First Records of Prehispanic Dogs in Southern South America (Pampa‐Patagonia, Argentina)

Abstract

We present the first solid evidence for prehispanic dogs in southern South America (from Patagonia and the Pampas, Argentina). Although several canine remains previously found in Pampa‐Patagonia were attributed at first to dogs, they were subsequently determined to have been extinct foxes and/or discarded for lack of clear diagnostic features or for unreliable chronological information. The Patagonian remains presented here consist of dental fragments found at the Angostura 1 site, a campsite located near the Negro River. The Pampean evidence consists of a complete skeleton found at a cemetery (the Chenque 1 site) located in the Lihue Calel National Park. Both sites date to ca. 930 BP and are interpreted as having been occupied by hunter‐gatherer societies. Unlike in North America, the presence of prehispanic dogs in South America has always been associated with complex societies (mainly in Peru and Ecuador) and not with egalitarian hunter‐gatherers. This paper proposes that the spread of dogs in South America occurred mainly among Andean complex societies (especially from 3500 BP). Introduction of dogs into egalitarian hunter‐gatherer societies in the Southern Cone would have occurred later, around 1000 BP, when these societies appear to have increased long‐distance social contacts.