Perhaps charcoal remembers: A methodological approach to the interpretation of archaeological charcoal assemblages, with a focus on the study of socio-environmental relationships in central-western Argentina

Abstract

Abstract This paper proposes a synthesis that allows articulating anthracological data with diverse contextual information: archaeological, historical, ethnographic, and environmental, as well as theoretical proposals on socio-environmental relationships. In particular, the north of Mendoza is analyzed in central-western Argentina during the period from 1200 to 100 years BP, which allows for comparing cases associated with the pre-Hispanic, colonial, and modern periods. For each of them, the existence of human groups with different ways of life integrated into specific environments is analyzed. To this end, for each case, the characterization of some interrelated categories is explored: 1) Modes of dwelling: settlement, mobility, production modes, or demand for firewood; 2) socio-environmental relationship frameworks: different ways of conceiving and relating to the environment; 3) Archaeological record and firewood use: analysis of charcoal samples according to their archaeological context and class indices of richness, diversity, and abundance; particularities of the plants found based on their uses, origin, habit, or association with domestication processes, among others; 4) Landscape shaping: observation of the environmental dynamics in which human groups are integrated in relation to the first three categories. The results allow for raising problems and questions that enrich the social interpretation of the anthracological record. In sum, the work addresses a methodological approach that explores the potential of this materiality for the study of socio-environmental relationships.