A Persistent Place for Hunter-Gatherers During the Late Holocene: The Case of Burials in Pit on the Coast of Lángara Bay, Argentine Patagonia

Abstract

In Argentine Patagonia, the type of archaeological burial "in pit" has been only identified on the coast of Lángara Bay. This modality is characterized by the presence of single and multiple primary burials. Studies on five human burials in pits are presented in this article. The aim is to compare the contexts of burials in pit at the site level and the spatial characteristics of their distribution in the Lángara Bay locality from a diachronic perspective. The approach focuses on mortuary practices and social relations of hunter-gatherer groups during the Late Holocene. A characterization of the burials, their chronologies, bioarchaeological determinations, stable isotope studies, and their spatial distribution are included. The results allow us to chronologically place the contexts between ca. 3000 and 2000 cal BP. A spatial pattern in the distribution of burials in the coastal landscape was identified. Finally, it is proposed that this part of the Patagonian coast was a persistent place of burials in pit.

Small-scale mobility fostering the interaction networks of Patagonian (Argentina) hunter-gatherers during the Late Holocene: Perspectives from strontium isotopes and exotic items

“…Regardless of the ecological and/or social motivations, the recurrent use of specific locations is expected in Patagonia. The archaeological and bioarchaeological records show that Late Holocene hunter-gatherers often re-used the same locations (“persistent places”, sensu [ 66 ]) for settlement and inhumation through time (see examples in [ 49 , 67 , 68 ]). As long as critical resources are available, the daily circulation around the same area for an indefinite amount of time is one possible landscape exploitation strategy among hunter-gatherer groups [ 15 , 69 – 71 ].…”

Coexistencia de tres modalidades de entierro humanas durante el Holoceno tardío en la costa norte de Santa Cruz: el caso de los entierros El Zanjón 3, Shag y El Amanecer

“…En el año 2014 se visitó el lugar y se observó la presencia de escasos restos óseos los cuales se encontraban a una profundidad de 1 m aproximadamente. Una reconstrucción del contexto de hallazgo permitió inferir que el o los individuo/s presentes en el entierro habrían sido depositados en una fosa realizada sobre una terraza costera (Zilio y Hammond 2017).…”

“…AP, por último los chenques se ubican en el rango cronológico de entre 1000 y 300 cal. AP(Zilio 2015(Zilio , 2016(Zilio , 2017aZilio y Hammond 2017; Zubimendi et al 2011).En trabajos previos(Zilio 2015(Zilio , 2017b, a partir del análisis de las dataciones radiocarbónicas de los entierros humanos en la CNSC, se pudo observar que muchos de los rangos de las edades calibradas se superponen permitiendo inferir la posible…”

Stable isotope ecology and human palaeodiet in the northern coast of Santa Cruz (Argentine Patagonia)

“…This type of burial was found only in Bahía Lángara archaeological locality in the coast of San Jorge gulf (Figure ). This type of inhumation is characterized by the presence of primary burials, both single and multiple (Zilio & Hammond, ).…”