Mining Ways of Life in the Southern Andes: Historical Anthropological Archaeology in Mendoza, Argentina

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of archaeological materials found at the mining sites Minas Paramillos Sur and Mina La Atala, located in the Paramillos de Uspallata and Divisadero Largo’s reserve. The goals of this research are to document consumption patterns of the mining proletariat and to make comparative intra- and inter-site comparisons of artifact trends. Within the framework of historical archaeology, we analyze these artifacts in the successive stages of occupation and within sociocultural contexts marked by peripheral industrial capitalism. In order to do this, we take into account three central elements: the environment, sociocultural practices (diets, techniques, and production technologies, personal care, spatial distribution, etc.), and the political-economic context. The results show that the mining populations of northwestern Mendoza in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries worked in precarious conditions and were socially marginalized by a hegemonic discourse of greater economic development in the province.