Wood technology of Patagonian hunter-gatherers: Selection and use of woody resources as raw material

Abstract

The aim of this work is to deepen our knowledge about the use of wood as raw a material among Patagonian hunter-gatherers, to identify the woody species used in the manufacturing of artifacts and to assess the shifts or continuities in the wood techonology of these societies during the Holocene. For this purpose we analyzed 10 wood artifacts coming from two Patagonian archeological sites Cerro Casa de Piedra 5 (6780 ± 110 and 2805 ± 105 years BP) and Cerro Casa de Piedra 7 (10,620 ± 40 and 3480 ± 70 years BP) (Santa Cruz prov., Argentina) and 20 wooden artifacts housed at three museum collections Museo del Fin del Mundo (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina), Museo de la Patagonia (Río Negro, Argentina) and Museo delle civilità (Roma, Italia). The studied ethnographic artifacts were collected by ethnographers and travellers in Patagonian lands, in the period of contact between ancient settlers and Europeans (XVI century to the beginning of XX). The archeological artifact analysis highlighted the use of one shruby species as raw material, while the results of the ethnographic pieces demonstrated the use of two species: Berberis sp. and Ribes magellanicum. The repeated use of the same woody species -Berberis sp.-, for the manufacturing of different types of artifacts, since early times (middle Holocene) until European contact periods (XVI century to the beginning of XX), allow us to document the development of a particular wood technology among Patagonian hunter-gatherer groups.