Early Holocene water well in the Pampas of Argentina: Human responses to water shortage events

Abstract

Water wells are ethnographically and archaeologically described in Australia and the plains of North America. Recently, a prehistoric water well from the early Holocene was recorded in the Pampas of Argentina. The aim of this paper is to present the main characteristics of the water well, considering its form, dimension, sediment analyses (texture and chemical parameters), and material culture content. This is the first water well recorded in the Pampas of Argentina. Consequently, a discussion about natural or cultural origins of this kind of features is provided. An evaluation of similarities and differences with well-described water wells from the United States and Australia is included in order to highlight the cultural origin of the pit. Also, the meaning of the cultural response to water availability in terms of early-Holocene hunter–gatherer adaptations as well as the implications of this strategy for understanding paleoenvironmental scenarios of the Pampas of Argentina are discussed. The well seems to have mitigated an exceptional lack of surface water in the eastern Pampas or offered an alternative for the non-drinkable quality of the available surface water. The strategy of digging water wells was available in the behavioral repertoire of the Pampean hunter–gatherer populations as early as c. 8700–8000 14C yr BP ( c. 9700–8800 cal. yr BP), as these groups were fairly flexible and resilient in dealing with short-term shortages of water.

New palaeoecological approaches to interpret climatic fluctuations in Holocenic sites of the Pampean Region of Argentina

“…Amongst the small mammal remains are Lagostomus maximus, Ctenomys sp., Chaetophractus villosus and five Caviidae and Cricetidae undetermined specimens. Due to the stratigraphic position of the water well and the presence of Eutatus seguini in it, the small mammal assemblage indicated above was interpreted to come from the PO4 Lower level (Alvarez et al, 2013;Martínez and Gutierrez, 2019). All the small mammal species found in the fossil assemblage inhabit steppe/pseudosteppe habitats from the Pampean Region and none indicates the presence of more arid conditions.…”

“…However, the incidence of an arid pulse is indicated by pollen analyses (reflecting a dominance of herbaceous psammophytic steppe, with xerophytes and scrub) and other proxies in Paso Otero 4 between 9.8 and 8.9 ka cal BP (Gutierrez et al, 2011). This dry pulse probably affected the surface water quality and water availability; hunter-gatherer groups responded to this event by excavating a water well in Paso Otero 4, to extract subterraneous water, and some small mammal remains have been recovered from the well (Martínez and Gutierrez, 2019). Amongst the small mammal remains are Lagostomus maximus, Ctenomys sp., Chaetophractus villosus and five Caviidae and Cricetidae undetermined specimens.…”

“…This river probably flowed near or through the Paso Otero locality due to a small shift in the watercourse during the Early and Middle Holocene. The site mainly consists of fine diatomaceous sediments and was formed by calmed depositional processes (Martínez and Gutierrez, 2019).…”

La Cosecha De Agua en La Pampa Occidental De Argentina Durante Los Siglos Xviii Y Xix, Una Vía Para Repensar El Registro Arqueológico Prehispánico

“…El segundo aspecto que se quiere poner en discusión surge de la acción de cercar con palo a pique un jagüel o construir represas en Cerro de los Viejos. La escasa bibliografía arqueológica sobre pozos cavados con el fin específico de obtener agua por grupos cazadores-recolectores del Holoceno en el centro de Argentina es, sin embargo, contundente, al mostrar que cavar un pozo fue una respuesta adecuada al déficit hídrico (Martínez y Gutiérrez 2019). De igual modo, Mansilla, Avendaño o De la Cruz muestran que, en algunos puntos específicos del paisaje, los rankülches de tiempos históricos, y cualquier viajero que tuviese los conocimientos tradicionales necesarios, podían cosechar agua con herramientas simples como una calla.…”

A Maxent Predictive Model for Hunter-Gatherer Sites in the Southern Pampas, Argentina

“…Essentially, the size, shape and formation of these water sources changed throughout the Holocene (Iriondo & Garcia 1993;Johnson et al 2012;Stutz et al 2010;Stutz & Prieto, 2003;Zárate et al 2000). For example, along the Quequén Grande River, evidence suggests that in some areas during the Early and Middle Holocene, a channel simply did not exist; just a broad, marshy, lowenergy environment (e.g., paleo-swamps) represented by interconnected longitudinal pools of flowing water (Martínez & Gutiérrez 2018;Zárate et al 2000). Apart from some dry pulses (see discussion in Martínez & Gutiérrez 2018), paleo-environmental data indicates that throughout the Holocene, water was available in these locations (in one form or another).…”