Archaeological Perspectives on the Ranquel Chiefdoms in the North of the Dry Pampas, in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Abstract

In this article, I present some results of the archaeological study about the cultural manifestation of the Ranquels. This Indian group occupied the north part of the province of La Pampa, Argentina, from the late eighteenth century until the end of the nineteenth century. Through a perspective that links the theoretical and methodological purposes of historical archaeology of the landscape, I analyze the settlements' distributions, the access to natural resources, the methods of circulation, and the strategies of interethnic conflict with the national army and the colonists on the border area. Taking into consideration the archaeological record and its contrast with written sources, I have defined some indicators about the process of culture change. My special interest concerns changes in nineteenthcentury Ranquel material culture produced before the dissolution of the ethnic groups because of the military actions of the "desert conquest."

Geological evidence for a drought episode in the western Pampas (Argentina, South America) during the early–mid 20th century

“…Stabilized dune fields were documented by the first military surveys (1840s and 1870s) into the western Pampas (Fernández, 1998; Tapia, 2005) and by topographers who surveyed and mapped this province between 1881 and 1885 ( Dirección General de Tierras, Archivo de Mensuras de La Pampa (DGT-AM)). According to military diaries, the area of Toay was surrounded by stabilized dunes covered by extensive, tall and dark forests in 1846 (Dussart et al, 2011).…”

“…The Pampas is the ‘breadbasket’ for Argentina, with annual acreage in wheat of approximately 1.7 Mha during the 20th century with crop yield influenced by precipitation variability, among a number of variables (Verón et al, 2004). Historical and archaeological studies show open cattle grazing was a common practice of the Ranquel people on the western Pampas since the 18th century (Fernández, 1998; Tapia, 2005), with a landscape dominated by closed forests mainly of Caldén ( Prosopis caldenia Burkart ) (Dussart et al, 2011). Post c. 1879, there was a massive deforestation mostly for sheep farming and for railway sleepers and fuel-wood (Garbarino, 2008), inducing a savanna landscape with dispersed trees of Caldén (Dussart et al, 2011).…”

Effects of Animal Husbandry on Secondary Production and Trophic Efficiency at a Regional Scale

“…In subhumid areas, the larger E troph of agricultural systems was mainly associated with a larger E consump . This larger E consump may be related to three factors: E consump decreases with travel distance to drinking water points (Bailey 1996) which are more available in current agricultural systems than in pre-Europeans times (Tapia 2005); fencing and animal movements allow regulation of consumption through the control of the occupancy period, frequency, and instantaneous stocking rate (Heitschmidt and Stuth 1991); control of predators increases the available time for consumption. The first two factors are influenced by the degree of subdivision of farms into paddocks, which, in agreement with our results, is more intense in the subhumid Pampas than in semiarid Patagonia or in humid Campos and agrees with our finding that the higher impact of animal husbandry on E consump was more important in the subhumid portion of the gradient.…”

A social archaeology of colonial war in Ethiopia

“…Regarding the first problem, whereas violent indigenous resistance has received some attention for the nineteenth century and before (Adams and White 2001;Johnson 2009;Laumbach 2009;Tapia 2005), the archaeology of twentieth-century conflict is too focused on the armies of industrial societies and does not pay enough attention to indigenous resistance to colonial invaders and non-Western wars. This is regrettable, because our knowledge of guerrillas and indigenous ways of waging war can benefit much from an archaeological approach (Aya´n Vila 2008;Banks 2007;Faulkner and Saunders 2007;Papadopoulos 2008;Pisano forthcoming;Sa´nchez et al 2004), as we either lack the rich textual sources that are often available for conventional armies or the extant evidence has been produced by the Western side -as happened in our case.…”