Disarticulation of Aónikenk Hunter-Gatherer Lifeways during the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries: Two Case Studies from Argentinean Patagonia

Abstract

During the 19th century, stockbreeding in Argentinean Patagonia started to advance over the area occupied by the local indigenous people, ethnographically known as Aónikenk or Tehuelches meridionales, introducing significant changes to their settlement patterns. Institutionally, indigenous peoples were circumscribed into specifically designed reserves. The archaeological record shows that particular individuals chose to marginalize themselves from these changes, both spatially and as a strategy to adapt to the new circumstances brought by the arrival of the stockbreeding community. These strategies are little known, as evidence of them was plunged into an “historical silence.” The analysis of two sites, Puesto Yatel and Puesto Quintillán, provides a wide range of material culture evidence for these processes, including architectural features, chipped-glass technology, metal, wood, lithic technology, and the archaeofaunal record. This new archaeological evidence is crucial for gaining a detailed understanding of 19th- and 20th-century indigenous communities in Patagonia.