20225403(en)/4 - First Results of Archaeological Research in the Colorado-Negro Interfluvium (Pichi Mahuida Department, Río Negro Province, Argentina)

Gustavo Martínez, Florencia Santos Valero, Ana Paula Alcaráz, Erika Borges Vaz, Luciana Stoessel, Gustavo Flensborg, Gustavo A. Martínez y Daniel J. Rafuse

This paper presents the first results of the archaeological investigations carried out in the interfluvium located between the middle courses of the Colorado and Negro rivers (Río Negro province, Argentina). This is an extensive arid plain with many temporary lagoons in which archaeological material is concentrated, mainly on the surface. Our analysis included distributional studies and, to a lesser extent, archaeological excavations, in order to understand the human strategies of space use and occupational intensity. The generated information is discussed in the light of archaeological expectations derived from the space use model proposed by Borrero and colleagues (2008). The results obtained indicate that the archaeological record located around these ephemeral lagoons is mainly the result of a planned and redundant use of space. Furthermore, some sectors of these lagoons were used more intensively and repeatedly, suggesting cases of specific redundancy. Although radiocarbon dates could not be obtained, the presence of pottery relates human occupations at least to the Late Holocene. The evidence discussed reveals the importance of this interfluvial space in the settlement and mobility strategies of the hunter-gatherer societies that inhabited two of the main northern Patagonian rivers.

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