Hunter-gatherers’ guanaco exploitation during the Middle Holocene in the south coast of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina)

Abstract

We analyze the exploitation strategies of guanacos (Lama guanicoe) by the coastal hunter-gatherers that inhabited the southern coast of Tierra del Fuego during the Middle Holocene. This period is considered to be a pivotal moment in the process of human colonization in the Fuegian archipelago, as it was proposed as the initial stage of human adaptation to the channel and island environment at the southernmost tip of the Americas. In this context, we evaluate guanacos’ hunting strategies and the role of terrestial environments for hunther-gatherers’ subsistence. We analyze and compare three archaeological assemblages corresponding to the Middle Holocene, located in different environments regarding their conditions for the transport and butchering of guanacos. The results show that hunting behaviors developed under different strategies according to each sector. This variability was not necessarily related to the differences in spatial and seasonal distribution of the resource, but to dissimilar contingencies or nutritional requirements of the human groups that inhabited these coasts during the Middle Holocene.