Holocene settlement in the rio de la plata littoral (argentina): A methodological approach

Abstract Cultural and faunal remains from archaeological sites of the Rio de La Plata littoral, Argentina, have been studied, attempting to verify their primary associations and occupations during the Holocene. the sites were localized within shell beach ridges more or less parallel to the present shore and are composed of bivalves, gastropods, scarce barnacles, and sandy sediments. the thanatocoenosis found could be equivalent to a transitional area between fluviomarine (mixohaline) and oceanic (polyeuhaline) gradients, i.e., an environment with greater salinity conditions than that of the adjacent coast in the present estuary. These deposits correspond to the Las Escobas Formation (Holocene). Archaeological remains were found from the base of the shell ridge up into the overlying sediments. the hypothesis proposed here is that the human occupation is not contemporaneous with the formation of the shell ridge. the cultural sequence in this kind of site can be altered by disturbances of the stratigraphy as a consequence of environmental and geological events.