Archaeological Rock Art Landscape of Northern Patagonia

Abstract

The territory that Patagonia comprises offers an important variety of landscapes. To proceed to its analysis, we will approach the landscape that refers to rock archeological heritage; hence we will talk about “rock art archeological landscape”. For this, we will build the project on the Convention of World Heritage, which in 1992 in its 16th Committee session established in its 1st Article the term “cultural heritage”.

Thus, in 2005 the Operational Guidelines that contemplates the subcategory of fossil cultural landscape was established, under which our subject of study would be circumscribed. Moreover, in November 2012, the contestants of the 2nd Cultural Landscape Encounter which took place in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, elaborated the “Spanish American Letter of Cultural Landscape”. Being the aim of this letter: “to grant value to the resources that Spanish American cultural landscapes treasure and that are at the service of local development and, at the same time, of improving the quality of life of its inhabitants”; this is the letter to which we will circumscribe.

Recent years have been characterized by the development of an interesting variety of projects carried out with the communities within provinces of Patagonia, aimed at the local development as a means to improve their living conditions. In that sense, it is that we will approach the subject of rock archeological landscape of the north Patagonia, more specifically in Neuquén province. In it there can be found trace that correspond to its prehistoric moment, having as main representatives an important quantity and variety of archeological sites with manifestations of rock art. A specific case is one called “Colomichicó” (the biggest site of engraved blocks outdoors in Latin America) around which the first Archeological Park in the province has been organized.