Appliyng environmental and etnographic frames of reference Northwestern Patagonia, Argentina.

Summary

In this work we apply theenvironmental and ethnographic frames of referenceconstructed by Binford (2001) and calculated in EnvCalc2.1 in order to generate and evaluatearchaeological hypothesis for the Central-Western area of Chubut Province (Patagonia, Argentina), an area in which archaeological research has recentlystarted. Patagonia is an elongatedterritory located between 39º W and 55º S in Southern South America. By its shape, it receives animportant oceanic influence which determines the lack of subpolar conditions, tundra and permafrost, expected by its latitude. The regionalclimate is determined by the westerly winds coupled with precipitation inducedby the western flanks of the Andean Cordillera [by a] 'rainshadow effect'. As a consequence, a strong east-west gradient is produced, withannual precipitation ranging from of4000 mm on the western slope to 200 in the east. In our study area this gradient determines two biomes:the steppe, represented by Genoa Valleyand the forest represented by the Pico Valley. Both valleys are connected and situated at similar latitude.The hunter-gatherer frames of reference are used to develop hypotheses regarding expected variation insubsistence, mobility, and housing across the study region. These expectationswill be compared with the archaeologicalevidence from the region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Archaeological Analysis Using Binford’s Environmental and Ethnographic Frames of Reference

Keywords

Spatial Coverage