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3 - Hunter-Gatherer Persistence and Demography in Patagonia (Southern South America): The Impact of Ecological Changes during the Pleistocene and Holocene

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2018

By
Valeria Bernal ,
S. Ivan Perez ,
María Bárbara Postillone  and
Diego D. Rindel
Edited by
Daniel H. Temple  and
Christopher M. Stojanowski
Daniel H. Temple
Affiliation:
George Mason University, Virginia
Christopher M. Stojanowski
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
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Summary

This chapter considers faunal and demographic evidence of hunter-gatherer resilience in Patagonia during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. Results suggest that hunter-gatherers from Northwest and South Patagonia were resilient to the significant ecological changes that occurred during this time period manifest in an estimated rate of population growth that was resistant to concomitant changes in the diversity of available resources as a consequence of mega-faunal extinctions around 10 000 years ago. The resistance of hunter-gatherers from Patagonia reflects the ability of human populations to absorb the impact of relatively slow ecological changes. The chronological association between the demographic dynamics and archaeological evidence suggests that cultural responses maintained population density. Some differences were regionally apparent, however, with soouthern populations exhibiting a constant growth rate oand Northwest populations presenting an increasing growth. As such, demographic resilience is mediated by differing modes of cultural adaptation to environmental challenges.
Type
Chapter
Information
Hunter-Gatherer Adaptation and Resilience
A Bioarchaeological Perspective
 , pp. 47 - 64
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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