Intra-Site Use Patterns during the Early Holocene in the Cueva Maripe Site (Santa Cruz, Argentina)

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we make a quantitative analysis of spatial patterns for the earliest archaeological component (early Holocene) at Cueva Maripe, a multiple-activity site located in Santa Cruz province (Patagonia, Argentina). We worked in a geographical information systems environment to systematize the analogical and digital information from excavations including the location of registered hearths, the frequency of lithic artifacts and bone remains, and the distribution of burnt materials. The visualization techniques and spatial statistics allowed us to define the intra-site structure of the site. Results suggest that Cueva Maripe was probably used as a short-term temporary camp. This spatial approach leads to a better understanding of the formation and occupation history of the site, as well as a method for comparing different intra-site use patterns between sites.

KEYWORDS:

• Patagonia
• early occupation
• intra-site spatial analysis
• hearths
• GIS

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Municipalidad de Pico Truncado and Dirección de Cultura de la Provincia de Santa Cruz for their support; F. Griffiths, G. Pérez Carrizo, and D. Villamarín who collaborated with data-processing tasks; Daniel Rafuse who corrected the English text; two anonymous reviewers who made valuable suggestions to improve a previous version of the manuscript; and Celeste Weitzel for accompanying us through the editorial process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Lucia Magnin is associate researcher for the National Research Council, Argentina (CONICET); she obtained her degree at La Plata National University (2010), Argentina, where she specialized in the Analysis of Archaeological Landscape using Geographic Information Systems. Her research is focused on the archaeology of Patagonian hunter-gatherers, and her main interest is in mobility strategies, use of space, and landscape enculturation by these societies. She is also director of a public archaeology project in her research area.

Virginia Lynch is researcher and professor at the University of La Plata (UNLP). She received her PhD in Natural Sciences at the University of La Plata (2014). Her main research interests are hunter-gatherer societies and lithic technology. Her research on lithic technology focuses on micro-wear and micro-residue analysis and how this informs about past activities, social practices, and decision-making, as well as about taphonomic processes.

Eloisa García Añino received a PhD in Natural Science with mention in Anthropology from La Plata National University in 2018. Her research interests include the study of hunter-gatherer sites in Argentinian Patagonia, identifying food animal bones from archaeological sites to reveal patterns of consumption and subsistence adaptations.

Notes

1 The total station was incorporated into fieldwork during the 2010 fieldwork season.

2 In case of multiple overlapped hearths limit registers, we used the outer limit.

Additional information

Funding

The research was funded by CONICET (2015-102), ANPCyT (2017-1152), and National University of La Plata (PPID/N12).