Modelling Cultural Niches of Foraging Populations Along the South Coast of Tierra del Fuego: An Introduction

Abstract

This chapter examines the long-term adaptive strategies of hunter-gatherer-fisher populations inhabiting the southern coast of Tierra del Fuego, with a focus on the construction and variability of cultural niches across diverse ecolog-ical and social landscapes. By integrating archaeological, ethnographic, ecological, and isotopic data, we aim to understand how Fuegian groups responded to environmental variability, including fluctuations in marine productivity, effects of geographic isolation, and interactions across inland-coastal gradients. This approach underscores the dynamic and context-dependent nature of cultural niches, challenging rigid ethnographic categorizations and highlighting the ecological plasticity of hunter-gatherer-fisher societies in coastal and island environments.