Research for the management of archaeological heritage in productive rural contexts

Uses and landscape modifications during the middle and late holocene in the India Muerta Region, Uruguay: Doctoral thesis abstract

Abstract

This thesis was oriented towards studying the processes of anthropization of the environment and the social construction of the landscape in the India Muerta region, Rocha department. The methodological approach focused on the archaeological, geoarchaeological, and archaeoastronomical analysis of the built and inhabited space at different scales. The work allowed for a deeper understanding of the knowledge and management practices of the environment since the late mid-Holocene to the present day, in communities that adapted, modified and constructed an archaeological landscape that persists to this day, being a material testimony of other ways of inhabiting. The placement of mound structures is heterogeneous and multi-causal, linked to access to resources, the relationship with geographical and geological units, as well as cultural worldviews, where the celestial landscape also played an important role, what is reflected in the distribution of some mounds in relation to the Southern Cross and the Milky Way, as well as solstices and the position of the moon at significant moments. These cultural landscapes are reinterpreted and incorporated into everyday life in different historical moments. Currently, the conservation of this landscape is in tension with some of the agricultural activities developed in the region. In light of this problem, the vulnerability of the mounds in the productive context in which they are located was analyzed, considering the main threats and resistance factors, and it was demonstrated that the predominant agricultural activities, such as rice and soybean cultivation, represent a serious threat to these environments. Conceptual and methodological foundations are proposed that seek to contribute to the development of comprehensive conservation strategies, in terms of landscape, compatible with local productive activity and promoting the enhancement and social use of this type of heritage.