Artículo
From Mounds to Villages : The Social Construction of the Landscape during the Middle and Late Holocene in the India Muerta Lowlands, Uruguay
Fecha
2022Registro en:
Gazzán , N, Cancela-Cereijo, C, Gianotti, C, y otros."From Mounds to Villages: The Social Construction of the Landscape during the Middle and Late Holocene in the India Muerta Lowlands, Uruguay". Land.. [en línea] 2022, 11, 441
Autor
Gazzán, Nicolás
Cancela-Cereijo, Cristina
Gianotti, Camila
Fábrega-Álvarez, Pastor
del Puerto, Laura
Criado-Boado, Felipe
Institución
Resumen
This paper presents new data on the spatial organization of mound-builder groups in the
India Muerta wetlands, Uruguay. This area presents the beginning of land architecture in the region
(ca. 4800–5000 years BP), associated with more arid climate. This construction tradition continues and
intensifies, mainly from ca 3000 years BP, from the establishment of warmer and damper conditions.
New sources of information and geospatial technologies have made it possible to locate mound sites
with greater precision, as well as to analyze settlement patterns. Indigenous communities occupied
areas of hills, plains and wetlands, showing differences but also regularities in spatial organization in
each area. In the whole area, earthen mound complexes form groups of different orders, from regional
to domestic units, configured by mounds, negative structures and limited spaces. The location of the
mounds is primarily in dry areas, known locally as islands, which are prominent in the landscape
during floods in this wetland-dominated environment. Through this analysis of the landscape, this
work delves into the underlying logic of the social construction of the territory. The results achieved
in this paper are consistent with previous research suggesting planned occupation associated with
villages integrated within broader regional systems.