During Late Holocene times the process of regional differentiation, which began to become visible during the Middle Holocene, produced a wide variety of historical trajectories and adaptive patterns. In this period the archaeological visibility of the pampas and campos increased significantly, a fact that also suggests a rise in the population density of the region. Moreover, several significant changes occurred, such as reduction in residential mobility and the development of wide—supra-regional—interaction networks, which, along with some important innovations, such as pottery and horticulture, suggest the development of a process of complexity. This process is well exemplified in the cerritos of the eastern campos.
In the pampas, Martinez and Gutierrez (2004) have defined a pattern of diversification and intensification of areal economies based on the zooarchaeological record. This record shows an important taxonomic diversity and richness which may have undergone changes toward 1000 BP as a consequence of the establishment of the current ecosystems. Among 72 genera recorded in the sites, 22 were exploited. During this time at least three main subsistence strategies can be identified among hunter-gatherers in the pampas (Figure 14.8): exploitation of the xerophitic forest, exploitation of the open grasslands, and exploitation of rivers and lagoons.
The hunter-gatherers of the xerophitic forest are represented in the upper level of the Casa de Piedra site, in the Tapera Moreira locality and in several sites of the lower Rio Colorado. These sites indicate that guanaco was the main prey, while pampean deer, armadillos and rhea were secondary resources. The abundance of grinding stones in these areas suggests that fruit of the xerophitic forest might have been consumed. The upper level of Casa de Piedra indicates stronger similarities with the north Patagonian foragers during Late Holocene times (Gradln 1984). In the Rio Salado-Curaco, the upper component (ca. 1200 to 500 BP) of Tapera Moreira reveals some cultural peculiarities when compared with the archaeological record of other areas in the pampas, for example: a multiplicity of pottery types which includes painting and incision and the presence of pottery handles; the presence of engraved plates; the coexistence of medium and thicker stemless projectile points with thin and small projectile points (Beron 2004). It is highly probable that fruit from calden (Prosopies caldenia), chanar (Geoffre decorticans), algarrobo (Prosopis flexu-osa) and other trees was important in subsistence and in some way could balance the lack of some small prey which were complementary resources in the open and more humid eastern grassland. In addition, in the lower Rio Colorado the river fish perca was consumed intensively (Martinez et al. 2005).
Located in this area is the outstanding discovery of the Chenque 1 burial site (Beron 2004). It is a complex stone elliptical structure with at least two levels of burials, created between 1030 and 370 years BP. The structure is formed from three types of burials:
Figure 14.8. Map showing the main adaptive patterns in the pampas and campos during the Late Holocene. (Gustavo Politis)
Primary, secondary, and a new type called disposition (disposicion). This is formed from skeletons, partially articulated, with the anatomic units re-organized (for example the skull placed inside the toraxic cavity). This strongly structured place of inhumation has been interpreted as representing the intensive re-use of certain spaces to re-enforce their sacredness. It has been proposed that the use of this place as a cemetery would function as a strategy to legitimate access to certain resources of the area (Beron 2004). This site, among other sites such as El Tumulo de Malacara, El Guanaco (Mazzia et al. 2004) and Paso Alsina 1 (Martinez 2004), shows the great variability in mortuary practices in the pampas during the Late Holocene (see also Barrientos 2001).
The grassland hunter-gatherers are well represented in both hilly areas and in the plains between them. Sites are abundant and mostly located on the border of lagoons. During this period guanaco was the main food resource, but also pampean deer, armadillo and rhea were consumed. Although guanaco was the main prey during Late Holocene times, around 1000 years BP, this mammal started a retraction toward the west and became scarce in the east. In relation to this, in the Tandilia Hills during this period the “lagarto overo” (Tupinambis cf. merianae), the coypo, and some cavidae rodents became important
Resources, while the occasional consumption of bagres (Rhamdia cf. sapo and Corydoras cf. paleatus) was also recorded. The lithic technology is represented in a basic unifacial tool-kit made on quartzite and chalcedony and bola stones, however some new artifacts came to be used. Small triangular stemless projectile points are typical, suggesting the use of bow and arrow. Plain and incised pottery is also present in the area at ca. 3000 BP although in low frequencies (Politis et al. 2001) (Figure 14.9). During the Late Holocene changes in mobility, subsistence, and technology led Martinez (1999) to propose a process of economic and social intensification. It is suggested that the adoption and integration of technological innovation (such as pottery and the bow and arrow) by these grassland hunter-gatherers took place within a cultural context characterized by changes in social complexity (Politis et al. 2001). For the last part of the Holocene, at around 1000 BP, Barrientos (2001) proposed the expansion of a northeastern Patagonia population into the southeastern pampas.
In the hilly area of the pampas—Tandilia, Ventania, Lihue Calel and small isolated rock outcrops—several rock paintings have been found (Madrid and Oliva 1994; Maz-zanti 1991; Gradin 1975). In general terms they are geometric motifs (basically red, but also black and white), which have been correlated stylistically with the Late Holocene rock art of northern Patagonia, the Sierras Centrales, and Mendoza. However, no direct or indirect dates have been obtained. Moreover the presence of some anthropomorphic
Figure 14.9. Typical incised pottery from the pampas. (Gustavo Politis)
Figure 14.10. Rock painting from the Cerro Curico site in the pampas. (Gustavo Politis)
Motifs (such as in the Cueva de los Espiritus; Oliva and Algrain 2003), bird foot prints (D. Mazzanti, personal communication) and Tehuelche-related designs (Madrid et al. 2001) (Figure 14.10) indicate the complexity and the diachronicity of the rock art in the pampas (Consens and Oliva 1999). In the Uruguayan campos there is a concentration of rock painting in the southwest of the Uruguay River on granite outcrops (Consens 1998). They are basically red monochrome geometrical motifs and human and animal schematic figures. In the northwest of Uruguay there are petroglyphs on previously polished granite.
In both the pampas and campos, the interpretation of these symbolic manifestations has followed the world trend in these types of studies. Initially they were only correlated stylistically (i. e., Madrid and Oliva 1994; Gradin 1975). Later they were interpreted as territorial markers. More recently they are seen as spatial signs for ritual or places of social aggregation, and finally as the result of entoptic phenomenon (Oliva and Algrain 2004).
It has been demonstrated that the pampas foragers from the inland were also periodically exploiting the coast (Bonomo 2005). The resources from this zone (basically rounded cobbles and eventually seal) were procured by the inland foragers when the coast was in the catchment area of the residential camps or could be obtained by logistical trips. However, in this case, it is not possible to determine whether the raw material was collected directly from the outcrops, which would mean that the quarries were in non-restricted territories, or if they were obtained by exchange with the bands who would control the quarries (see discussion in Flegenheimer and Bayon 2002 and Bonomo 2005).
The hunter-gatherer-fishers of rivers and lagoons are well-represented in the lower part of the Rio Salado Depression and in the floodplain of the main rivers, basically the lower Uruguay, the lower Parana-Plata and its delta. On the eastern shore of the Parana-Plata River, several sites indicated dense human occupation of certain plots. It is not clear yet if this density would be the result of a major degree of re-occupation or longer stay
In each habitation event. The sites indicate diversification in faunal exploitation including pampean deer and swamp deer (Blastoceros dichotomus), smaller mammals such as the coypo and guinea pig (Cavia aperea), fresh water shells, fish (Doradidae and Pimelodidae), and birds (Loponte and Acosta 2004). Interestingly, the foragers of the eastern shore of the La Plata River between ca. 1500 and 800 years BP were consuming with certain abundance the black corvine Pogonia cromis (Paleo and Perez Meroni 1999), a saltwater fish that now lives in the estuary zone of the river (tens of kilometers toward the south). In terms of raw materials, since suitable rocks are absent in the area, bones and possibly wood became the preferred raw material for making tools. Small artifacts made from quartzite and chalcedony are always present but in smaller quantities. Pottery is abundant and indicates full use of vessels for cooking and as containers, and sherds include types that are both plain and decorated by geometric incision (including drag-and-jab). The expansion in the use of pottery in these areas would be related to intensification in the exploitation of two resources: vegetables and fish (Perez and Canardo 2004).
In the delta and in the lower Parana, the archaeological record shows some peculiarities in the basic hunter-gatherer-fisher adaptive pattern. In some way, it could be partially explained by the penetration of a “branch” of the Dominio Amazonico, which forms a subtropical forest in the delta and on the shore of the main rivers (Figure 14.11). This creates an environment with peculiar characteristics among which great floristic diversity is notable. Floral resources—especially the fruits of the pindo palm (Syagrus roman-zoffiana)—were exploited recurrently in the island of the delta (Caggiano 1984; Loponte et al. 2004). Moreover, the historical record of the sixteenth century indicates that the Lower Parana and Uruguay rivers were occupied by several ethnic groups (Chana, Chana Timbu, Timbu, Mbegua, etc.), some of them practicing small-scale horticulture.
Figure 14.11. View of the Parana River delta with a gallery forest. (Gustavo Politis)
In the Rio Salado Depression the Late Holocene sites suggest a similar kind of human occupation with sites located in “lomas” close to the Salado River (Gonzalez de Bonaveri 2005). Coypo seems to be the more important food resource, while freshwater fish and birds were also important. Gathering of fruit from the tala (Celtis tala) forest was also recorded. Several radiocarbon dates place the occupation of these “lomas” between 1730 to 370 years BP (Gonzalez de Bonaveri 2005). In the southern and western border of this area, Late Holocene foragers used resources in a different way since lithic raw material and guanaco herds were not far away. The Laguna de Sotelo and La Colorada sites are good examples of this situation (see revision in Gonzalez de Bonaveri 2005).
It seems clear that during the Late Holocene in the pampas the interaction network amplified and there is much evidence of exotic material with highly symbolic value circulating in the different areas (Politis and Madrid 2001; Beron 2004; Gonzalez de Bonaveri 2005; Martinez 2004). For example, in the Tapera Moreira locality the Chilean pottery called “Vergel-Valdivia” coexists with the local pottery; in the lower Rio Colorado lip lugs and ear plugs are present in several sites; in the Rio Salado Depression several beads made of crisocolla (a copper mineral) and semi-precious extra-regional rocks have been found while the typical Patagonian engraved stone plates are recovered in a few sites. For some authors (i. e., Gonzalez de Bonaveri 2005), these exotic items would have played a central role in the economic organization and therefore would suggest some kind of social inequality.
The late phase of the cerritos construction in eastern Uruguay and Brazil has been interpreted as the result of a process of complexity among hunter-gatherers and small scale horticulturists (Lopez Mazz 2001; Iriarte et al. 2004). At ca. 1000 BP, some clusters of cerritos could be the result of their emergence as important ceremonial centers. At this time the archaeological record shows a reduction in residential mobility and complex settlement that indicates an increase in the energy invested in monumental architecture. This could be a new strategy to negotiate inequalities and to legitimate interest groups (Lopez Mazz 2001). However, the emergence of this particular village mode of life and the relationship between monumentality and centralized political systems should be noted (Lopez Mazz 2001).
In the middle and lower basin of the Parana and Uruguay rivers several changes occurred during the Late Holocene (Cerutti 2000). Pottery entered the area between 5000 to 2500 BP, and at around 2000 BP the first canoe people are recorded in this fluvial area. It seems that horticulture began to be part of subsistence during this time, probably in the last 2,000 years, and was related to the expansion of the Tupi-Guaranl (Rodriguez 2001; see Chapter 33 in this volume). In the middle and lower Parana-Uruguay an elaborate pottery tradition, known as the “Goya-Malabrigo culture,” is registered at about 1000 BP. It is well represented in many sites of the floodplain and on the islands and is characterized by abundant zoomorphic representations (mainly a variety of birds). Subsistence patterns were based on a mixed economy of small and medium mammals, birds, fish, mollusks, and products from the forest (especially palm fruit). Small scale tropical horticulture might have been practiced although archaeological evidence is still not conclusive (Rodriguez 2001).
In the northern border of the campos, which is basically in the southern planalto, several traditions have been proposed: Itarare, Casa de Pedra, and Taquara (Schmitz 1988; Schmitz and Basile Becker 1991). These traditions were interpreted as regional continuities of the Humaita Tradition as a result of the adoption of pottery, horticulture, certain techniques of lithic polishing, and the construction of pit-houses. However, recent work of Noelli (1999-2000) challenges this interpretation, proposing that this Late Holocene population was the southern expansion of the Ge linguistic family, being the ancestors of
The ethnographic Kaingang and Xokleng groups. The early Ge population of the area would have been displaced from the proximity of the main rivers to the more high and cold lands of the planalto by the Guarani Indians between 2000 and 1000 BP. In a second event, the Ge population was also displaced by the Guarani at around 700 BP from the Atlantic coast and toward the higher part of the planalto.
The Guarani are a group of populations, well known in archaeological, historical linguistic and ethnographic terms, belonging to a Tupi cultural matrix. The origin of these populations would be in the Madeira-Guapore basin, in southwest Amazonia. In a process of continuous demographic growth and territorial expansion, they spread through several regions of southeastern South America, including most of the campos and the northeastern part of the pampas (Brochado 1984; Noelli 1999-2000) (Figure 14.12). They reached their southern limit, the Lower Parana-Plata rivers, at least by ca. 700 BP (Loponte et al. 2004).
In terms of social-political organization and kinship, the Guarani formed several nuclear families around a political/religious leader. The extended family would be composed of a variable number of nuclear families, reaching sometimes sixty or more persons.
The larger villages could integrate four or five extended families, giving an average of 300 to 600 inhabitants. The subsistence of the Guarani population was quite generalized, based on horticulture, gathering of plants and insects, and hunting and fishing. They cultivated about 39 plant genera subdivided in at least 159 cultivars. Among them the main species were manioc (Manihot esculenta), sweet potato (Ipomea batata), maize, and beans.
In spite of the great geographical expansion and the tendency to systematically incorporate non-Guarani people, pottery maintains a great uniformity. The typical painted and corrugated pottery (Figure 14.13) is found in distant locations, thousands of kilometers
Figure 14.12. View of the left margin of the upper Uruguay River, showing the location of the Guarani site 3 Bocas II. (photo courtesy Rodrigo Angrizani)
Figure 14.13. Typical Guarani corrugated pottery. (Museo de La Plata Collection).
Apart, with very little variation, indicating that it was produced in the context of a rigid stylistic, highly standardized pattern (Noelli 1999-2000).
The chronological span of the dated Guarani sites in the region is between ca. 2000 to 200 BP (Noelli 1999-2000), but it should be remembered that well-established Guarani populations are still living in the region. The Guarani expansion into the campos and pampas produced significant cultural changes. They introduced several cultigens, and some technological and stylistic patterns. Overall, they spread a new mode of life among the local population.
World History
