ArticlePDF Available

Gallardo et al 2022 - Yendegaia Rockshelter, the First Rock Art Site on Tierra del Fuego Island and Social Interaction in Southern Patagonia (South America)

Authors:

Abstract and Figures

Through our research at Bahía Yendegaia on the Beagle Channel in southernmost Patagonia-the ancestral territory of the Yagán people-we discovered the first rock art site on Tierra del Fuego Island. The geometric visual images found at Yende-gaia Rockshelter present motifs and compositions analogous to those recorded at other sites on the southern archipelago associated with the marine hunter-gatherer tradition. They also show graphic similarities to the rock art paintings attributed to terrestrial hunter-gatherer populations from the Pali Aike volcanic field, located on the north side of the Strait of Magellan in mainland Patagonia. Both, however, display quantitative differences, which suggest that they emerged from different visual traditions but from the same field of graphic solutions. Navigational technology enabled the canoe-faring Fuegian people to have long-distance mobility and to maintain a flow of social information mediated via visual imagery expressed in material forms, such as rock art and expressions of portable art. Ethnohistoric reports suggest a cooperative social interaction more than a competitive one. This cooperative social dynamic would have been necessary for the survival of marine societies in the harsh environmental conditions characteristic of the southern part of south Patagonia.
Content may be subject to copyright.
ARTICLE
Yendegaia Rockshelter, the First Rock Art Site on Tierra del Fuego Island and
Social Interaction in Southern Patagonia (South America)
Francisco Gallardo , Gloria Cabello, Marcela Sepúlveda , Benjamín Ballester, Danae Fiore,
and Alfredo Prieto
Through our research at Bahía Yendegaia on the Beagle Channel in southernmost Patagoniathe ancestral territory of the
Yagán peoplewe discovered the rst rock art site on Tierra del Fuego Island. The geometric visual images found at Yende-
gaia Rockshelter present motifs and compositions analogous to those recorded at other sites on the southern archipelago asso-
ciated with the marine hunter-gatherer tradition. They also show graphic similarities to the rock art paintings attributed to
terrestrial hunter-gatherer populations from the Pali Aike volcanic eld, located on the north side of the Strait of Magellan
in mainland Patagonia. Both, however, display quantitative differences, which suggest that they emerged from different visual
traditions but from the same eld of graphic solutions. Navigational technology enabled the canoe-faring Fuegian people to
have long-distance mobility and to maintain a ow of social information mediated via visual imagery expressed in material
forms, such as rock art and expressions of portable art. Ethnohistoric reports suggest a cooperative social interaction more
than a competitive one. This cooperative social dynamic would have been necessary for the survival of marine societies in
the harsh environmental conditions characteristic of the southern part of south Patagonia.
Keywords: rock painting, Fuegian Archipelago, southern Patagonia, social interaction, information ows
Durante nuestras investigaciones en Bahía Yendegaia, ubicada en el Canal Beagle, al extremo sur del continente americano y en ter-
ritorio ancestral Yagán, hemos descubierto el primer sitio con pinturas rupestres de la Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. Allí, las imá-
genes de diseño geométrico presentan formas y composición análogas a aquellas registradas en otros sitios del archipiélago austral.
No ocurre lo mismo con las pinturas del campo volcánico continental de Pali Aikea l norte del Estrecho de Magallanes, universo rupes-
tre cuyas diferencias cuantitativas sugieren otra tradición visual, aunque dentro de un mismo campo de soluciones grácas. La tec-
nología de navegación de los pueblos del extremo sur de América favoreció la movilidad a gran distancia de los canoeros fueguinos,
quienes habrían mantenido abierto un ujo de información social mediado por imaginarios visuales como el arte rupestre. Esta inter-
acción social, documentada etnohistóricamente, indica que tenía un carácter de cooperación más que de competencia; dinámica
social necesaria, en el contexto de las rigurosas exigencias ambientales del archipiélago fueguino y del sur de Patagonia Meridional.
Palabras clave: pintura rupestre, archipiélago fueguino, extremo sur de Patagonia, interacción social, ujos de información
Francisco Gallardo Centro de Estudios Interculturales e Indígenas, Escuela de Antropología, Ponticia Universidad
Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile (fgallardo.ibanez@gmail.com, corresponding author)
Gloria Cabello Centro de Estudios Interculturales e Indígenas, Ponticia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago; and
Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, Santiago, Chile (glcabello@gmail.com)
Marcela Sepúlveda Escuela de Antropología, Ponticia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; and CNRS-Paris 1,
Paris, France (msepulver@uc.cl)
Benjamín Ballester Universidad de Tarapacá, Santiago, Chile (benjaminballesterr@gmail.com)
Danae Fiore CONICETUniversidad de Buenos Aires, Asociación de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Buenos Aires,
Argentina (danae_ore@yahoo.es)
Alfredo Prieto Centro de Estudios del Hombre Austral, Instituto de la Patagonia, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas,
Chile (alfredo.prieto@umag.cl)
Latin American Antiquity, pp. 118
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for American
Archaeology. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction
in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
doi:10.1017/laq.2022.47
1
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
For many years, archaeological research in
the southern Patagonia archipelago did
not discover any rock art sites, but this
has been gradually changing. Today, such sites
have been reported across an extensive zone
stretching from Madre de Dios Island to Cape
Horn (González et al. 2014; Jaillet et al. 2010;
Legoupil and Prieto 1991; Muñoz et al. 2016).
Curiously, no rock art site had been reported to
date on the largest island of the archipelago,
the Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego, which also
has the longest recorded occupational history
(e.g., Oría and Tivoli 2014; Orquera and Piana
1999a). During our investigations at Yendegaia
Bay, on the north shore of the Beagle Channel
(the southern coast of this big island) and in the
ancestral territory of the Yagán people, we dis-
covered the rst site containing rock paintings
(Figure 1). Archaeological and ethnographic evi-
dence suggest that the mobility of these canoe-
faring people who navigated around the Tierra
del Fuego archipelago, from the Gulf of Penas to
Cape Horn, enabled regular contact with popula-
tions with different cultural traditions. These
included what have come to be called marine
hunter-gatherers, the Kawashkar in the Magellan
Strait archipelago; the land-based hunter-gatherers
known as the Selknam, who inhabited the Isla
Grande; and their mainland neighbors in continen-
tal Patagonia, the Aonikenk. We propose that the
motifs documented at Yendegaia Rockshelter pro-
vide new evidence of these interregional interac-
tions: they bear graphic resemblances that suggest
they formed part of a shared system of information
circulation, albeit with local specicities.
Many studies focusing on social interactions
among hunter-gatherer groups have argued that
they maintained social alliances to reduce socio-
environmental pressures and to favor social
reproduction (Borrero et al. 2011; Gallardo
2009a; Gallardo et al. 2012; Gamble 1982;
Jochim 1983; Webb 1974; Whallon 2006,
2011; Wobst 1977). These authors have shown
that in desert, semidesert, and periglacial en-
vironments, such as the Fuego-Patagonia region,
the circulation of shared motif types, whether on
xed supports (rock art) or portable ones (mobile
art, body art), contributed to the ow of informa-
tion, the construction of social networks, and the
formation of alliances among distant groups.
The visual scenes found in such harsh en-
vironments are comparable to those recorded for
hunter-gatherer rock art sites located in the south-
ernmost part of the American continent. Given
these similarities, researchers working in localities
of northern, central, and south-central Patagonia
havearguedthatthemotifscapturedinrockart
and in portable art would have fostered interaction
among the populations of the whole region (e.g.,
Acevedo 2015;AcevedoandFiore2020;Carden
and Borges 2017;Cardenetal.2018; Cassiodoro
et al. 2019;Fiore2006,2020;Guichon2018;
Muñoz 2020; Muñoz et al. 2021; Re and Guichon
2014). Long-distance relations among the differ-
ent marine- and land-based human groups of the
Fuego-Patagonia archipelago were also active in
historic times and are described in ethnographic
sources (e.g., Borrero et al. 2011;Bridges1952;
Chapman 1977;Emperaire2002;FitzRoy
1839;Gusinde1986; Orquera and Piana 1999b).
Interactive social networks between groups
with navigation technology are evident in the
region, which would also encourage the circula-
tion of decorated motifs found in mobile art,
especially on the islands of the Strait of Magel-
lan-Tierra del Fuego-Canal Beagle (the southern
part of Isla Grande del Tierra del Fuego), the
northern part of Isla Grande del Tierra del
Fuego, Otway Sound (Riesco and Engleeld
Islands), and the southern tip of the mainland
on the Brunswick Peninsula and the southeast
zone of southern Patagonia (Fiore 2006).
In this article, we propose that the rock art of
Yendegaia would have been part of that ow of
social information and the expression of a strategy
in which cooperation coexisted with competition
(Muñoz 2020). To this end, we present this new dis-
covery along with an analysis of the corresponding
historic and archaeological contexts. We then exam-
ine the distribution of rock art in the region from a
quantitative perspective and nally explore the vis-
ual practices and social interactions among different
localities of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago and
southern Patagonian shore of the Magellan Strait.
Yendegaia Bay: Historic and
Archaeological Background
The oldest evidence of human occupation in the
channels of southern Tierra del Fuego dates to
2 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
7800 cal BP, when a long tradition of coastal
shing and hunter-gatherer activity emerged
(e.g., Morello et al. 2012; Orquera and Piana
1999a; Orquera et al. 2011). Most archaeological
sites are concentrated along the two shores of the
Beagle Channel in what is today Chilean and
Argentinean territory (Bird 1938a,1946;
Ocampo and Rivas 2002). These sites feature
extensive and dense shell middens made up of
multiple residential occupations (Bird 1938b;
Lothrop 1928); their excavation has yielded a
lengthy stratigraphic sequence of numerous spo-
radic, residential occupation events resulting
from the reuse of certain spaces and the existence
of dened mobility patterns (e.g., Orquera and
Piana 1999a; Orquera et al. 1977). In those local-
ities where systematic surveys were conducted in
the forests upland from the coastline, archaeo-
logical sites were associated with productive
tasks and social functions, including hunting
camps and funerary sites at rockshelters (Ocampo
and Rivas 2002; Piana and Vázquez 2009;Piana
et al. 2006). Based on these ndings, it is evident
that the food consumed at these sitescame mainly
from hunting pinnipeds, guanacos, and birds;
shing; gathering mollusks; and the occasional
consumption of beached whales (Orquera and
Piana 1999a; Zangrando and Tivoli 2015).
The Yagán people, the modern-day descen-
dants of these early populations, inhabited the
Beagle Channel, Cape Horn, and the adjacent
ords at the time of European contact (Bridges
2001; Chapman 2012; Orquera and Piana
1999b). Generally, immediate families used
bark canoes as their main mode of transportation
when moving from one residential camp to
another. These smaller family groups sometimes
temporarily joined up with other social units for
certain seasonal activities. They usually jour-
neyed along the coast, although they also made
expeditions to other islands, ventured into their
interiors, and even visited the mainland occa-
sionally for specic purposes (Bridges 1884;
Gusinde 1986; Martial 1888).
Figure 1. Distribution of the localities and archaeological sites mentioned in the article.
Gallardo et al. 3YENDEGAIA ROCKSHELTER
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
Yendegaia Bay is situated in Yagán territory,
on the northern shore of the Beagle Channel
(southern coast of the Isla Grande of Tierra del
Fuego; Figure 2a). Giacomo Bove (1882,
1883), who commanded the Argentinean South-
ern Expedition, published a map of the bay
showing Yagán settlements, where he calculated
that 40 Indigenous inhabitants lived. He was trea-
ted very well by them, he reported: they took him
on three excursions where he collected skeletons
that he then transported to Europe (Tafuri et al.
2017). The year after Boves voyage, in January
1883, the ship La Romanche dropped anchor at
Yendegaia. It was part of the French scientic
expedition commanded by Captain Louis-
Ferdinand Martial (1888). In his writings, the
captain described a half-dozen huts inhabited
by local Indigenous people, some of whom
approached the ship, came up on deck, and
agreed to be photographed (Fiore and Varela
2009). Several years later, Boves hunch that
there was a passage from Almirantazgo Sound
to Yendegaia was proven correct when Swiss
explorer Carl Skottsberg (1911) reported it as
an ancient Indianroute (Figure 1). US painter
Rockwell Kent (1924) followed this route in
December 1922 and along the way encountered
the remains of an Indigenous dwelling, cor-
roborating its use as a traditional passage
(Prieto et al. 2000).
Junius Bird (1938b) conducted the rst sys-
tematic archaeological studies on the bay. On
the northeast shore, near Caleta 2 de Mayo vil-
lage, he excavated a rockshelter with a dense
shell midden almost 2.7 m deep; using the meth-
ods and criteria of that time, he identied a con-
tinuous occupational sequence. Bird (1938a)
also identied two cultural moments: an older
one in the lower strata that he attributed to the
Shell-Knife Cultureand one in the upper strata,
which he called the Pit-House Cultureand
linked to the Yagán culture.
In recent decades, the archaeological record
of the bay has grown as a result of the construc-
tion of a wharf and a new route connecting the
village with the islands interior (Bustos 2007;
Constantinescu 2006; Reyes and San Román
2008). Our own investigations, conducted in
20162017, entailed systematic surveys along
the northeast shore of the bay, from the
Yendegaia River to the Beagle Channel
(Figure 2b). This work identied 117 archaeo-
logical sites: 62 remains of semi-subterranean
dwellings, 4 mounds, 46 middens, and 5 rock-
shelters. In one of these shelters (YEN117), we
found a panel with rock paintings whose location
and designs are signicant to the archaeology of
the region.
Yendegaia Rockshelter and Its Paintings
The rock wall with paintings is situated on the
eastern side of the bay, some 3.5 km from the
present-day shoreline. It is one face of a boulder
that forms a shelter with a small rest area (12 ×
4 × 1 m), located on the rst terrace 23 m asl
and above an extensive bogland found on the
riverbank (Figure 3). No cultural material was
observed on the surface of the archaeological
site YEN117. The rock paintings are very visible
and are placed on different planes of the rock
wall in a variety of orientations, ranging from
1 m to 2.5 m above the current ground level.
We recorded the paintings at the motif and
panel level using our standard methodology
(Gallardo 2009b; Gallardo et al. 2012). Even
though the paintings were very weathered,
D-Stretch software enabled us to identify several
motifs painted in red, some of which were
in sequence or were successive repetitions
(Figure 4). There are motifs based on dots
three pairs, one case with four units, and another
with 20 dots (Figure 4a)and motifs based on
strokes framed by parallel vertical lines: two
pairs and four elements in one case (Figure 4b).
There are also 10 stains (Figure 4b) concentrated
lower down on the panel (Table 1). All the motifs
at the site are geometric, with minimal elements
or units of dots (23 cm in diameter) or long lin-
ear strokes (ca. 12 cm in length) that are repli-
cated by horizontal translation (Washburn
1983). In other words, the motifs are produced
by a discontinuous stroke, which makes this
graphic solution very characteristic of the site
and culturally related to other designs of the
region.
It is interesting to note that the placement of
some motifs shows interaction with the surface
of the support: thus, we see that a series of dots
forms a continuous winding line that cuts
4 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
precisely over one of the natural horizontal wavy
lines formed by the layers of the rock (Figure 4a).
In contrast, a series of parallel vertical lines is
placed on a very at portion of the support,
emphasizing the straightness of those strokes
(Figure 4b).
The Rock Art of Tierra del
Fuego-Patagonia at the Southern Tip of the
Americas
Since the rst rock art studies were conducted in
the 1970s, the sites identied in Tierra del
Fuego-Patagonia have increased in number and
distribution (Bate 1970,1971; González et al.
2014; Jaillet et al. 2010; Legoupil and Prieto
1991; Massone 1982,1985; Muñoz et al. 2016;
Sepúlveda 2011). At numerous sites in Última
Esperanza and Pali Aike, Massone and col-
leagues carried out the rst systematized study
of motif types and their quantitative distribution.
Given the importance and scope of this investi-
gation, we use his denitions and ndings for
rock art sites and units. His typology is compre-
hensive and enables the comparative regional
approach proposed here. Massone (1982) identi-
ed (1) geometric motifs based on dots (a single
dot, an unorganized group of dots, a series of
dots in a line); (2) geometric motifs based on
strokes (one alone, two parallel lines, a series
of parallel strokes, divergent lines, irregular
strokes); (3) linear gures (classied as closed,
complex, or both by the author, including circu-
lar and quadrangular motifs, linear ones with
appendices, reticulated ones, and irregular linear
gures); and (4) stains of paint (paint added
Figure 2. Location of (a) Yendegaia Bay and (b) archaeological sites identied at the bay.
Gallardo et al. 5YENDEGAIA ROCKSHELTER
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
intentionally to a panel with no dened shape;
Figure 5). We also distinguish gurativemotifs
as either human or animal representations,
including negative and positive handprints
(only the latter corresponded to a fth category
of Massone; Figures 5 and 6).
This comparative study includes rock art
localities in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago-
Beagle Channel and Cape Horn (territory tra-
ditionally occupied by the Yagán people),
Madre de Dios Island (territory traditionally
occupied by the Kawashkar people), and local-
ities on the mainland (the southern tip of Patago-
nia); Última Esperanza; and the volcanic eld of
Pali Aike, where the canoe-faring people and the
Aonikenk lived in historic times.
Beagle Channel and Cape Horn: Picton 1 and
Martín González Calderón Shelter
At the Picton 1 shelter site (AP1), which is
located on the southwestern coast of the island
with the same name (Figure 1), Muñoz and col-
laborators (2016) recorded three motifs in red
paint. In their illustrations, at least two stains of
paint can also be observed (Table 1). The motifs
are exclusively linear gures organized along a
main line. In one case, the main line is horizon-
tal, and there are ve parallel vertical strokes
emanating from it (or in horizontal transition).
In the lower segment, the authors indicate the
possible presence of an orange-hued stencil. In
the other two motifs, the axis is a straight vertical
line with shorter, oblique lines on either side,
which in one case are replicated at opposing
anglesforming a diamond shape; in the other,
the lines are replicated at the same angle, forming
a somewhat anthropomorphic shape. The authors
interpret both cases as human representations, in
comparison to other motifs painted at sites in the
Tierra del Fuego region.
At the Martín González Calderón rockshelter
(AMGC) located at Šapinij (Shapine) Island in
Ponsonby Sound (Figure 1), González and col-
leagues (2014) note the presence of anthropo-
morphic and zoomorphic paintings, a variety of
separate linear strokes of varying thicknesses
(linear gures), and areas covered in red paint
(stains; Table 1). According to these authors,
Figure 3. The rock wall where the rock paintings were found. (Color online)
6 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
red is the principal color of paint used, although
they also mention some motifs in white, includ-
ing linear strokes that form a quadrangular gure
and a possible anthropomorph (closed or open
linear motifs). In both cases, most of the motifs
have been created through continuous graphic
solutions in which the stroke extends uninter-
ruptedly to form the gure.
Madre de Dios Island: Cueva del Pacíco
Jaillet and coworkers (2010), during their speleo-
logical exploration of a large limestone cavern on
Madre de Dios Island (IMD), discovered some
rock paintings. In the Cueva del Pacíco,so
named by its discoverers, 45 motifs were
recorded: 26 were in red paint, occupying the
upper part of the walls (from 4 m to 50 cm),
whereas the 19 remaining motifs were black
and were located lower down (no higher than
70 cm above the oor). The authors conrm
the preponderance of anthropomorphic represen-
tations (N= 11), with fewergeometric shapes
(no numbers provided), such as sun wheels
or nets,and two zoomorphic motifs identied
as marine mammals and some dates and letters,
which would be consistent with the sites con-
tinuous occupation for some 4,000 years.
Based on these descriptions, closed and open lin-
ear gures seemed to recur most frequently.
However, our records of the site show that motifs
based on strokes and stains of paint are almost
equally prevalent (Table 1). Paintings in red pig-
ment are most notable in this repertoire, particu-
larly in their design and execution that follow the
norms seen at other sites. A signicant number of
images in black wood charcoal suggest later
interventions within a different cultural frame-
work than that of the oldest images; therefore,
they are not considered in our analysis.
Whereas a vast variety of forms are displayed
in these representations, it is possible to identify
at least two modes of deploying strokes that pro-
duce different graphic solutions: continuous (the
stroke extends without interruption to form the
motif) and discontinuous (the gure is formed
from intermittent strokes). These solutions of
continuous/discontinuous strokes are indepen-
dent of the type of motif being produced: either
solution can be used to represent any type of
motif.
Última Esperanza: Cerro Benítez, Lago Sofía,
and Cueva de los Niños
The works of Laming-Emperaire (1959), Bate
(1970,1971), and Massone (1982,1985) provide
descriptions of rock art painted in the locality of
Última Esperanza, where red is the predominant
pigment color used. The Lago Sofía modality is
worth noting, because it offers motifs based on
simple dots or dots in more complex groupings;
strokes and linear motifs; and, in lesser quan-
tities, thickly traced schematic zoomorphic g-
ures and ostrich tracks.Massone (1985) also
notes the existence of another modality, Cerro
Benítez, characterized by various types of strokes
and linear forms that occasionally form complex
motifs, as well as some anthropomorphic and
zoomorphic gures that are more schematic. A
date of 2870 ± 65 BP (uncalibrated) was
obtained from a stratum containing remains of
the rock face of the CB2 site with traces of red
colorant (Massone 1982:87).
On the western shore of Última Esperanza
Sound, there is a small rockshelter called
Figure 4. Rock paintings at YEN117: (a) motifs based on
dots; (b) motifs based on strokes (left) and stains (right).
Gallardo et al. 7YENDEGAIA ROCKSHELTER
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
Cueva de los Niños (cave of the children; CN),
named for the remains of two infants found there.
The grave goods include shell bead necklaces,
fragments of sinews, feathers, painted leather,
wood, and the remains of pigment (Legoupil
and Prieto 1991; Legoupil et al. 2004; Sellier
1999). These colorants were also used on the
wall of the shelter, where extensive stains of
paint can be observed; some of those stains
were made up of small droplets of paintthat
were created using a blowing technique (Legou-
pil and Prieto 1991:135). Although the morph-
ology of the motifs was not categorized, digital
processing of the photographs to enhance
Table 1. Types of Motifs Presents in Each Locality by Archaeological Site.
Types
Rock Art Locality
Archaeological
Site
Geometric Motif
Using Dots
Geometric Motif
Using Lines
Linear
Figure Stain Figurative Total
Beagle Channel and
Cape Horn
YEN117 5 3 0 10 0 18
AP1 0 0 2 2 1 5
AMGC 1 0 3 4 2 10
Madre de Dios Island IMD 3 16 16 10 2 47
Última Esperanza CB2 2 14 1 3 0 20
CB3 1 1 0 1 0 3
CB4 7 0 1 0 0 8
CB5 10 5 3 7 0 25
LS2 11 6 0 18 0 35
LS3 5 0 0 2 0 7
LS4 2 0 0 2 0 4
CN 0 3 1 10 0 14
Pali Aike LTI2 0 6 2 3 0 11
LTI3 0 1 0 0 0 1
LST1 2 37 14 12 0 65
RA2 0 2 0 0 0 2
RA3 0 16 1 2 1 20
CS2 0 7 3 2 0 12
CS3 1 6 0 3 0 10
LTB1 3 4 0 8 0 15
Río Chico RC01 0 8 0 2 0 10
RC02 0 21 1 34 0 56
RC03 0 4 0 2 0 6
RC04 0 6 2 4 0 12
RC05 0 21 6 20 0 47
RC06 0 3 1 0 0 4
RC07 0 1 2 0 0 3
RC08 1 5 6 5 2 19
RC09 0 0 1 0 0 1
RC10 0 7 0 2 0 9
RC11 1 6 0 7 0 14
RC12 1 8 0 18 0 27
RC13 8 43 14 28 2 95
RC14 0 1 2 1 0 4
RC15 0 0 1 1 0 2
RC16 2 2 9 2 0 15
RC17 0 0 0 4 1 5
RC18 0 1 1 0 0 2
RC19 1 3 0 0 0 4
RC20 0 0 0 1 0 1
8 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
contrast revealed some dots and lines that could
have comprised discrete forms, now deteriorated.
This funerary context was dated to 250 ± 50 BP
(Legoupil et al. 2004:226). Our analysis con-
siders information from the four sites of Cerro
Benítez (CB) and three at Lago Sofía (LS) pub-
lished by Massone (1982), along with evidence
from Cueva de los Niños (Table 1). In summary,
in the Última Esperanza sector, the most preva-
lent motifs are those based on dots, strokes, and
other linear gures that are composed without
the use of symmetry (Gallardo 2009b).
Pali Aike Volcanic Field: Pali Aike and Río
Chico
Pali Aike was studied by Massone (1981,1982,
1985) and collaborators. The sites there are
located primarily in rockshelters that served as
resting places: there are two sites at Laguna
Timone (LTI), one in Laguna Sota (LST), two
from Rose Aike (RA), two from Cañadón Seco
(CS), and one in Laguna Los Tábanos (LTB;
Table 1). Paintings are always red and rarely
combined with yellow. The motifs are mainly
parallel traces in different sequences or that
form geometric gures. Finally, intentional
stains are frequent.
Massone (1982) relates this rock art to the Río
Chico modality dened by Bate (1970,1971)
based on the archaeological sites of Ush Aike
(or Oosin Aike), Cueva Fell and Río Chico 1,
2, 5, 0, and Cañadón Seco 1 in this areaas
well as Morro Chico and Cañadón La Leona
found between the localities of Río Chico and
Última Esperanza. Red is also the most used
paint color, but combinations of black and
white also can be found (Sepúlveda 2011).
This style modality is principally dened by se-
ries of lines varying in number and length,
drawn in parallel or intersected by perpendicular
lines, as well as some circles or squares with
variated appendixes. There are also exceptional
cases of schematic anthropomorphic or zoo-
morphic gures and negative handprints. In
short, these are simple geometric motifs with
both regular and irregular shapes, with a predom-
inance of motifs composed through the combin-
ation of simple elements based on short and long
Figure 5. Examples of the categories used for the analysis: (a) lineal gure (top) and geometric motif using dots (bottom;
CB5, Última Esperanza); (b) geometric motif using lines (RC08, Río Chico); (c) paint stains (CN, Última Esperanza);
and (d) gurative motifs (RC17, Río Chico).
Gallardo et al. 9YENDEGAIA ROCKSHELTER
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
strokes. These elements were arranged symmet-
rically, with movements that include reection,
one-dimensional translation, and two-
dimensional rotation, with the last type of move-
ment being most common (Gallardo 2009b).
For this analysis we consider our own records
(Gallardo 2009b; Sepúlveda 2011) from 20 rock
art sites in and around Río Chico (RC01-20),
including Fell Cave (RC11), and the data pub-
lished by Massone (1982) for the Chilean side
of the Pali Aike Volcanic Field mentioned earlier
(Table 1). A reconnaissance conducted by Bate
(1971:35) in one of the shelters with cave paint-
ings in Río Chico (RC08 in our nomenclature)
found a deposit that included stone instruments,
characteristic of Period IV (Bird 1946); guanaco
Figure 6. Examples of anthropomorphic gures: (a) AMGC, Beagle Channel, and Cape Horn (González et al. 2014:
Figure 4); (b) Madre de Dios Island; (c) RC08, Río Chico; and (d) Madre de Dios Island.
10 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
bones; and a piece of red pigment associated with
a stove that was dated to 2080 ± 80 years BP. A
date that may represent the beginning of the
rock art chronology, given the continuity of the
settlement pattern, should for now be extended
to at least Period V or the early historic period.
Yendegaia: Rock Art and Social
Interaction in Tierra del Fuego-Patagonia
Handprints, guanacos, hunting scenes, footprints,
and geometric gures are all frequent rock art
motifs in central and south-central Patagonia
(e.g., Acevedo and Fiore 2020;Gradin1988;Gui-
chon and Re 2020; Muñoz et al. 2021). However,
these designs decline in variety and frequency as
one moves across Patagonia and toward the Strait
of Magellan. The southernmost records are found
around Última Esperanza, near Torres del Paine,
andinthePaliAikeVolcanicField(Bate1970,
1971;Charlin2014;Gómez1993; Hernández
et al. 1999; Manzi and Carballo 2012; Massone
1982,1985; Muñoz 2020). These rock art sites,
which are distributed from the southern tip of the
continent to Cape Horn in the south and Madre
de Dios Island in the west, display a spatial distribu-
tion that reveals differences between the territories
of canoe-faring and land-based hunter-gatherers.
A simple numerical and percentage examina-
tion of the motifs in these Patagonian territories
indicates the presence of a narrow corpus of
shared visual solutions, with differing frequen-
cies that distinguish one locality from another
(Table 2). These differences are evident in the
percentage distribution of motif types, especially
dots in the archipelago and strokes on the main-
land; yet the procedures used to create structural
symmetry such as translation, which gives rise
to sequences of motifs, are the same across all
localities (see Gallardo 2009b). Another trend
is the preferential use of red compared to other
colors. In rock art expressions, the relative scar-
city of gurative motifs (those with an identi-
able point of reference) is another common
feature. It is also noteworthy that designs with
human attributes display tremendous formal
similarity among sites from the Beagle Channel
to Madre de Dios Island (Figure 6). The spread-
ing of paint-forming stains covering large areas
of the rocky walls, as observed at Cueva de
Los Niños (Legoupil and Prieto 1991), is also
common. This practice may have had more than
a visual purpose: although all rock art operates
on the visual plane, it also operates in relation to
the place where the art is situated, so that the cre-
ator engages in a dialoguewith both the paint and
the rock support. These large stains of paint, and
the exceptional expenditure they represent, could
be classed broadly as acts of offering, like the
practices of painting the bodies of the dead and
their tombs (e.g., Prieto et al. 2020).
Given the quantitative similarities and differ-
ences observed (Tables 1 and 2), we applied a
comparative analysis among the localities studied.
We analyzed cluster groups (using Euclidean dis-
tances) to measure the geometric distance
between cases in a multidimensional space (single
linkage). However, because each locality dis-
played singularities inuenced by the distribution
of rock art at each site, we grouped them in rela-
tion to territories associated with the Indigenous
peoples of Patagonia-Tierra del Fuego: Maga-
llanes archipelago (Madre de Dios Island and
Última Esperanza), the ancestral territory of the
Kawashkar people; the Pali Aike volcanic eld
(Río Chico and Pali Aike), the ancestral territory
of the Aonikenk people; and the Beagle Channel-
Cape Horn, the traditional territory of the Yagán
people (Table 3;Figures 1 and 7).
Despite their broad geographic range, our
results reinforce trends observed previously, sug-
gesting that there are differences between the
rock art associated with marine hunter-gatherers
and that associated with land-based hunter-
gatherers (Charlin and Borrero 2012; Massone
1982,1985; Muñoz 2020). Even though previ-
ous efforts did not include information on the
rock art of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, it
is now evident that the rock art imageryof the ter-
ritories belonging to the canoe-faring people
(home to both the Kawashkar and Yagán peo-
ples) also exhibits differences from both types
of hunter-gatherers. Certainly, it is likely that
the distance between the Magallanes Archipel-
ago and the Beagle Channel-Cape Horn areas
would have led to distinctions between the two
traditions (Muñoz 2020:173).
Despite the quantitative differences, the similar-
ities in motifs, their graphic solutions, limited va-
riety, and the predominant use of the color red
Gallardo et al. 11YENDEGAIA ROCKSHELTER
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
reveal ows of visual information in a vast spatial
scale, which is consistent with the widespread
use of seagoing vessels among all the agents and
the regular circulation of goods, ideas, and people
over long distances. The results of this analysis
also suggest that the rock art produced in the terri-
tory of the land-based hunter-gatherers of Pali Aike
would not have been implicated in the same inter-
actions established between canoe-faring peoples.
Visual Practices and Pigment Uses in
Tierra del Fuego-Patagonia
The production and circulation of visual mate-
rial culture by the Indigenous peoples of Tierra
del Fuego go back to early times, as evidenced
by portable bone art dated to at least as early
as 6400 BP (e.g., the Túnel I and Imiwaia
I sites in the Beagle Channel region; Fiore
2011). The corpus of decorative designs on
portable bone art is strictly geometric and
reveals the use of one or more basic elements,
sometimes in specic combinations: straight
or curved lines, curved and straight-lined g-
ures, and series of dots and dashes arranged in
a line or in groups (Fiore 2011). By combining
these basic elements, their creators crafted
numerous designs that display a wide variability
and were used in the decoration of instrumental
artifacts, such as harpoon points or staffs, as
well as unworked bone pieces. In contrast, the
decoration on ornamental beads focused on
the use of parallel dashes in series and on
parallel straight lines in series that encircled
the perimeter of the pieces to form highly stan-
dardized designs. In contrast to the harpoon
designs that were mostly produced from 6400
BP to approximately 4000 BP, these bead
designs were produced throughout the archaeo-
logical sequence associated with the
shing-hunting-gathering peoples of the Beagle
Channel (6400 BP to the nineteenth century), as
well as on the neighboring island and mainland
regions (Fiore 2006,2020). This catalog of dec-
orative designs is virtually the same as the rock
art repertoire reported in this work.
Documentary evidence also exists on the
production and use of body paint among the
Kawashkar people from the sixteenth century
onward, among the Selknam from the sixteenth
century onward, and among the Yagán from the
seventeenth century onward (Fiore 2002,2004,
2005). In the case of the Yagán, whose tradi-
tional territory includes the zone of Yendegaia,
these painted designs used one or more types
of decorative elements, including dashes, dots,
lines, bands, patchesof color (irregular
shapes), rows of consecutive dashes, rows of
Table 3. Types of Rock Art Motifs, Grouped by Traditional Cultural Territories.
Territory
Traditional
Culture
Geometric Motif
Using Dots
Geometric Motif
Using Lines Linear Figure Stain Figurative
Magellan Archipelago Kawashkar 42 45 22 53 2
Pali Aike Volcanic Field Aonikenk 20 219 66 161 6
Beagle Channel and Cape Horn Yagán 6 3 5 16 3
Table 2. Frequency of Motif Types for Each Locality Analyzed.
Rock Art Locality
Geometric Motif
Using Dots
Geometric Motif
Using Lines Linear Figure Stain Figurative Total
N(%) N(%) N(%) N(%) N(%) N(%)
Beagle Channel
and Cape Horn (N=3)
6 (18.18) 3 (9.09) 5 (15.15) 16 (48.48) 3 (9.09) 33 (100)
Madre de Dios Island (N= 1) 3 (4.76) 16 (30.16) 16 (41.27) 10 (20.63) 2 (3.17) 47 (100)
Última Esperanza (N= 8) 37 (31.90) 29 (25.009) 7 (6.02) 43 (37.07) 0 (0.00) 116 (100)
Pali Aike (N= 8) 6 (4.17) 79 (41.67) 20 (13.69) 30 (38.99) 1 (1.49) 136 (100)
Río Chico (N= 20) 14 (4.41) 140 (58.09) 46 (14.71) 131 (22.02) 5 (0.74) 336 (100)
12 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
parallel lines, and rows of dots (Fiore 2005).
Members of Yagán society used body paint in
a variety of contexts: in everyday situations
(e.g., as expressions of mood, for visitors, for
crossing channels, for collecting eggs, for recov-
ering from illness, etc.); in special situations
(e.g., at menarche, weddings, for mourning, by
shamans, etc.); and in initiation ceremonies
(chiéjaus, a male and female initiation ceremony,
and kina, the male initiation ceremony; Fiore
2005,2020;Figure 8a). Pigments were also
applied to harpoons, grinding stones, paddles,
Figure 7. Cluster analysis on rock art paintings and groups from the Tierra del Fuego-Patagonia region.
Figure 8. Examples of Yagán decoration: (a) two Yagan women, Clara (left) and Anita (right), wearing facial paintings
designed with parallel rows of dots and straight lines (identication of their names provided by the team of Museo
Antropológico Martin Gusinde and Comunidad Yagán de Bahía Mejillones [Chile]; photo by M. Gusinde, 1922;
copy held at the ARC-FOT-AIA [Archivo Fotográco de Imágenes Etnográcas de Fuego-Patagonia, Asociación de
Investigaciones Antropológicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina]); (b) selection of patterns of painted designs taken from
the frame of a ceremonial lodge (from Lothrop 1928:Plate IX). Note the similarity of the decorative elements used
with those used in the rock art designs found at Yendegaia. (Color online)
Gallardo et al. 13YENDEGAIA ROCKSHELTER
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
hunting bows, and even formed designs in cere-
monial lodges (Hyades and Deniker 1891;
Lothrop 1928;Figure 8b).
This evidence leads us to suggest that, in the
production of these varied types of art, there
were at least two visual codes operating at differ-
ent times in the history of these sher-hunter-
gatherers of southern Tierra del Fuego. Although
these visual codes were deployed in very differ-
ent mediaartifacts and human bodiesit is
essential to note that in both media the designs
were structured around combinations of simple
geometric elements: dashes, lines, dots, and sim-
ple gureswith the rst three of these coincid-
ing with design elements also observed in the
rock paintings found at Yendegaia.
Furthermore, archaeology in the region also
offers information about how different hues of
red pigmentalong with yellow andblack in dif-
ferent contextswere produced from similar raw
materials. An in situ analysis of rock paintings on
Madre de Dios Island indicates the use of iron
oxide and charcoal (Jaillet et al. 2010; Maire
et al. 2009). Similar pigments have also been dis-
covered from early dates at the Tunel I, Shama-
kush I, and Imiwaia I sites in Tierra del Fuego
and at the Ofng 2 site on Dawson Island in
the Strait of Magellan. These come from layers
dated between 6200 and 154 BP, demonstrating
that the Indigenous inhabitants of this area had
a long tradition of managing mineral colorants
and organic binders in producing paints (Fiore
et al. 2008; Sepúlveda et al. 2022). In this
sense, the information conrms the existence of
paint production techniques that serve as addi-
tional evidence for the presence of painted rock
art production technology. They show that knowl-
edge and practices for managing color were
available early in the region and were shared in
different contexts by these canoe-faring groups.
Conclusion
The new discovery of rock art in the south of Isla
Grande in Tierra del Fuego and its links with
rock art from the Beagle ChannelCape Horn
region enabled us to undertake this comparative
exploration of these visual expressions of south-
ernmost Patagonia. Although the chronology of
rock art at the southern tip of the Americas is
still a work in progress (Brook et al. 2018;
Muñoz 2020; Sepúlveda 2011), the close simi-
larities established in this limited graphic corpus
suggest that information was owing primarily
among the canoe-faring peoples, who probably
left their rock testimonials after what Bird
(1946) has named Period IV, between approxi-
mately 4500 and 900 BP (Massone 1981). Fur-
thermore, the numerous rock art sites that
postdate 2000 BP in the Pali Aike Volcanic
Field and the corresponding stylistic similarities
with sites found elsewhere in the region point to
the relative contemporaneity of the rock art local-
ities included in this study (e.g., Bate 1978
1979; Gallardo 2009b; Laming-Emperaire
1959; Massone 1981). Although it is not possible
to specify the chronology of the paintings we
presented in this article, the available informa-
tion indicates that they were being produced
until the eighteenth century: a time when paint
thrown on the rocky support may have been
more common than the production of motifs, as
in Cueva de los Niños. It is premature to associ-
ate stylistic patterns with temporal value, how-
ever; given the few iconographic variations and
cave practices in Fuego-Patagonia, we suggest
that these ows of visual information were of
importance until the early historic period.
The ows of rock art information revealed
here are also consistent with the visual informa-
tion recorded on other supports, such as bone
artifacts, ceremonial lodges, and body painting.
Social interactions among the peoples of south-
ern Patagonia were mediated by a diverse series
of visual cultural strategies. For example, a
brief record left by Duplessis (2003), written in
the late seventeenth century, describes an incur-
sion into the Jerónimo Channel (between Riesco
Island and the Brunswick Peninsula), during
which a group of naval ofcers were amazed to
see a rocky wall painted entirely in white, near
a hut made of ne skins, which contained a
deceased child. This action at the level of the vis-
ible and the social was likely an expression of
mourning that paid homage to an untimely death.
Social interactions were not foreign to those
who inhabited Tierra del Fuego Island and the
surrounding archipelago; indeed, historic and
ethnographic sources conrm their normal and
regular occurrences (e.g., Cooper 1917). This
14 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
environment of social interaction would have
involved intercultural relations that would also
have fostered the circulation of technologies
and goods, such as green obsidian, iron pyrite
for re starting, and marine and terrestrial
resources (e.g., Borrero et al. 2011; Fiore 2006;
Gallardo et al. 2018; Morello et al. 2015).
There is little doubt that the rock art of the south-
ern Patagonia Archipelago and the nearby main-
land, with their rugged, windswept lands lashed
by rain and snow, encouraged the forging of
intercultural social bonds thatbased on the evi-
dence of contact between territoriesallow us to
infer an aspiration for cooperation rather than
competition. Creating a network of social com-
plementarity in which social information owed
probably made it possible to reduce survival
risks associated with low-population density
groups that were separated by long distances.
Acknowledgments. We thank those who enabled and sup-
ported our eld study at Yendegaia: Ernesto Davis Seguic,
investigator, and Paola Acuña Gómez, executive director
of Fundación CEQUA; Francisco Cornejo Alarcón, chief
unit engineer, MOP-CMT, Dirección de Vialidad MOP;
and Israel Pardo Román, Dirección Regional de Vialidad,
Magallanes, and the Chilean Antarctic Region. Special
gratitude to Luna Marticorena Galleguillos, Museo Antro-
pológico Martin Gusinde, and Comunidad Yagán de
Bahía Mejillones. We also thank Joan Donaghey for the
English translation and Christina Torres-Rouff for proof-
reading. Finally, we would like to thank the anonymous
reviewers for their constructive suggestions, which helped
improve the article. Except where otherwise noted, all g-
ures are courtesy of the authors.
Data Availability Statement. All data in this article are avail-
able upon request from the corresponding author.
Competing Interests. The authors declare none.
References Cited
Acevedo, Agustín
2015 Hachas grabadas, placas grabadas y comunicación
visual suprarregional entre grupos cazadores-recolectores
del Holoceno tardío. Relaciones 40:589620.
Acevedo, Agustín, and Danae Fiore
2020 Imágenes, códigos y comunicación: un análisis del
arte rupestre en el Extremo Sur del Macizo del Deseado
(Patagonia, Argentina). Arqueología 26(2):127155.
Bate, Luis Felipe
1970 Primeras investigaciones sobre el arte rupestre de la
Patagonia chilena. Anales del Instituto de la Patagonia
1:1525.
1971 Primeras investigaciones sobre el arte rupestre de la
Patagonia chilena (segundo informe). Anales del Insti-
tuto de la Patagonia 2:3341.
19781979 Las investigaciones sobre los cazadores tem-
pranos en Chile Austral. Trapananda 2:1423.
Bird, Junius
1938a Antiquity and Migrations of the Early Inhabitants
of Patagonia. Geographical Review 28:250275.
1938b Yendegaia Bay. Archive of the American Museum
of Natural History, New York.
1946 The Archaeology of Patagonia. Bulletin of the
Bureau of American Ethnology 143:1724.
Borrero, Luis Alberto, Fabiana Martín, and Ramiro
Barberena
2011 Visits, Fuegians,and Information Networks. In
Information and Its Role in Hunter-Gatherer Bands,edited
by Robert Whallon, William Lovis, and Robert Hitchcock,
pp. 249296. Leyba Associates, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Bove, Giacomo
1882 La spedizione antartica. Bollettino della Societá
Geograca Italiana 20(7):5147.
1883 Expedición austral argentina. Imprenta del Departa-
mento Nacional de Agricultura, Buenos Aires.
Bridges, Lucas
1952 El último confín de la tierra. Emecé, Buenos Aires.
Bridges, Thomas
1884 Census of Tribes. South American Missionary
Magazine 1:223224.
2001 Los indios del último confín. Zagier and Urruty
Publicaciones, Ushuaia, Argentina.
Brook, George, Nora Franco, Alexander Cherkinsky,
Agustín Acevedo, Danae Fiore, Timothy Pope,
Rachel Weimar, Gregory Neher, Hayden Evans, and
Tina Salguero
2018 Pigments, Binders, and Ages of Rock Art at Viuda
Quenzana, Santa Cruz, Patagonia Argentina. Journal
of Archaeological Science: Reports 21:4763.
Bustos, Víctor
2007 Estudio de impacto ambiental construcción camino
estancia Vicuña-Yendegaia. Provincia de Tierra del
Fuego. Final report phase 3.3.d informe de impacto
ambiental completo, ABACO Ingenieros, Concepción.
Report on le at the Servicio de Evaluación Ambiental,
Gobierno de Chile.
Carden, Natalia, and Erika Borges
2017 El arte mobiliar. In Arqueología de cazadores-
recolectores del curso inferior del o Colorado (Provin-
cia de Buenos Aires, Argentina):Aportes al conocimiento
de las ocupaciones humanas Pampeano-Patagónicas,
edited by Gustavo Martínez, pp. 211229. INCUAPA-
CONICET, UNICEN, Buenos Aires.
Carden, Natalia, Laura Miotti, and Rocío Blanco
2018 Nuevos datos sobre las pinturas rupestres de Los
Toldos (Santa Cruz, Argentina): Bases para un enfoque
comparativo en Patagonia Meridional. Latin American
Antiquity 29:293310.
Cassiodoro, Gisela, Francisco Guichón, and Anahi Re
2019 Diseños sobre soportes móviles y comunicación en
el centro-oeste de Santa Cruz durante el Holoceno
Tardío. In Arqueología de Patagonia: El pasado en
las arenas, edited by Julieta Gómez, Ariadna Svoboda,
and Anahí Banegas, pp. 2940. IDEAUS- CONICET,
Buenos Aires.
Chapman, Anne
1977 Economía de los Selknam de Tierra del Fuego.
Journal de la Société des Américanistes 64:135148.
2012 Yaganes del Cabo de Hornos: Encuentros con los
europeos antes y después de Darwin. Pehuén Editores,
Santiago.
Gallardo et al. 15YENDEGAIA ROCKSHELTER
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
Charlin, Judith
2014 Nuevos sitios con representaciones rupestres en la
localidad Potrok Aike (Santa Cruz, Argentina). Magalla-
nia 42:185198.
Charlin, Judith, and Luis Alberto Borrero
2012 Rock Art, Inherited Landscapes and Human Popula-
tions in Southern Patagonia. In A Companion to Rock
Art, edited by Jo McDonald and Peter Veth, pp. 381398.
Blackwell, Chichester, UK.
Constantinescu, Florence
2006 Proyecto camino Lago Fagnano-Yendegaia: Tramo
de acceso a rampa Yendegaia-KM 137.000. Report on
le at the Servicio de Evaluación Ambiental, Gobierno
de Chile.
Cooper, John M.
1917 Analytical and Critical Bibliography of the Tribes of
Tierra del Fuego and Adjacent Territory. Bureau of
American Ethnology Bulletin 63:1233.
Duplessis, Jacques
2003 Périple de beauchesne à la Terre de Feu (16981701):
Une expédition mandatée par Louis XIV. Transboréal,
Paris.
Emperaire, Joseph
2002 Los nómades del mar. Ediciones LOM, Santiago.
Fiore, Danae
2002 Body Painting in Tierra del Fuego: The Power of
Images in the Uttermost Part of the World. PhD disser-
tation, Institute of Archaeology, University College
London, London.
2004 Pieles rojas en el confín del mundo: la valoración
de las pinturas corporales en los registros histórico-
etnográcos sobre aborígenes de Tierra del Fuego.
Magallania 32:2952.
2005 Pinturas corporales en el n del mundo: Una intro-
ducción al arte visual selknam y yamana. Chungara
37:109127.
2006 Puentes de agua para el arte mobiliar: La distribu-
ción espacio-temporal de artefactos óseos decorados
en Patagonia meridional y Tierra del Fuego: Cazadores-
recolectores del Cono Sur. Revista de Arqueología
1:137147.
2011 Art in Time: Diachronic Rates of Change in the
Decoration of Bone Artefacts from the Beagle
Channel Region (Tierra del Fuego, Southern South
America). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
30:484501.
2020 The Art of Making Images: Technological Affor-
dance, Design Variability, and Labour Organization in
the Production of Engraved Artefacts and Body Paint-
ings in Tierra del Fuego (Southern South America).
Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory
27:481510.
Fiore, Danae, Marta Maier, Sara Daniela Parera,
Luis Orquera, and Ernesto Piana
2008 Chemical Analysis of the Earliest Pigments Resi-
dues from the Uttermost Part of the Planet (Beagle
Channel Region, Tierra del Fuego, Southern South
America). Journal of Archaeological Science
35:30473056.
Fiore, Danae, and María Lydia Varela
2009 Memorias de papel: Una arqueología visual de las
fotografías de pueblos ooriginarios fueguinos. Dunken,
Buenos Aires.
Fitz Roy, Robert
1839 Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majestys
Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and
1836, Describing Their Examination of the Southern
Shores of South America, and the Beagles Circumnavi-
gation of the Globe. Henry Colburn, London.
Gallardo, Francisco
2009a Social Interaction and Early Rock Art Styles in the
Atacama Desert (Northern Chile). Antiquity 83:
619633.
2009b Sobre la composición y la disposición en el arte
rupestre en Chile: consideraciones metodológicas.
Magallania 37:8598.
Gallardo, Francisco, Benjamín Ballester, Alfredo Prieto,
Marcela Sepúlveda, Jorge Gibbons, Sebastián Gutiérrez,
and José Cárcamo
2018 Fuegian Firestone Quarry: Iron Pyrite in Capitán
Aracena Island (Magallanes Archipelago, Southern
Chile). Current Anthropology 59:455461.
Gallardo, Francisco, Gloria Cabello, Gonzalo Pimentel, Mar-
cela Sepúlveda, and Luis Cornejo
2012 Flujos de información visual, interacción social y
pinturas rupestres en el desierto de Atacama (norte de
Chile). Estudios Atacameños 43:3552.
Gamble, Clive
1982 Interaction and Alliance in Palaeolithic Society.
Man 1:92107.
Gómez Otero, Julieta
1993 The Function of Small Rockshelters in the Magalla-
nes IV Phase Settlement System (South Patagonia).
Latin American Antiquity 4:325345.
González, Martín, Melisa Gañán, and Alberto Serrano
2014 Primer registro de arte rupestre en Tierra del Fuego.
Magallania 42:175181.
Gradin, Carlos
1988 Caracterización de las tendencias estilísticas del arte
rupestre de la Patagonia: Nuevos estudios del arte rupes-
tre argentino: Contribuciones al estudio del arte suda-
mericano. Boletín SIARB 2:5467.
Guichon, Francisco
2018 Redes de información durante el Holoceno medio y
tardío en Patagonia meridional: Estudio de las represen-
taciones rupestres en la Cuenca del Lago Cardiel ysur de
la Meseta del Strobel. PhD dissertation, Facultad de
Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Bue-
nos Aires.
Guichon, Francisco, and Anahi Re
2020 Hunter-Gatherer Land Use Strategies and Hand
Stencils in Southern Patagonia: A Comparative Analysis
of the Strobel Plateau and Cardiel Lake (Argentina).
Cuadernos de Arte Prehistórico, Special issue,
1:121152.
Gusinde, Martin
1986 Los indios de Tierra del Fuego: Los Yamanas. Con-
sejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientícas, Buenos
Aires.
Hyades, Paul, and Joseph Deniker
1891 Anthropologie et ethnographie: Mission scientique
du Cap Horn, 18821883 VII. Gauthiers-Villars, Paris.
Jaillet, Stephane, Luc-Henry Fage, Richard Maire, and
Bernard Tourte
2010 The Pacic Cave (Chile): First Decorated Cave in the
Patagonian Archipelago. International Newsletter on
Rock Art 58:18.
Jochim, Michael
1983 Palaeolithic Cave Art in Ecological Perspective. In
Hunter-Gatherer Economy in Prehistory, edited by
Geoff Bailey, pp. 212219. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge.
16 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
Kent, Rockwell
1924 Voyaging Southward from the Straits of Magellan.
Halcyon House, New York.
Laming-Emperaire, Annette
1959 Diario de excavación del alero Oosin aike. Archivo
Centro de Estudios del Hombre Austral, Punta Arenas,
Chile.
Legoupil, Dominique, and Alfredo Prieto
1991 Una sepultura de niños en un abrigo pintado del seno
Última Esperanza. Anales del Instituto de la Patagonia
20:133138.
Legoupil, Dominique, Alfredo Prieto, and Pascal Sellier
2004 La Cueva de los Niños (seno Última Esperanza):
Nuevos hallazgos. Magallania 32:225227.
Hernández Llosas, María Isabel, Hugo Nami, and María
Cuadrado Woroszylo
1999 Arqueología en la localidad arqueológica de Pali
Aike, cuenca del río Chico. II: Resultados preliminares
sobre las representaciones rupestres. Praehistoria
3:202217.
Lothrop, Samuel Kirkland
1928 The Indians of Tierra del Fuego. Museum of the
American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York.
Maire, Richard, Bernard Tourte, Stephane Jaillet, Joel Des-
pain, Benjamin Leans, Franck Brehier, Luc-Henri
Fage, et al.
2009 Geomorphic and Archeological Features of Coastal
Caves in Madre de Dios Archipelago (Patagonia, Chile).
In Proceedings: 15th International Congress of
Speleology, Kerrville, Texas, United States of America,
July 1926, 2009, edited by William B. White, pp. 516
521. National Speleological Society, Huntsville, Alabama.
Manzi, Liliana, and Flavia Carballo Marina
2012 Manifestaciones rupestres en el campo volcánico
Pali Aike (cuenca del río Gallegos, Santa Cruz, Argen-
tina). Magallania 40:283302.
Martial, Louis F.
1888 Mission Scientique du Cap Horn. 18821883. Vol.
1. Gauthier-Villars, Paris.
Massone, Mauricio
1981 Arqueología de la región volcánica de Pali Aike
(Patagonia meridional chilena). Anales del Instituto de
la Patagonia 12:95124.
1982 Nuevas investigaciones sobre el arte rupestre de
Patagonia meridional. Anales del Instituto de la Patago-
nia 23:7394.
1985 Estudio comparativo de nuevos sitios con pinturas
rupestres aborígenes de Magallanes. In Estudios de
arte rupestre, edited by Carlos Aldunate, José Berenguer,
and Victoria Castro, pp. 205223. Museo Chileno de
Arte Precolombino, Santiago.
Morello, Flavia, Luis Alberto Borrero, Mauricio Massone,
Charles Stern, Arleen García-Herbst, Robert McCul-
loch, Manuel Arroyo-Kalin, et al.
2012 Hunter-Gatherers, Biogeographic Barriers and the
Development of Human Settlement in Tierra del
Fuego. Antiquity 86:7187.
Morello, Flavia, Charles Stern, and Manuel San Román
2015 Obsidiana verde en Tierra del Fuego y Patagonia:
Caracterización, distribución y problemáticas culturales
a lo largo del Holoceno. Intersecciones en Antropología
16:139153.
Muñoz, Camila
2020 Nuevas aproximaciones al arte rupestre de Fuego-
Patagonia, Chile: Caracterización y comparación de
los sitios del continente y de los canales del extremo
sur. Magallania 48:161181.
Muñoz, Camila, Rosario Cordero, and Diego Artigas
2016 El sitio Alero Picton 1: Nuevo registro de arte
rupestre para los canales fueguinos. Magallania
44:225231.
Muñoz, Camila, Anahí Re, Rosario Cordero, Francisco
Guichón, and Diego Artigas
2021 Comunicaciones a grandes distancias? Desafíos
metodológicos de la comparación de pinturas rupestres
del bosque y estepa de Patagonia centro-meridional.
Cuadernos del Instituto Nacional de Antropología y
Pensamiento LatinoamericanoSeries Especiales
9(1):372392.
Ocampo, Carlos, and Pilar Rivas
2002 Arqueología del canal del Beagle: Secuenciasy pro-
cesos culturales en ambientes de Altas Latitudes. Boletín
de la Sociedad Chilena de Arqueología 33/34:98102.
Oría, Jimena, and Angélica Tivoli
2014 Cazadores de mar y tierra: Estudios recientes en
arqueología fueguina. Editora Cultural Tierra del
Fuego, Ushuaia, Argentina.
Orquera, Luis Abel, Dominique Legoupil, and Ernesto
Luis Piana
2011 Littoral Adaptation at the Southern End of South
America. Quaternary International 239:6169.
Orquera, Luis Abel, and Ernesto Luis Piana
1999a Arqueología de la región del canal Beagle (Tierra
del Fuego, República Argentina). Publicaciones de la
Sociedad Argentina de Antropología, Buenos Aires.
1999b La vida material y social de los yámanas.
EUDEBA, Buenos Aires.
Orquera, Luis Abel, Arturo Sala, Ernesto Luis Piana, and Ali-
cia Tapia
1977 Lancha Packewaia: Arqueología de los canales fue-
guinos. Huemul, Buenos Aires.
Piana, Ernesto Luis, Augusto Tessone, and Atilio Francisco
Zangrando
2006 Contextos mortuoriosen la regióndel Canal Beagle . . .
Del hallazgo fortuito a la búsqueda sistemática. Magal-
lania 34:103117.
Piana, Ernesto Luis, and Martín Vásquez
2009 Arqueología de rescate en el Canal Beagle. In
Arqueología de la Patagoniauna mirada desde el
último confín, edited by Mónica Salemme, Fernando
Santiago, Myrian Álvarez, Ernesto Luis Piana, Martín
Vásquez, and María Estela Mansur, pp. 469482. Edi-
torial Utopías, Ushuaia, Argentina.
Prieto, Alfredo, Denis Chevallay, and David Ovando
2000 Los pasos de indios en Patagonia austral. In Desde el
país de los gigantes: Perspectivas arqueológicas en
Patagonia, pp. 8791. Universidad Nacional de la Pata-
gonia Austral, Río Gallegos, Argentina.
Prieto, Alfredo, Susana Morano, Pedro Cárdenas,
Victor Sierpe, Elisa Calas, Marianne Christensen,
Christine Lefevre, et al.
2020 A Novel Child Burial from Tierra del Fuego: A Pre-
liminary Report. Journal of Island and Coastal Archae-
ology 15:436454.
Re, Anahi, and Francisco Guichon
2014 Un lugar muy particular: Caza, convergencia de
poblaciones y circulación de información en la meseta
del Strobel. In Arqueología de las cuencas de los
lagos Cardiel y Strobel: Poblamiento humano y
paleoambientes en Patagonia, edited by Rafael Goñi,
Gallardo et al. 17YENDEGAIA ROCKSHELTER
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
Juan Bautista Belardi, Gisela Cassiodoro, and Anahi Re,
pp. 155186. Aspha Ediciones, Buenos Aires.
Reyes, Omar, and Manuel San Román
2008 Construcción camino de penetración Vicuña-
Yendegaia, provincias de Tierra del Fuego y Antártica
Chilena. Informe de línea de base arqueológica,
CEAA limitada. Report on le at the Servicio de Evalua-
ción Ambiental, Gobierno de Chile.
Sellier, Pascal
1999 Los restos óseos de los dos niños de la sepultura de
Última Esperanza (Magallanes, Chile): Un feto anence-
fálico y uno nacido muerto. Anales del Instituto de la
Patagonia 27:99122.
Sepúlveda, Marcela
2011 Pinturas rupestres y tecnología del color en el
extremo sur de Chile. Magallania 39:195212.
Sepúlveda, Marcela, Sebastián Gutiérrez, and José Cárcamo
2022 Pigmentos y bloques de color del sitio Ofng 2,
Estrecho de Magallanes: Aproximación a su composi-
ción elemental y mineralógica. In Entre Patagonia y
Tierra del Fuego: Los nómadas del mar del islote Ofng
(I. Dawson- Estrecho de Magallanes), edited by Domi-
nique Legoupil. Ediciones Universidad de Magallanes,
Punta Arenas, Chile, in press.
Skottsberg, Carl
1911 The Wilds of Patagonia. Macmillan, New York.
Tafuri, Mary Anne, Atilio Francisco Zangrando, Agusto Tes-
sone, Sayuri Kochi, Jacopo Maggi, Fabio di Vicenzo,
Antonio Proco, and Giorgio Manzi
2017 Dietary Resilience among Hunter-Gatherers of
Tierra del Fuego: Isotopic Evidence in a Diachronic Per-
spective. PLoS ONE 12(4):e0175594.
Washburn, Dorothy
1983 Symmetry Analysis of Ceramic Design: Two Test of
Method on Neolithic Material from Greece and the
Aegean. In Structure and Cognition in Art, edited by
Dorothy K. Washburn, pp. 138164. Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, Cambridge.
Webb, Malcolm
1974 Exchange Networks: Prehistory. Annual Review of
Anthropology 3:357383.
Whallon, Robert
2006 Social Networks and Information: Non-Utilitarian
Mobility among Hunter-Gatherers. Journal of
Anthropological Archaeology 25:259270.
2011 An Introduction to Information and Its Role in
Hunter-Gatherer Bands. In Information and Its Role in
Hunter-Gatherer Bands, edited by Robert Whallon,
William Lovis, and Robert Hitchcock, pp. 127.
Leyba Associates, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Wobst, Martin
1977 Stylistic Behavior and Information Exchange. In For the
Director: Research Essays in Honor of James B. Grifn,
edited by Charles Edward Cleland, pp. 317342. Museum
of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Zangrando, Atilio Francisco, and Angelica Tivoli.
2015 Human Use of Birds and Fish in Marine Settings of
Southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego in the Holo-
cene: A First Macro-Regional Approach. Quaternary
International 373:8295.
Submitted March 21, 2021; Revised June 10, 2021; Accepted
May 17, 2022
18 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY
https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2022.47 Published online by Cambridge University Press
... We give importance to the processes involved in the intervention of a place: the action of making art and the effects of color, to the sensations that this creates, seeing rock art not only as a product but as a process, continuous and constant, that can directly and lastingly influence human beings [48][49][50][51]. Something that seems to not only be an exception among the marine hunting and gathering populations of the Pacific Ocean coast of the southern cone, according to recent evidence [52,53]. In definitive, we reinforce methodologically the study of rock art in dynamic making and not as a static and finish construction. ...
Article
Full-text available
The article explores advanced image processing techniques for pigment discrimination in rock art paintings, emphasizing color separation using RGB (red, green, blue) and LHCUv (Luminance, Hue, Chroma) imagery. It highlights the use of dimensionality reduction methods such as Principal Components Analisys PCA and Independent Component Analysis (ICA), with a focus on Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM) for probabilistic classification of image elements. This approach, applied to the Chomache archaeological site on the northernmost coast of the Atacama Desert in Chile, reveals previously undetected motifs and details, offering a nuanced perspective in rock art documentation and analysis. This proposal reinforces the value of rock art panel not only as a finished product but as a process.
... Ethnohistorical and archaeological information indicate that paints were applied with fingers, instruments like swabs/ brushes made out of guanaco fleece, bunches of mosses or twigs, and by spraying (e.g., Gradin et al., 1976;Onetto, 1981;Aschero, 1983/85;Belardi et al., 2000;Boschín et al., 2002;Wainwright et al., 2002;Fiore et al., 2008;Arrigoni, 2009;Gallardo, 2009;Re, 2010;Vázquez et al., 2010;Sepúlveda, 2011Sepúlveda, , 2021Charlin & Borrero, 2012;Massaferro et al., 2012;Marchione & Belleli, 2013;Carden et al., 2014Carden et al., , 2018Romero & Re, 2014;Rousaki et al., 2018;Acevedo et al., 2019;Manzi et al., 2019;Podestá et al., 2019;Gurin et al., 2021a;Gallardo et al., 2022). ...
Article
Full-text available
This work aims discussing the contribution of environmental and technological factors in rock art painting preservation, based on a 3-year experimental program and two archaeological cases from Patagonia (South America). Concerning technological factors, microscopic information of experimental and archaeological contexts indicate that fine-grained pigments have a better preservation potential than coarse-grained ones, likely related to the high binder adsorption capacity of silty and clay size particles, resulting in a strong pigment agglutination and substrate adherence. Mechanical entrapment/translocation of such small particles into the substrate further contributes to preservation. The experiment also evidences that blood-bearing paints present preservation advantages over fat/water-based ones, probably due to clotting and drying processes which agglutinate pigments and seal rock voids, avoiding binder migration. In contrast, experimental gypsum- and, to a lesser extent, charcoal-based paints show a rapid and significant deterioration, particularly in the temperate and humid context. The low archaeological expectancy derived from these results is supported by the scarce and/or ambiguous regional representation of these black pigments in ancient Patagonian paintings. Among natural factors, water-related processes (i.e., rainfall, snow, freezing and water infiltration) play a decisive role in the physicochemical paint degradation, also favoring bioactivity. Raman spectroscopy of neoformed white crystals in experimental paints may evidence, in a short term, a first stage of the profuse biomineralizations archaeologically observed, associated with lichens, fungus, and endolithic organisms. Finally, sheep rubbing and wind abrasion are proposed as the main agents affecting vertical frequencies and integrity of archaeological motifs at the cave and open-air contexts, respectively, whereas differences related to cardinal insolation likely impact in frequencies, motif color and weathering stages at the open-air site too.
... Based on the results obtained in this study, it is high lighted that although the figurative representations decrease in variety and frequency as one advances through Pata go nia and toward the Strait of Magellan (Gallardo et al. 2022), the new investigations in the PAVF indicate that the figurative motifs have great ubiquity in the sites of the last space of the continen tal sector, presenting a more significant variability and an increase in the number of figuratives than pre viously documented (Fig. 5). In the PAVF, the most frequently executed figurative category is the threedigits, both painted and engraved. ...
Article
Full-text available
This paper aims to make a comparison of the figurative representations of the Pali Aike volcanic field (province of Santa Cruz, Argentina-province of Magallanes, Chile) with those registered in other sectors of southern Patagonia, such as the southern shore margin of Lake Argentino (Argenti-na), the Morros area and the Cerro Benítez-Lago Sofía locality (Chile) during the middle and late Ho-locene. This analysis was based on integrating background and new information related to different areas. The goal is to evaluate the existence of diverse patterns of representation, considering the morphologies, technical treatment, frequencies, relative abundance of types of motifs in each area, distribution within the space, and temporality of figurative motifs. From this, it is expected to advance the discussion of information exchange among hunter-gatherer groups through figurative representations on a macroregional scale.
Thesis
Full-text available
El trabajo de tesis aquí presentado tiene por objetivo abordar la relación entre la dinámica poblacional de grupos humanos cazadores-recolectores y la producción de representaciones rupestres durante el Holoceno medio y tardío en el centro-oeste de la provincia de Santa Cruz. Aquí se problematizan estrategias vinculadas con la circulación de información llevadas adelante por las poblaciones cazadores-recolectoras de Patagonia meridional durante los últimos 7000 años AP. Para ello se analiza el registro rupestre de la cuenca del lago Cardiel y del sur de la meseta del lago Strobel. Se discute la variabilidad espacial y temporal observada en los grabados y pinturas de los sectores nombrados, para luego contextualizar esta información a la luz del resto de las líneas de evidencia.
Book
Full-text available
Este libro, fruto de más de dos años de intenso trabajo, nace con un doble propósito: por un lado, recopilar los estudios más recientes referidos a la arqueología en Tierra del Fuego, y por otro, lograr que esos trabajos de investigación trasciendan el contexto puramente científico y lleguen a un público más amplio. El resultado es una contundente obra que compendia dieciséis reseñas de tesis, tanto de licenciatura como de doctorado, desarrolladas en los últimos años por jóvenes arqueólogos de Argentina, Chile y España. Distintas temáticas relativas a las sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras fueguinas son tratadas aquí en capítulos que pueden ser abordados de manera independiente, lo que torna el libro en una indispensable obra de referencia para el área, pero también en un material de acercamiento inicial a la arqueología fueguina para el público en general. Se incluyen además dos capítulos introductorios que servirán para situar a los lectores tanto histórica como geográficamente en los temas que desarrollan luego los capítulos específicos. En suma, estas páginas atesoran un múltiple e interesante conjunto de miradas arqueológicas acerca del pasado de los pueblos originarios de este rincón del mundo al que llamamos Tierra del Fuego.
Article
Full-text available
This work presents the results obtained from seven rock art sites from the area of Southern Patagonia, Chile: four in the continent and three in the channels, to which the data of 44 deposits from different bibliographical sources were integrated. Based on the quantitative and statistical analysis carried out on three different scales composed by the motif (micro), the panel (meso) and the site (macro), the aim is to deepen, for the first time, the comparison of the contexts from the channels and the continent of the Magallanes region, in order to understand the possible information exchange and visual codes between the different groups that inhabited that region.
Article
Full-text available
RESUMEN El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo principal abordar un desafío metodológico relacionado con la construcción conjunta de criterios adecuados para realizar comparaciones entre áreas con trayectorias de investigación diferentes. Así, se busca aunar y comparar información generada a partir del registro y estudio de pinturas rupestres de Patagonia centro-meridional en una escala espacial amplia. En particular se consideran los valles del río Ibáñez y río Jeinimeni en la región de Aysén (Chile) y la meseta alta del Strobel y cuenca del lago Cardiel en el centro-oeste de la provincia de Santa Cruz (Argentina). La comparación se enmarca en una escala cronológica que comprende los últimos 6.000 años. A partir de la definición de dos ejes de análisis, el primero centrado en la distribución y emplazamiento de las pinturas rupestres y el segundo en los motivos rupestres ejecutados, se discuten 11 variables diferentes para, de esta forma, generar una comparación entre las cuatro áreas. Se evidencian diferencias en diversos aspectos que podrían responder a distintos factores (cronología, uso del espacio, conservación, etc.). No obstante, se plantea que efectivamente hubo una circulación de información en una escala macroregional entre ambientes de distintas características que comprenden espacios boscosos, de transición y de estepa, principalmente durante el Holoceno tardío. ABSTRACT This paper tackles a methodological challenge related to the joint construction of adequate criteria for comparison of areas with different research histories. The aim is to bring together and compare information produced through the study of rock paintings in Central-South Patagonia, on a broad spatial scale. Specifically, we consider the valleys of the Ibáñez and Jeinimeni rivers in the region of Aysén (Chile), and the Strobel high plateau and Cardiel lake basin, in the Central-West area of Santa Cruz Province (Argentina). The comparison is conducted for the last 6,000 years.
Article
Full-text available
Southern Patagonia rock art is characterized by the presence of a large number of hand stencils with a wide distribution. The general aim of this paper is to contribute to the study of spatial trends in hand stencil production in this region and its relationship with different land use strategies carried out by hunter-gatherer groups. Here we explore the contribution that the study of this particular rock art motif may have to understanding the demography of the human groups that occupied the area. In particular, rock art from the Cardiel Lake low basin and the Strobel high plateau located in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, is analysed. Current research suggests that these two areas were occupied intensively and in a complementary way in the last 2,500 years (Late Holocene). While the Cardiel Lake basin would have been mainly used for residential purposes year-round, the Strobel Plateau occupations would have been logistic and seasonal. The results obtained make it possible to identify the greatest importance of hand stencils in the rock art of Cardiel basin. On the other hand, the participation of all age groups is evident in the production of this type of motif, both in the low basin and the Strobel Plateau. The latter fact complicates the previously proposed panorama and raises a new series of questions for archaeological research.
Article
Full-text available
En este trabajo se evalúan las reglas de composición que vinculan motivos rupestres y soportes rocosos, comparando para ello un total de 1.273 motivos y 76 tipos de motivos (TM) registrados en 33 sitios de dos localidades arqueológicas de la región centro-sur de Patagonia (Argentina). Los análisis demuestran que: a) los emplazamientos de los motivos en los soportes rocosos no siguen reglas claras de composición visual y b) del total de TM, las dos localidades comparten solo 14, lo cual indicaría la existencia de bajos niveles de comunicación visual entre ambas. Esto es discutido en función de diferentes formas de integración de cada localidad dentro de circuitos mayores de movilidad e intercambio de información a escala regional. A su vez, los 14 TM compartidos representan más del 60% de la producción rupestre de cada una, lo cual implica un claro énfasis de selección de determinadas porciones del repertorio para la producción artística de cada localidad. Se argumenta entonces que la comunicación visual generada por cazadores-recolectores en ambas localidades habría sido más fluida y menos reglada que lo esperado en términos generales de las teorías de comunicación, más acorde con un bajo grado de control social característico de estas sociedades.
Article
Full-text available
This paper contributes to the conception of visual art as a material culture artefact produced through a work process. Art-making work processes condense economic factors (raw material exploitation, labour organization, etc.), technological factors (materials, tools, techniques, etc.) and cognitive factors (knowledge, values, visual perceptions, etc.), all of which are inextricably linked in the creation of visual images. The paper argues that the analysis of such work process is a key element in understanding and interpreting the role of visual images within the social contexts in which they were made and used (displayed/worn, viewed), insofar as many of their functions, meanings and effects stemmed from such production contexts and from the different affordances of image-making techniques. These concepts are applied to the research of the body paintings created and worn by the Yamana/Yagan, whose ancestral territory is located in the southernmost region of Tierra del Fuego, where traditions of bone artefact decoration and pigment use have been documented along seven millennia. Body painting is analysed using a ‘visual archaeology’ approach, through the systematic study of a photographic record of 76 images taken in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, combined with information from the written record (50 historical-ethnographic sources from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, which are summarized for the first time in this publication). Results show that (a) the affordance of image-making techniques was flexibly exploited in order to generate design repertoires of higher or lower variability according to the type of situation of body painting display and (b) part of the visual and social effects of these images stemmed directly from their production contexts (e.g. domestic versus ceremonial, public versus secret) and from their techno-visual and performative affordances. Thus, the paper shows that art images-objects should not be interpreted only as final products, since many of their material and social qualities were deeply rooted in the very production processes that led to their existence.
Chapter
Full-text available
RESUMEN Se busca profundizar el conocimiento de la circulación de bienes e información durante el Holoceno tardío en el centro-oeste de la provincia de Santa Cruz (Argentina). Se aborda el estudio de potenciales vías de comu-nicación hasta el momento inexploradas en el área. Se consideran los soportes móviles en los que se ejecutaron diseños: placas, tiestos cerámicos, molinos y rocas de parapetos. La evidencia analizada procede del espacio delimitado por la cuenca de los lagos Salitroso-Posadas al norte y la cuenca del lago Cardiel al sur. Se evalúa su distribución, características del soporte seleccionado, morfología de los diseños y técnicas empleadas en su eje-cución. Se concluye que estas vías de comunicación son poco utilizadas en el área de estudio, aunque con mayor frecuencia en cuencas bajas. Si bien se observa una baja movilidad de los soportes, se evidencia una amplia circu-lación de información a través de los diseños con algunas particularidades en el caso de la cerámica y las placas. ABSTRACT This work aims to further investigate the circulation of goods and information during late Holocene in central-west Santa Cruz province (Argentina). The study deals with the research of unexplored means of communication in the area. The mobile supports on which designs were made are considered: slabs, pottery, grinding artifacts and hunting blinds' rocks. The evidence analyzed comes from the area delimited by Salitroso-Posadas Lake basin to the north and Cardiel Lake basin to the south. Its distribution, the characteristics of the selected support, the morphology of designs and the techniques used in its execution are evaluated. It is concluded that these means of communication are sparsely used in the study area, although more frequently in lower basins. Even though there is a low mobility of these materials, there is a wide circulation of information through designs, with some particularities in the case of pottery and engraved slabs.
Article
Full-text available
Este trabajo analiza los diseños grabados en las superficies de hachas y placas líticas procedentes de Patagonia, Pampa y, en menor medida, Sierras Centrales, Cuyo, Mesopotamia y Noroeste Argentino. Se propone discutir si ambos tipos de artefactos decorados formaron parte de un sistema de comunicación visual entre grupos cazadores-recolectores que operó a escala intra e interregional hacia finales del Holoceno tardío, partiendo desde un marco teórico que combina elementos de enfoques ecológicos, cognitivos visuales y de interacción social sobre el arte mobiliar. Con este objetivo se relevaron 248 ejemplares provenientes de colecciones de museos y bibliografía antecedente. La información registrada fue volcada en una base de datos Excel de múltiples escalas y analizada en forma univariada y bivariada. Los resultados permiten identificar tendencias generales y variaciones específicas subyacentes a la producción y circulación de hachas y placas grabadas entre grupos cazadores-recolectores del Holoceno tardío a una escala supraregional.
Conference Paper
Full-text available
"Pasos de Indios" or portages are referred to as some points in the Fuego Patagonian archipelago that were used to save long distances passing whole or dissembled canoes by land. Some of them were acconditioned specially for that purpose using wood logs as sleepers. We show the best known portages in Fuego-Patagonia and invite for better studies arround them.