Between Foragers and Farmers: Climate Change and Human Strategies in Northwestern Patagonia

Quaternary

FernandoR. Franchetti¹  Ricardo Villalba²  AdolfoF. Gil³  CinthiaC. Abbona³  EvaA. Peralta³  Gustavo Neme³  Clara Otaola³ 

[1] Departamento de Historia, Facultad de Historia, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza 5500, Argentina;Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales (IANIGLA-CONICET), Mendoza 5500, Argentina;Instituto de Evolución, Ecología Histórica y Ambiente (IDEVEA-CONICET & UTN FRSR), Av. Urquizas 350, San Rafael, Mendoza 5600, Argentina;

关键词: farming border;    Patagonia;    Southern Annular Mode;    late Holocene;    human diet;    zooarchaeology;   

DOI  :  10.3390/quat3020017

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

In this paper we explore how changes in human strategies are differentially modulated by climate in a border area between hunter-gatherers and farmers. We analyze multiple proxies: radiocarbon summed probability distributions (SPDs), stable C and N isotopes, and zooarchaeological data from northwestern Patagonia. Based on these proxies, we discuss aspects of human population, subsistence, and dietary dynamics in relation to long-term climatic trends marked by variation in the Southern Annular Mode (SAM). Our results indicate that the farming frontier in northwestern Patagonia was dynamic in both time and space. We show how changes in temperature and precipitation over the last 1000 years cal BP have influenced the use of domestic plants and the hunting of highest-ranked wild animals, whereas no significant changes in human population size occurred. During the SAM positive phase between 900 and 550 years cal BP, warmer and drier summers are associated with an increase in C₄ resource consumption (maize). After 550 years cal BP, when the SAM changes to the negative phase, wetter and cooler summer conditions are related to a change in diet focused on wild resources, especially meat. Over the past 1000 years, there was a non-significant change in the population based on the SPD.

【 授权许可】

Unknown