 1960s and 1970s, it was also a focus of attention (Krapovickas 1968; Palma 1969). However, the lack of field work prevented the reconstruction of the complete view of human groups occupation in the area, but the vestiges and sites observed by different researchers encouraged them to explore the region deeply (Raffino and Cigliano 1973). The investigations about hunter-gatherer groups in the area were led by Carlos Aschero who coordinated, until today, the work team in relation to this issue. A large number of archaeological sites have been surveyed that were inhabited by human groups whose subsistence was based on this type of extractive economy for a prolonged period, later incorporating practices of pastoralism and incipient agriculture. In 1993, one of us (Rodríguez) was invited to be part of the mentioned team, starting the development of archaeobotany as a research line in the area. In summary, in this work we present the historical development of archaeobotanical and ethnobotanical research carried out at ANS. The area presents optimal environmental characteristics for this type of studies because its arid climate allows the perfect conservation of plant remains. The analysis of the archaeobotanical record (ca. 10.000 - 400 years C14 BP) allowed us to evaluate the transition between plant gathering and the incipient agriculture, while the ethnobotanical studies were integrated with the purpose of giving answer about the use of the plants at present time. The continuous critical review of the employed methodologies has resulted in the opening of new research lines.

Download or request the full text:

http://hdl.handle.net/11336/131588