Fuel management in high mobility groups in Patagonia (Argentina) during the Holocene: Anthracological evidences of the sites Cerro Casa de Piedra 5 and Cerro Casa de Piedra 7

Abstract

Use of fire has been recognized for a long time as a key innovation in the development of human groups, as a multisource technological improvement. Fuel wastes recovered from archeological sites are the direct evidence of the fire use in society economies of the past. In the process of production and use of fire, diverse parameters exist that intervene and influence in its development. In order to obtain data relative to vegetal composition from early to late Holocene and its exploitation by societies characterized by high residential mobility, we carried on an charcoal and wood analysis in archeological sites Cerro Casa de Piedra 7 (10,690 ± 120-3400 BP) and Cerro Casa de Piedra 5 (6780 ± 110-2805 ± 105 BP) (province of Santa Cruz, Argentina). The results obtained evidence a drastic reduction of taxa used as fuel among occupations corresponding to early Holocene and late Holocene. Throughout all the levels we verified the intense use of tree species for combustion, while bushes were also collected but in much lower overall percentages. Nothofagus pumilio is the species with the highest representation. These results allowed to identify acting modes that refer to acquisition strategies of woody material oriented toward on the collection of great caliber wood.

3D digitization and archaeobotanical analysis of wooden artifacts

“…For this reason, the identification of these samples was made up to genus level. This result evidences the selection and use of this shrub as raw material from early times, among the hunter-gatherers Patagonian groups at least from 9.390 ± 40 BP (Caruso Fermé, 2019; Caruso Ferme, 2021; Caruso Fermé and Civalero, 2014, 2019).…”

Fogones, combustible óseo y procesamiento faunístico en el sitio de Huencú Nazar (Sistema Lagunar Hinojo-Las Tunas, región pampeana, Argentina): Implicancias para el uso del espacio por cazadores-recolectores

“…La relevancia del fuego en la ecología humana posee evidencias para el proceso de poblamiento de toda América. Se ha reconocido la utilización de fogones como centro de las actividades domésticas (Frank 2012; Hill et al 2011; Krasinski y Yesner 2008), la gestión social de diferentes clases de combustible (Caruso Fermé y Civalero 2019; Kedrowski et al 2009; Marconetto y Lindskoug 2015) y el incremento en el registro sedimentario de semillas carbonizadas o carbones de incendios que señalan la influencia humana en la configuración de los ambientes habitados (Gnecco y Aceituno 2004; Pinter et al 2011).…”