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MIGUEL A. ZUBIMENDI
ethnographic analogies (for example Deodat
1967). At the same time, the spatial distribution of
the different types of malacological artefacts in the
region is discussed, as well as their distance to the
current coastline. Generally speaking, all evidence
of coastal occupations disappears a few kilometres
away from the Atlantic coast. For these reason sites
situated with 5 km of from the coastline have been
considered as coastal sites, while archaeological
sites or findings located away from this limit have
been classified as sites inland.
2. A SHORT SUMMARY OF PATAGONIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
The peopling of this vast territory was gradual.
The first evidence of human presence was registered
in the river valleys crossing the Santa Cruz plateau,
and shortly after that, on the southern extreme
of the continent, in the Chilean Magallanes
region. Later occupations were registered all along
the area neighbouring the Andes (Borrero 2001).
There is direct evidence of human presence on the
coast and exploitation of its specific resources
dating from around 7400 years ago (Gómez 2007:
135, Castro et al. 2007).
In the late Holocene, there was a significant
population growth, though densities remained low,
and the use of the whole territory became evident,
though there were regional differences in its intensity.
This occupation process ended in the late 19 th
Century with the –virtually total– extinction of the
native Patagonian inhabitants (Borrero 2001).
Throughout the millennia, Patagonian huntergatherers
exploited for their consumption mainly
the guanaco, and, to a lesser degree, other species:
the choique (rhea), and the huemul (deer) in
the Andes (Miotti 1998); and they supplemented
their diet with the gathering of vegetables, and on
certain coastal and river areas, molluscs (Caviglia
and Borrero 1981, Gómez 2007, Prates Marsans
2007, Zubimendi 2007).
These human groups had a varied lithic technology,
making use of high-quality raw materials available
on the territory, and they manufactured various
bone artefacts. Ceramic technology was adopted
very late, about 2000 years ago (Borrero 2001).
3. MALACOLOGICAL ARTIFACTS IN PATAGONIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Whereas the first references to malacological
artefacts date from the late 19 th Century (Strobel
1867, Moreno 1874), it was not until the middle of
the 20 th Century that the first systematization of this
kind of artefacts appeared. It was the result of the
research carried out by L. Deodat (1967) on the
north coast of San Matías Gulf in the province of
Río Negro. This amateur researcher makes diffusionist
connections between the North Patagonian
malacological industry and other regions of the
world. More recently, very few malacological artefacts
studies have been undertaken, but they were
limited to specific Patagonian areas (Cassiodoro
2005, Damíani and Álvarez 2005). Also similar
characterizations have been made recently for
other regions of Argentina, specially the Pampean
region (Bonomo 2007).
It is important to clarify at this point that the existing
bibliographic data presents many limitations,
since most of the records are surface finds or present
unreliable chronologies. Unclear, ambiguous
or general descriptions of the species or artefacts
can be added, especially in older papers. In general,
it is possible to reliably propound the existence
of, at least, three types of malacological artefacts:
containers, shell beads and indeterminate artefacts.
These artefacts, their location along
Patagonia and their relative distance to the coast
–primary potential source of most of the shells used
as artefacts– are described below (Fig 1).
3.1. Containers
Within this category, we could consider large
shells of gastropods that belong to the Volutidae
family. The function of these artefacts, according to
their morphological interpretation and some evidence
found on them, was to retain liquids or other flowing
substances. Two types of containers have
been defined, especially for the north coast of San
Matías Gulf: spoons and recipients (Deodat 1967).
The former present a greater degree of formatization
due to removing the whorl or the columella.
They are concave containers formed by the longitudinal
half of a whorl, where sometimes the spire is eliminated
(Deodat 1967, see Fig. 2.a). They might
also present burin-cut edges. They are numerous
and exclusive of the north coast of San Matías Gulf;
since no instances have been found outside this
area. Spoons manufactured with the following species
have been identified: Adelomelon ancilla, A.
beckii, Buccinanops sp., Pachycymbiola brasiliana,
P. ferussacii, Odontocymbiola magellanica, and
Zidona dufresnei (Carcelles 1944, Deodat 1967,
Damíani and Álvarez 2006, Favier et al. 2007). Most
of these species have valves ranging between 10
and 20 cm long, and live in the sublitoral, inaccessi-
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