SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD IN THE TERRACE LANDSCAPE UNITY, COYLE RIVER MIDDLE BASIN (SANTA CRUZ PROVINCE, ARGENTINA)

As a result to cultural research management studies on the archaeological record new information is added to the Terraces landscape unit at the Coyle river middle basin (Santa Cruz Province), between the Santa Cruz and Gallegos fluvial basins. The analysis is focused on the spatial distribution of the archaeological record on the surface of geoforms (gullies, closed basins and terraces). Artifactual classes and densities, as well as lithic raw materials, were studied using qualitative and quantitative methods. The evidence indicates that the same types of activities (rock provisioning and flintknapping) were developed along the different geoforms. Nevertheless, artifactual densities show differences related to human intensity use as shown at closed basins. The high frequency of glass scrapers recorded and the results from two new radiocarbon dates place human populations towards the end of the late Holocene. Mollusks from the Atlantic coast and obsidian artifacts suggest the relations with areas located North, East and West. The Terraces landscape unit would have been used in a relatively homogeneous way throughout time, indicating a low human intensity related to residential mobility strategies and to the circulation between the Santa Cruz and Gallegos river basins.