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History of Patagonia


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Pre-Columbian Patagonia (10,000 BC-1520 AD)

Human habitation of the region dates back thousands of years, with some early archaeological findings in the area dated to at least the 13th millennium BC, although later dates of around the 10th millennium BC are more securely recognized. There is evidence of human activity at Monte Verde inLlanquihue Province, Chile dated to around 12,500 BC. The glacial period ice-fields and subsequent large meltwater streams would have made settlement difficult at that time.

The region seems to have been inhabited continuously since 10,000 BC, by various cultures and alternating waves of migration, the details of which are as yet poorly understood. Several sites have been excavated, notably caves such as Cueva del Milodon in �ltima Esperanza in southern Patagonia, and Tres Arroyos on Tierra del Fuego, that support this date. Hearths, stone scrapers, animal remains dated to 9400�9200 BC have been found east of the Andes.

Cueva de las ManosThe Cueva de las Manos is a famous site in Santa Cruz, Argentina. A cave at the foot of a cliff, it has wall paintings, particularly the negative images of hundreds of hands, believed to date from around 8000 BC.

Among tribes living on the eastern plains hunting of guanaco was the most important activity, and rhea (�and�) to a lesser extent, it appears from artifacts. It is unclear whether the megafauna of Patagonia, including the ground sloth and horse, were extinct in the area before the arrival of humans, although this is now the more widely accepted account. It is also not clear if domestic dogs were part of early human activity. Bolas are commonly found and were used to catch guanaco and rhea. A maritime tradition existed along the Pacific coast; whose latest exponents were the Y�mana to the south of Tierra del Fuego, the Kaweshqar between Taitao Peninsula and Tierra del Fuego and the Chonos in the Chonos Archipelago.

The indigenous peoples of the region
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