Agency of the local community in surface records of a nineteenth-century archaeological site in a rural area of Buenos Aires, Argentine Republic

Abstract

This paper presents the methods and techniques used to survey and analyse an archaeological site in the rural area of Buenos Aires Province with a high density of surface waste, and the results obtained relating to its formation and resettlement process between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries. The construction that remains standing to date is a typical nineteenth century dwelling. It is situated within what used to be the Old Town of San Vicente, next to the lagoon with the same name, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentine Republic. The site, identified as San Vicente 3 (SV3), features material surface records that are the product of a true palimpsest: a mixture of archaeological events and old waste from the historical cemetery located in front of the site, and different types of objects and residues resulting from activities carried out by the neighbours that re-occupied the dwelling and moved around its surrounding area throughout the period referred to. We proposed several tools for studying the site to record the high density and variety of materials and temporalities visible on the surface and determine the presence of different events in its formation.