Cazadores-recolectores, uso del espacio y umbrales de marginalidad en sectores occidentales del sur de Patagonia. El caso de Estancia Cristina, Parque Nacional Los Glaciares (Santa Cruz, Argentina)

Information is presented on the variability of the archaeological record at Estancia Cristina, an open Nothofagus sp. forest environment that constitutes the westernmost area between Lakes Viedma and Argentino with potential for human occupation. Three contiguous sectors were studied: the Catarina River valley (13 km2), the Cerro Carnero corridor (9 km long), and Carnero Bay (1 km2), which appear to have been used by hunter-gatherer groups in different yet complementary ways. The potential access routes to the Catarina River valley are discussed, and the results of the evaluation of one of them —whose entrance lies to the east, beginning in the upper basin of the Guanaco River— are presented. Estancia Cristina would have offered resources similar to those available toward the eastern forest–steppe ecotone; thus, its incorporation into hunter-gatherer circuits likely occurred because it represented an additional resource-bearing space within the extended foraging range of eastern groups. This incorporation, proposed for the late Holocene, exhibits redundancy and residential components. The study broadens the discussion on thresholds of marginality —differences in the intensity of use— of western landscapes, while contributing to the knowledge and preservation of the archaeological heritage of Los Glaciares National Park

Bay · Drainage basin · Foraging · Nothofagus · Structural basin · Archaeological and Geological Studies · Migration, Education, Indigenous Social Dynamics · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology