The province of Tucumán was a theatre of permanent confrontation during its first century. The resistance of the Diaguitas-Calchaquíes Indians stalled all colonial attempts to settle in the inter-Andean valleys. The Hispano-Criollos progressively implemented a radical strategy aiming to end indigenous autonomy and to integrate that unyielding enclave into the nation: the denaturalization of the Indians and their total or partial relocation into a disciplined and controlled space.

This paper follows the development of these disciplining politics intended to achieve control over populations characterized by heteronomy, since the moment they were caught in the social and territorial reorganization of colonial power. The two moments of open conflict considered in this work -the 1630-40’s “Great Uprising” and the last 1658-64 war-forced the colonial agents to reassess their forms of domination and recruitment of workers and to enforce new ways of seizing the territory and of controlling the population within more strictly disciplined socio-spatial schemes.

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Taking the adventures of the runaway slave Gervasio Armas as a basis, this article analyzes the inclusion of black population in the Pampean-Mapuche society in the 18th and 19th centuries. The article focuses on the valuation and meaning of black slavery (which was the predominant condition black individuals) in Mapuche mentality, contrasting it with the Hispanic-Creole perspectives on the same phenomenon. It also outlines some ideas on the economic and political processes that allowed the emergence of the black population, noting different types of forced displacement between colonial and indigenous territories.

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Carpological evidence of El Vergel Complex contexts in Isla Mocha has made it possible to infer the various uses that these groups made of their vegetable resources. Among these, the hypothesis that Zea mays was used for the elaboration of fermented drinks-which would have been part of the prestige and leadership practices related to the increase in social complexity– stands out. Although the production of these beverages is noted in the Reche-Mapuche ethnohistorical record, archaeological evidence that provides contextual information about these practices at El Vergel is unknown. This work analyzes the archaeological starch grains recovered from ceramic sherds by comparing their damage with the pattern described for the fermentation process in the specialized literature. Our results show the production of these beverages in Mocha Island at least between A.D. 1000 and 1300, with both cultivated and wild species used for this purpose: Aristotelia chilensis (maqui), Zea mays (maize) and possibly Fragaria chiloensis (wild strawberry). The ceramic morphofunctional categories indicate that the complete process of preparing and serving these beverages would have taken place within the same site, with the serving stage possibly being linked to decorated pottery, which was likely specified for this purpose.

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