Incorporation of new raw materials by hunter gatherers in Patagonia since the XVIth century.

Summary

Since the arrival of XVIth Century Europeans to Patagonia, different indigenous societies inhabiting the region were forced to deeply modify their ancient lifeways. The incorporation of new raw materials (for example glass and stoneware) in the production of traditional instruments (for example scrapers and projectile points) was one of several of modified aspects recorded both archaeologically and historically. At first glance, the use of new raw materials appears to have been equally incorporated all over the region, however this is far from true. In this paper, we analyse data obtained from chronicles and archaeological contexts from continental Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego Island. We also bring into discussion data from experimental replication. We compare both sub-regions and evaluate their particular characteristics. In a deeper analysis, differences arise in the way how indigenous societies incorporated new materials. These differences could be related to both, the existence of Reservations and marginal settlements, as well as a market for guanaco hides in the continent; while in the island, inhabitants were not immersed in permanent commercial relationships, but rather contacted through religious missions. Finally, data herein presented has wider implications in that they reveal various ways in which hunter-gatherers coped with contact.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage