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Landscape Transformation, Mounded Villages and Adopted Cultigens: The Rise of EarlyFormative Communities in South-Eastern UruguayAuthor(s): José IriarteSource: World Archaeology, Vol. 38, No. 4, Debates in "World Archaeology" (Dec., 2006), pp.644-663Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

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Landscape

transformation,

mounded

villages

and

adopted

cultigens:

the rise of early Formative

communities

in

south-eastern

Uruguay

Jose Iriarte

Abstract

New research

in

lowland

South

America

is

beginning

to reveal a

diversity

of

complex

cultural

trajectories

n

a

region

that was

long-considered marginal

with

respect

to Andean and Mesoamerican

civilizations. This

paper

summarizes new

archaeological, palaeoecological

and

archaebotanical

data

from Los

Ajos

site,

south-eastern

Uruguay, showing

that a

changing

and

increasingly dry

mid-

Holocene climate was associated with

significant

cultural

transformations,

including

early

village

formation,

the

adoption

of a mixed

economy

and the construction of the earliest

public

architecture

known for the area.

Collectively,

this evidence indicates an

early

and

unexpected

development

of

social complexity that had not heretofore been recorded in this area of South America. Human-

environment

interactions,

social

processes

related to the

development

of

early village

life and the role

of

early public

architecture are discussed with reference to the

emergence

of

early

Formative

communities

in

the

region.

Keywords

Early

Formative;

middle-range

societies,

public

architecture;

Uruguay;

La Plata

Basin;

agriculture.

Introduction

Researchon the

emergence

and internal

dynamics

of

middle-range

ocieties

in

South

Americahas concentrated

mainly

on Andean coastal and

highland

valleys(Burger

1995;

Moseley

2001;

Solis et al.

2001),

and more

recently

n

the lowland forest

and riverine

regions

of

Amazonia

(Heckenberger

t al.

1999;

Lehmanet al.

2003;

Roosevelt

1999).

Historically

iewedas a

marginal

area when

compared

o the Andeanand Mesoamerican

chiefdomsand

states,

the La Plata basinand its

adjacent

ittoral

region

s a

large

and little

explored

area that is

beginning

to reveal an

early

and

long

sequence

of

unique

and

RRoutledqe

World

Archaeology

Vol.

38(4):

644-663 Debates in World

Archaeology

Tay.ors.Franciscroup

© 2006

Taylor

&

Francis

ISSN 0043-8243

print/

1470- 1375

online

DOI:

10.1080/00438240600963262







Landscape transformation,

mounded

villages

and

adopted

cultigens

645

complex

cultural

trajectories. Multidisciplinary investigations

at

the Los

Ajos

archae-

ological

mound

complex

in

the wetlands of south-eastern

Uruguay

run

counter

to the

traditional view that the La Plata basin was inhabited by simple groups of hunters and

gatherers

for

much of the

pre-Hispanic

era

(Meggers

and Evans

1978;

Steward

1946).

The

renewed

community-focused archaeological program

at Los

Ajos

showed that

large

Preceramic mound

complexes

in

the

region

were not the result of

random,

successive

short-term

occupations

of mobile

hunter-gatherers

(Schmitz

et al.

1991)

nor the

burial

mounds or monuments of

complex hunter-gatherers

as

previously proposed

(Bracco

et al.

2000a;

Gianotti

2000;

Lopez

2001),

but

well-planned plaza

villages

built

by people

who

practised

a

mixed

economy.

In

this

paper,

I

present

new

archaeological, palaeoecological

and botanical data

indicating

that

during

an

increasingly

dry

mid-Holocene,

at around

4190

BP,

Los

Ajos

became

a

permanent

circular

plaza village

and its inhabitants

adopted

the earliest cultivars known in southern

South America

including

maize

(Zea mays

L.)

and

squash

(Cucurbita

spp.). During

the

following

Ceramic Mound Period

(between

around

3000 and

500

BP)

Los

Ajos experienced

the formalization and

spatial

differentiation of

communal

spaces through

the

development

of elaborated mounded

architecture around

the

central

plaza

area,

whose architectural

plan

reveals an

early

and distinct

form of civic-

ceremonial architectural tradition for South America.

Furthermore,

the

presence

of at

least four other mound

complexes

in the

region

with

closely comparable

dates and

similarity

in

their overall

plan

to

Los

Ajos suggests

that these mound

complexes

had been

integrated

at a

regional

level since Preceramic times

(see

Fig.

lb and Table

1) (Bracco

and

Ures

1999;

Iriarte et al.

2004;

Lopez

2001).

Brief

history

of

archaeological investigations

in

the

region

The

mound-building pre-Hispanic

cultures

dating

back to c. 4000

BP

are

generally

referred

to as 'Constructors de

Cerritos'

in

Uruguay

and are divided into the Umbu

(Archaic

Preceramic)

and Vieira

(Ceramic)

traditions

in

southern Brazil.

They

extend

along

the

coastal and inland wetlands and

grasslands

that occur in the Atlantic coast between

around 28° and

36°S

(Bracco

et al.

2000a;

Schmitz et al.

1991)

(Fig.

la).

The

study

region,

the southern sector of the

Laguna

Merin basin

(Fig.

lb),

is characterized

by

a

patchwork

of

closely packed

environments

including

wetlands,

wet

prairies, grasslands, riparian

forests, large stands of Butia palms and the Atlantic ocean coast. It has a subtropical

humid

climate

with

high average

temperatures

of 21.5°C

during

the summer and low

average temperatures

of

10.8°C

during

the winter. Total annual

rainfall

averages

1

123mm

(PROBIDES 2000).

The 'Constructors de

Cerritos'

are divided into two main

periods:

a

Preceramic

Mound Period

(hereafter PMP),

which

begins

around

4190

BP

and ends with

the

appearance

of ceramics

in

the

region

around

3000

BP;

and a Ceramic Mound Period

(hereafter

CMP),

which extends from around 3000

BP

to the Contact Period

(Bracco

et al.

2000a;

Iriarte

2003;

Lopez

2001)

(Fig.

2).1

Archaeological

research

in

Uruguay

and Brazil has been

permeated

by

theoretical

and

methodological

approaches

that have

hampered

researchers from

obtaining

the

information needed to examine the

processes

involved

in

the

development

of these

early

Formative societies.

During

the 1960s and

1970s,

the aim of the National

Programme

of







646 Jose

Iriarte

Figure

A

Locationof 'Constructores e

Cerritos' tudied

egions

n

the south-eastern

ortion

of the

La Plata

Basin and its

adjacent

ittoral zone.

Figure

IB

Map

of south-eastern

Uruguayshowing

archaeological

ites:

1.

Los

Ajos;

2. EstanciaMai

Abrigo;

3. Puntasde San

Luis;

4. Isla

Larga;

. Los

Indios;

6.

Potrerillo;

. Craneo

Marcado.








mounded

villages

and

adopted cultigens

647

Table

1

Radiocarbon dates from

Los

Ajos

and other sites with Preceramic mound

components

from

Uruguay

Provenience Arbitrary Lab Dated Conventional 2-Sigma

(site)

depth

(cm)

number material 14C

yr

BP

cal.

yr

BP*

Los

Ajos

TBN

Trench,

sector 7

160-165 Beta- 158278 charcoal

1,050

±

40

1,050-920

(AMS)

sector

6 190-195 Beta-158281 charcoal

1,660

+

40

1,690-1,660

(AMS)

Mound Delta

205-210 Beta-158277 charcoal

2,960

+

120

3,400-2,740

Mound

Gamma,

sector

1/D

210-215 Beta-158279 charcoal

3,460

±

100

3,980-3,470**

sector 6/C 270-275 Beta- 158280 charcoal 4,190 ±40 4,840-4,580

(AMS)

Mound

Alfa,

Layer

III

280-285 URU 0052 charcoal

3,350

+

90

3,830-3,380**


3,870

+

280

5,030-5,010

and

4,990-3,550**


3,690

±

270

4,830-3,370**

340-345 URU

0089

charcoal

3,950

±

80

4,580-4,160


3,750

+

140

4,520-4,470

and

4,450-3,710**

Punt

as de San Luis

Mound

II

Layer

II

URU 009 charcoal

3,550

+

60

3,980-3,680**

Layer III URU 009 charcoal 3,650 ± 50 4,100-3,840**

Layer

III URU

010 charcoal

3,730

±

100

4,410-3,830**

Isla

Larga

Mound

I

260-270 URU013 charcoal

3,660

+

120

4,380-3,670**

URU014 charcoal

3,630

+

60

4,100-3,820**

Potrerillo

Mound

I

basal

level URU 083 charcoal

3,790

±

90

4,420-3,900**

URU 165 charcoal

3,820

+

100

4,510-4,480

and

4,440-3,910**

Arroyo Yaguari

Lemos

Mound 27

UE02/level

11

Ua 18817 charcoal 3250

+

40 3569-3379

Yaguari

SI 6496 charcoal 3170

±

150 2962-3722**

Note:

Calibrations asedon Stuiver t al.

1998;

**C13/C12

atio estimated

Archaeological nvestigations

n

Brazil

(PRONAPA)

was to

develop

a

chronological

framework or the

yet

unstudied outh-eastern ector of the La Plata Basin

by applying

ceramic

sedation

(Meggers

and Evans

1969)

and

lithic

typologies

(Schmitz

1978,

1987).

Their

classificatory-historical

pproach

ocusedon

obtainingrepresentativeamples

rom

limited

test

units,

which allowed them to build

chronological elationships

f lithic and

ceramic

phases

but limited heir

ability

to

study

intra-site

patialrelationships.

Although

thepresenceof largeand numerousmound

complexes

an be surmised rom the regional







648 Jose Iriarte

Figure

Chronological

hart or

south-eastern

razil

nd

Uruguay.

archaeologicalmaps

of

PRONAPA

publications

n

the inlandfreshwater

wetlandsof the

state of Rio

Grande

do

Sul

and

Uruguay,

these

investigators

ften

reduced he unit of

archaeologicalanalysisand interpretationo the study of individualmounds, which

prevented

hemfrom

studying ommunitypatterns Cope

1991:

214-

15;

Prietoet al. 1970:

map

2;

Ruthschilling

1989:

map

3).2

PRONAPA

archaeologists

nterpreted

moundsites

as

the resultof successive hort-term

occupations

of

hunters,

gatherers

nd fishers hat moved

seasonally

o

exploit

ocally

rich

environments

Brochado

1984;

Schmitz

et

al.

1991).

The

habitation

natureof the mounds

was inferredbased on the

identificationof

post-moulds,

hearths

and the

presence

of

domesticdebris

resulting

rom food

preparation,

ool manufacture nd

maintenance,

n

conjunction

with occasional

indings

of human burials.These

researchers ee

continuity

between he ArchaicUmbu Tradition

8000-2500bp)

of

generalized

unter-gatherers

nd

the PreceramicMoundoccupationsSchmitz1987).Theyalso envisiona directconnection

between he CMP

(Vieria

Tradition)

and the historic

Charrua

and Minuano

groups.

The

lifeways

of these

profoundly

ransformedhistoric

groups

were often

projected

nto the

past

and used as direct

ethnographicanalogues

to

interpret

he

archaeological

ecord

(Becker

1990;

Cope

1991;

Schmitzet al.

1991).

Agriculture

nd

cultigens

were

thought

to

have been

brought

by

the

Amazonian

Tupi-Guaranimmigrants uring

he late Holocene

(Schmitz 1991).

It is

hardly

surprising

that

this

interpretative

framework fitted

comfortably

with the

long-held

assumption

hat this

region

was inhabited

by marginal

hunter-gatherers

Meggers

and Evans

1978;

Steward

1946).

In

the

mid-1980s,

he

ArchaeologicalSalvageProgramme

f

the

Laguna

Merin Basin

(CRALM)

began

systematic

archaeological

ieldwork

n

Uruguay.

Initial

excavationson

small

two-paired

mound

sites,

which

yieldedcomplexarrays

of CMP

multiple

burials,

ed








mounded

villages

and

adopted

cultigens

649

these researchers o

characterize hese sites as ceremonial

and/or mortuary

n

nature

(Cabrera

t al.

1989)

and

typified

hese societiesas

complexhunter-gatherersdapted

o a

resource-richwetlandenvironmentLopezand Bracco 1994).While this earlyresearch

recognized

he

presence

of

large

mound

complexes

and their

high degree

of

similarity

n

groundplan,

as

well as the

presence

of an extensiveoff-moundarea associated

with the

mounds,

they generally

overlooked the

importance

of

conducting

work to articulate

mound

and off-mound ontexts o reveal

community

rganization.

However,

his renewed

work in

the

region

set the tone

for more advanced

studies on mound construction

techniques,analysis

of

mortuary

practices,

aunal

analysis,

as well as lithic and ceramic

technology

see

papers

n

Beovideet al.

2004;

Consenset al.

1995;

Duranand

Bracco

2000;

Gianotti

2000;

Lopez

and Sans

1999;

MEC

2001).

Unlike PRONAPA

researchers,

Cabrera

1992)

pointed

out

that there was a

rupture

between he 'Constructors

de Cerritos'and the historicCharnia

and Minuano

groups,

whichresulted

rom the dramatic ransformationshat historic

groupsexperienced

ue to

the

dissemination

f

European

diseases,

he

Spanish

military ampaigns

f

extermination,

the

Portuguese

slave-huntersand the introduction of cattle. These

transformations

severely

reduced their numbers and forced them to

change

their traditional

ifeways

significantly.

More

recently,

a re-examination f the earlierchroniclesand the

analysis

of

new

ethnohistorical ocumentsare

beginning

o show that the

groups

that inhabited he

area

were more

sedentary,displayed

a more

complex sociopoliticalorganization

and

practised

ood

production

Bracco

2004;

Cabrera

2000).

In

the

early

1990s,

new

investigations

n

the

upper

reshwaterwetlands

of IndiaMuerta

documented

he

presence

of

numerous

arge

and

spatially

elaboratedmound

complexes

and established he beginningof the PMP around 4000 BP(Bracco 1993). My own

preliminary

esearch

n

the area demonstrated hat the wetlandsof India Muerta

display

some of the

largest

and

spatially

most

complex

sites

in

the

region

(Iriarte

et al.

2001).

Mound sites are

circumscribed o wetland

floodplains

situated

in

ecotonal areas

characterized

y

a mosaic of

wetlands,

wet

prairies,grasslands, iparian

orestsand

palm

groves. They

showed a

dual distribution

pattern.

Small sites

(one

to three

mounds)

generally

ccur n

the wetland

loodplainspositioned

on

top

of the most

prominent

evees

following

he coursesof streams

and

exhibiting

a

linear/curvilinear

attern.

n

contrast,

n

the more

stable locations of the

landscape,

like flattened

spurs adjacent

to wetland

floodplains,

whichare secure rom

flooding

and have mmediate ccess o the rich-resource

and fertilewetlands,moundsites are arge,numerous ndspatially omplexcoveringupto

60ha.

These sites contain variedmounded

architecture

eometrically rranged

n

circular

(e.g.

EstanciaMai

Abrigo),elliptical e.g.

Damonte)

and horseshoe ormats

e.g.

Los

Ajos)

surrounding

central ommunal

paceaccompanied y

vast

outer

sectors,

which

generally

exhibit

more

disperse

and less

formally ntegrated

mounded architecture

Bracco

1993;

Braccoet al.

2000b;

Dillehay

1995;

Iriarte

2003;

Iriarte

et

al.

2001)

(Fig.

3).

New

research t

Los Indiosmound

complex Fig.

lb)

and the

Craneo

Marcadomound

(Lopez

2000,

2001;

Lopez

and Gianotti

1998;

Pintos

2000)

has led the excavators

to

interpret

he

beginning

of mound

building

as a

majorbreakthrough

n

the

history

of

the

hunter-gatherers

f the

region

marked

by

the monumentalization f the

landscape.

According

o

these

researchers,

moundsare

ceremonial

n

natureand

were built

through

discrete and

separate

construction

stages

using

refuse and sediments extracted from







650 Jose Iriarte

Figure

3

Distribution

f moundsites

n

the

IndiaMuertawetlands

n

the southern ector

of

Laguna

Merin.

surroundingsoils. Within a landscape archaeology approach (Bradley 1998;Criado 1993),

these

investigators

have

interpreted

mounds

variously

as monuments

for the dead

(Pintos

2000),

ceremonial

spaces

and/or

territorial markers

(Gianotti

2000;

Lopez

2001;

Lopez

and

Gianotti

1998),

while the

adjacent

off-mound areas

are

generally interpreted

as the

living quarters

of these

populations.

Despite

these

advances

in

the

archaeology

of the Constructores de

Cerritos,

some

important questions

crucial to

understanding

the nature of Los

Ajos,

and

by

extension

the

large

multi-mound sites in the

area,

remain unanswered. Are these

large,

formally

laid

out

mound

complexes

the result of a succession of

randomly placed,

short-term

occupations

by

mobile

hunter-gatherers?

Are

they

burial mounds or monuments? Or

are

they

well-

planned villages incorporating public spaces? What is the occupational history

of these

sites? More

importantly,

what kind of subsistence did these societies

practise

and

what was

the

nature and

dynamics

of the societies that built these

complex

mound sites?

To address

these

questions,

I

carried out a

multidisciplinary

community-focused archaeological

investigation

at Los

Ajos

site,

which is described below.

Excavations

at Los

Ajos

Los

Ajos

is located in a flattened

spur

of the

Sierra

de Los

Ajos,

which overlooks

the

wetlands of

India Muerta. The first excavations

at Los

Ajos

by

Bracco consisted

of a block

excavation in Mound

Alfa,

a test unit in Mound Beta and a few

opportunistic

test units in








mounded

villages

and

adopted cultigens

651

off-mound

areas. This work established the mid-Holocene

age

of the earthen mounds

in

the area. The

Preceramic Mound Period

(PMP)

component

at Los

Ajos

yielded

five dates

between 3950 and 3350 BP(4580 and 3380 cal. BP) (Bracco 1993; Bracco and Ures 1999).

To reveal settlement

patterns,

our renewed

community-focused

excavation

programme

consisted of the

placement

of a block excavation in Mound

Gamma,

a test unit

in

Mound

Delta,

two trench transects

articulating

mound and off-mound areas and a 50m

systematic

interval transect

sampling strategy

of test units

to

target

off-mound

areas

totalling

an

excavated

area of 305m2. Our work showed that

Los

Ajos,

which

covers about

12

ha,

is

one of the

largest

and most

formally

laid out sites in the

study

area

(Fig.

4a).

Its Inner

Precinct

includes six

flat-topped, quadrangular platform

mounds

(called

6, Alfa, Delta,

Gamma,

4

and

7)

closely arranged

in

a horseshoe formation and with a

height

above

ground

level

of 1.75 to 2.5m

(Fig.

4).

Two

dome-shaped

mounds

(called

Beta and

8)

frame

the

central,

oval

plaza

with a size of 75

x

50m. The formal and

compact

inner

precinct

contrasts with more

dispersed

and

informally arranged peripheral

sectors,

which include

two

crescent-shaped

rises

(named

TBN

and

TBS),

five circular and

three

elongated

lower

dome-shaped

mounds,

borrow

pits

and

a vast off-mound area

bearing

subsurface

occupational

refuse. The

TBN

crescent-shaped

rise

(14-25m

wide and 0.40-0. 80m

tall)

extends over 150m

surrounding

Mounds Alfa and Delta. At its

base,

it becomes

wider

prolonging

to the

north east and

forming

a rounded

elongation facing

Mound

13. The

TBS,

a lower

(15-35cm)

and narrower

(4-8m)

arc-shaped

rise,

encircles Mounds

5, 8,

and 9.

The PreceramicMound Period

Our research

indicates that a series

of

major

social and economic

changes

took

place

at

Los

Ajos

during

the PMP.

The broad

contemporaneity

of

radiocarbon

dates,

artefact

Figure

A

Los

Ajos

site

planimetric

nd

topographicalmap. Figure

4B

The inner

precinct

modified

fromIriarte t al.

2004).







652

Jose Iriarte

content

and similarities

in

Preceramic Mound

Component

(PMC)

stratigraphy among

mounds

Alfa,

Delta and

Gamma

suggest

that the Los

Ajos

inhabitants

began

to live

in

a

circular household-based community, partitioning the site into discrete domestic and

public

areas characterized

by

the

placement

of residential units around a central

plaza

area.

Eight

dates from Los

Ajos place

the PMC

occupation

between c. 4190 and 2960

BP.

The two oldest

dates from the basal levels of the

PMC

at Mound

Gamma

and Alfa

suggest

that

mound-building began

between around 4190 and 3950

BP

(4840-4160

cal.

BP)(Iriarte

2003;

Iriarte et al.

2004).

Excavation at Mound

Gamma indicates that it

grew

as a result of

multiple overlapping

of domestic

occupations

where a wide

range

of activities associated with food

preparation,

consumption,

stone tool

production

and maintenance took

place.

The PMC

Layer

4 is

characterized

by

an

85cm-thick,

compact, very

dark brown

silty

loam

organic

sediment

consisting

of

relatively

undifferentiated

deposits composed

of lithic

debitage

and

tools,

small

fragments

of charred

bone,

ash and

soot

lenses,

and

small

pieces

of burned

clay

(Fig.

5).

The

combined

analysis

of

stratigraphy,

features,

artefact and ecofact

composition

and horizontal

spatial

distribution of lithic

debitage

density

indicates

that,

during

the

PMC,

Mound Gamma was a residential

area that

grew through

the

gradual

accumulation

of

occupational

refuse.

Despite

intensive hand excavation and the

large

block excavation

placed

in

the

center

of the

mound,

no house features were identified.

However,

lithic

debitage

horizontal

density

trends show a consistent

pattern

characterized

by

the

presence

of a central area

of low

density

and a

periphery exhibiting higher

artifact

density.

The

central zone of the mound is

interpreted

as a

regularly

maintained habitation

space

and

the

periphery

as a zone where

trash was

deposited

(Iriarte 2003).

The central plaza area, located around the domestic accretional mounds, is

characterized

by

low artefact densities

and a lack of

anthropogenically

altered soil

accumulations.

Thin

occupational

refuse

(10-20cm)

was

deposited

in

the

TBN

and TBS

crescent-shaped

rises. The

systematic

interval transect

sampling

in the off-mound areas

documented

a vast outer area of

subsurface domestic

debris which does not show

accumulation of

anthropogenic

soils.

Figure

5

Stratigraphy

f Mound Gamma

modified

rom Iriarte t al.

2004).








mounded

villages

and

adopted

cultigens

653

The lithic

assemblage

indicates that tool

manufacture,

use and maintenance took

place

at

Los

Ajos.

Local raw

materials,

mainly rhyolite

and

quartz,

were

brought

to the

site,

where

all stages of lithic reduction are represented, including core reduction, tool manufacture,

use and

maintenance/rejuvenation.

The tool

assemblage

is characterized

by

a

generalized,

non-specific assemblage

that includes a broad

range

of different

tool-types displaying

a

wide

variety

of

edge angles including

flake-knives,

end-scrapers, wedges,

notches,

point/

borers and hafted bifaces

indicating

that Mound

Gamma

was a

domestic

area where a wide

range

of activities were carried out

(Iriarte

2003;

Iriarte and Marozzi

in

press).

Plant and animal remains at

Los

Ajos

indicate that

PMP

people adopted

a mixed

economy shortly

after

they began

to live

in

more

permanent villages.

Medium to

large-sized

mammals like deer

(Ozoterus

bezoarticus and Mazama

gouazubira)

and

semi-aquatic

rodents such as otter

(Myocastor coypus)

and

capybara

{Hidrochoerus

hydrochaeris)

dominate the

bone

assemblage.

Other medium to small-sized

mammals,

including

small

rodents such as

rat-otter

{Holochilus brasilensis),

'aperea'

(Cavia

sp.)

and mouse

(Cricetidae),

in

addition to

opposums (Didelphis

alventris

and

Lutreolina

crassiculata)

and

armadillos

(Dasypus sp.

and

Euphractus

sexintus),

are also

present. Reptiles

like lizard

(Tupinambis

merianae)

and turtle

(Chelonia),

birds such as Greater Rhea

(Rhea

Americana),

dove

(Zenaida auriculata)

and Great

grebe (Podiceps

major)

and freshwater fish were also

recovered

in

minor

quantities.

A

large part

of the bone

assemblage consisting

of distinctive

spiral

fractures,

bone

splinters

and charred bones

exhibiting

cut marks indicate that

processing

and

consumption

of medium and

large

mammals took

place

in

Mound Gamma

during

the PMC

(Iriarte 2003).

Phytolith

and starch

grain analyses

documented

seeds,

leaves and

roots from a

variety

of wild and domesticated

species

marking

the earliest

occurrence of at least two domesticated crops in the region: corn (Zea mays) and squash

(Cucurbita

spp.) shortly

after 4190

BP

(Iriarte

in

press;

Iriarte et al.

2004).

The close

association between

large

mound

complexes

and the most fertile

agricultural

lands

in the

region suggest

that

PMP

people practised

flood-recessional

farming. During

the

spring

and

summer

months,

organic

soils are

exposed

on the wetland

margins.

These

superficial peat

horizons are

highly

fertile,

hold moisture and are

easy

to till.

Furthermore,

the

floodwater of

the

nearby

Cebollati River

periodically

inundates the area and

replenishes

the soils

with

nutrients,

which makes the India Muerta

wetlands

an

ideal

locale

for the

practice

of

wetland

margin

seasonal

farming

(Iriarte

2003;

Iriarte et al.

2004;

Juan Montana

pers.

comm.

2000).

Our associated

palaeoecological

data indicate that the

major

cultural transformationsthat

occurred

during

the

PMP

were associated with

significant

climatic

changes (Iriarte 2006;

Iriarteet al.

2004).

The

mid-Holocene between c. 6620 and 4020

(7580-7440

to 4570-4410 cal.

BP)

was a

period

of

significant

climate fluctuation marked

by increasing aridity.

At around

4020

BP

a maximum

drying episode

occurred,

as

evidenced

by

a massive

spike

of

Amaranthaceae/Chenopodiaceae coupled

with a

sharp drop

in

wetland

species.

The

maximum

drying episode

that took

place

around 4020

BP

probably

caused a decrease

in

the

surface water

recharge

to the

inland wetlands and

waterways,

which resulted

in the

desiccation of

grasslands.

This caused

increasing diminishing

returns from

grasslands,

deepening

the resource

gradient

between wetlands and

grasslands. Although

reduced

in

extent,

wetlands became attractive

places

for

pre-Hispanic populations by providing

abundant,

now more

highly

circumscribed

plant

and animal resources and a stable source of

water. The Los

Ajos

site indicates

that,

during

this

period,

local

populations

did not

disperse







654

Jose Iriarte

(e.g. disaggregate

nto smaller

groups

and increased

mobility)

or

out-migrate

to

other

regions

but

opted

for

orienting

their settlement towards the

upper

freshwater wetlands where

they

established more permanent communities. Increased sedentism appears to have been a

response

to

local resource abundance

in

wetland areas

in

the face

of

regional

resource

scarcity

produced by

the

drying

trend of the mid-Holocene

(Iriarte

et al.

2004).3

The

making

of

early

Formative communities: he Los

Ajos plaza village

The Los

Ajos plaza village

materialized a series of social

processes

that unfolded

during

the

PMC. When these

populations

became less mobile

and

began

to

aggregate

more

frequently

in

larger

communities,

the

problems

associated

with

forming

and

remaining

in

large groups

for

longer

periods

of time surfaced. The

incorporation

of

a central and

communal

space may

have

played

a crucial role as a social

integrative

facility (sensu

Adler

and Wilshusen

1990),

representing

the formalization of a wider social field of interaction

that

transcended the household

sphere.

Plazas are an

early prototype

of

public

architecture that

lies

at

the root of

complex

societies

in

the Americas

(Lathrap

et al.

1977).

Embodying

shared

public space,

they

constitute a threshold

in

terms of the

appropriation

and the transformation of

social

spaces,

which take

through

time

particular

sets of

meanings

and connotations

in the social

realm. Plazas not

only

represent

the

tangible

formalization of

group-level integration,

but,

as

prominent

and fixed

constructions,

they perpetuate

and sediment these

relations in

place (Dillehay

1992a;

Moseley

2001;

Sassaman and

Heckenberger

2004).

It is

in

this new

arena that communities diffuse tensions and promote social cohesion. There they also

express, negotiate

and

reaffirm their identities and

goals through

the

practice

of ritual

activities,

such as

meetings

of

sodalities,

initiation

rites,

group-sponsored

activities

(e.g.

dances or

feasts)

and multi-

village

ceremonial activities.

Circular

plaza villages gravitate

towards the central

plaza

which embraces the

community

as a

whole.

They

have been

interpreted

as

representingunity

and

egalitarian

societies,

where

the whole

community

can

participate

in

a democratic fashion.

They

denote

equal

access to

public

activities and ritual

performances

as

long

as houses are

equidistant

from the

central

public

area

(Gron

1991;

Gross

1979).

However,

it

should

not be

forgotten

that

plazas

also

mark

social differences

along

lines of

gender, age

and

lineages.

In Amazonian and Central

Brazilian

groups (e.g. Heckenberger2005;Hornborg 1988;Levi-Strauss1963;

Turner

1996),

plazas

materialize a series of ranked

oppositions

between an

inner,

public,

sacred,

male

domain versus an

outer, domestic,

profane,

female

space.

Plaza

villages

also

embody

inherent

structural

contradictions,

which

carry

the seeds of

incipient

social

differentiation;

a

development

that,

as we

will

see

below,

may

have taken

place

during

the

subsequent

CMC.

The occurrence

of other

broadly contemporaneous

PMP

mound

complexes

(Isla

Larga,

Puntas de San

Luis,

Los Indios and

Potrerillo)

(Fig.

lb,

Table

1)

and other

sites with

similarities in

overall

ground plan

to Los

Ajos (e.g.

Da

Monte,

Campo

Alto,

Estancia Mai

Abrigo

and 5

Islas)

(Fig.

3)

suggest

that these societies were

integrated through pan-tribal

institutions at a

regional

level since Preceramic times. Previous

and new research at

Arroyo Yaguari,

Tacuarembo Province

(Fig.

la),

is

beginning

to show

similar

patterns

(Gianotti

2005;

Sans

1985).







656 Jose Iriarte

represent

n

integrated

rchitectural

lan

oriented o the northeast that contrastswith the

less

conspicuous

and

informally

arranged

outh-western

ector,

marking

an

asymmetrical

distribution f architecturen the innerprecinct.Through hesetransformations,he inner

precinctacquired

a

strong public

ritualcharacter.

Formality

s one of the most essential

characteristics f ritual and the

way

it

operates

n

society.

Public ritual communicates

through

very

specific

media,

t followsa set

pattern

and its contentsare standardizedo the

extent hat

they

usually

allow

ittlemodification

e.g.

Bell

1997;

Block

1974;

Bradley

1998).

Formalism reflects an adherence to restrictedmodes of

activities,

often viewed

by

participants

as

timeless,

invariantand tradition-laden.Formalized

activity

can

also

be

important

n

the

reproduction

of social

power.

The

apparent

contradictionsbetween

competition

and

cooperation

are not

atypical

of

middle-range

ocieties

e.g.

Fowles

2002;

Tuzin

2001).

Socialactorsand

groups

can

manipulate ublic

architectureo

legitimize

heir

political

powerdrawing

on the fact that architectures an effective ool for

structuring

he

activities that form social

organizationby

expressing

or

restricting

relations

among

individualsand

groups (e.g.

Bourdieu

1977;

Giddens

1979).

Formalceremonial ontexts

'create

opportunities

or social

control,

more

complex

architectural

xpressions,

ocial

stratification,

xchange,

and centralized

eadership'

Dillehay

1992b:

18)

-

and more so

if

thesecircumstances re

accompanied

y

populationgrowth,populationpressure

n fertile

lands,

technological hange

and territorialism:ll

processes

hat

appear

o be

takingplace

at a

regional

evel in the wetlandsof India Muerta

during

he

Ceramic

Mound Period.

The moundsthat are closer to the

plaza

area had

privileged

ccessto

public

ritualand

political

control.

Their

advantageous

location,

architectural

elaboration and the

segregation

of activities hat

they

materialize

uggest

that the membersof this

segment

of thesocietypossiblyenjoyeda somewhathigher ocialstandinghanthose iving nmore

peripheral

reas of the site. Platformmounds

may

have servedas mnemonicdevices to

establish a social

memory

of

place

and

perpetuate

asymmetrical elationshipsby

an

emerging

ector of

the

populationduring

he CMP.

The inner

precinct

of the site also shows a markeddual

spatial

asymmetry.

The north-

east

sectorbecamemoreformaland

prominent,

haracterized

y

the

steep-sided, elatively

high platform

mounds

presenting arge,

fairly rectangular

ummitsframed

by

a

larger,

wider and taller

crescent-shaped

ise,

which

articulates

with

platform

Mound 13.

In

contrast,

on the

opposite

south-westend of the inner

precinct,

here is a less

formally

integrated

reacharacterized

y

low,

dome-shaped,

ircularmoundssurrounded

y

a less

prominentTBScrescent-shapedise.Giventhewidespread thnographice.g.Levi-Strauss

1963;

Nimandeju

1946;

Turner

1996)

and

archaeological e.g. Knight

1990;

Netherly

and

Dillehay

1986)

presence

of dual

organization

associatedwith dual architectural

atterns

and

plazavillages

both in

South

and

North

America,

he

Los

Ajos groundplan during

he

CMP

may

well

represent

n

expression

f a rankeddualsocial

organization.

These

patterns

require

larification

hrough

urther esearch t

Los

Ajos

and

other

sites in the

region.

Concluding

remarks

The

multidisciplinarynvestigations

t Los

Ajos

have advanced

previous nterpretations

f

cultural

development

n the

region

n

significant

ways.

First,the combined

archaeological








mounded

villages

and

adopted

cultigens

657

and

palaeoecological

data show that the mid-Holocenewas characterized

y significant

climatic and

ecological changes,

and that these

perturbations

were associated

with

important ultural ransitionsnvolvingpermanentmoundedsettlements ituatedwithin

resource-rich,

ircumscribed

wetlands.

Second,

the renewed

community-focused

rchae-

ological

programme

t

Los

Ajos

revealed hat Preceramicmound

complexes

are not the

result of

successive,

short-term

occupations by hunter-gatherer-fishers

ho moved

seasonally

o

exploit

the rich local environments f this

region (e.g.

Schmitzet

al.

1991)

nor the burialmounds

or monuments f

complexhunter-gatherers

s

previouslyproposed

(Gianotti

2000;

Lopez

and Bracco

1994;

Lopez

and

Giannotti

1998).

According

o our

alternative

rgument,

Los

Ajos

is a

well-planned illage ncorporating

entral

public

spaces

built

by people

who

practised

mixed

economy

combininghunting

and

gathering

withfood

production.

The domesticuse

of

moundsat

Los

Ajos during

he PMP

forming

a

village

s

not

in

agreement

with

the

monumental/ceremonial

ature

of

early mound-building

proposedby

other researchers

Gianotti

2000;

Lopez

and Gianotti

1998;

Pintos

2000).

The

presence

of at least four other Preceramicmound

complexes

with dates

broadly

contemporaneous

nd

degrees

of similarities

n

the overall

plan

of

moundedarchitectureo

Los

Ajos

suggest

hat south-eastern

Uruguay

was a locus of

earlypopulation

oncentration

in

lowland South

America.

Although

most of the

large

mound

complexes

n the

region

display

the recursive

geometrical

ayout (circular,

lliptical

and

horseshoe),

here is

also

considerable

variability

not

only

in

the formal structureof the

sites,

but

also in the

combination,

imensions nd

shapes

of mounds

Bracco

et al.

2000b;

Gianotti

2000, 2005;

Lopez

and

Pintos

2000).

Futureworkat a

regional

evelwill be able to

clarify

what

s now a

rather

omplicated icture

of settlement

ariability

llowing

a more

preciseunderstanding

of therole that LosAjos played ntheemergence f earlyFormative ocieties ntheregion.

Third,

he

archaeobotanicalvidence rom Los

Ajos

and other

contemporary

ites

n

the

region,

ncluding

sla

Larga,

EstanciaMai

Abrigo

and Los

Indios,

ndicates

hat

cultigens

suchas

maize,

squashes,

Phaseolus eansand

possibly

domesticated ubers

Canna p.

and

Calathea

p.)

were

ntroduced nd became

ntegrated

nto local food

economies

by

c. 4000

bp

(Iriarte

n

press;

riarte t al.

2001;

Iriarte t al.

2004).

Thesenew data

put

into

question

previous

nterpretations

hat

proposed

hat the

expansion

and colonizationof

the

region

by Tupi-Guarani

ropical

orestfarmers

during

he late Holocenewere

responsible

or

the

arrival

and dissemination f food

production

o

the

region

(Schmitz

1991).

Greater

expectations

The

early

Formative cultures of south-eastern

Uruguay

are

beginning

to unravel the

existenceof a

unique, ndependent

nd a more

complex

cultural

rajectory

han

previously

thought

for the La Plata

Basin.The

unexpected

ultural

equence

at Los

Ajos

revealsan

early expression

of cultural

complexity

never

before

registered

n this

region

of lowland

South

America,

which clashes with the

long-held

view that this

region

was

inhabited

by

marginal,

mall

groups

of

simple,highly

mobile

hunter-gatherers

hat had not

experienced

significant hanges

incethe

beginning

f the

Holocene

Meggers

nd Evans

1978;

Steward

1946)

and endorses

previous

views

(Andrade

and

Lopez

2001;

Braccoet

al.

2000a;

Lopez

2001).







658

Jose Iriarte

Contemporary

with the first urban societies that

emerged

on the desertcoast of Peru

(Solis

et

al.

2001)

and the

development

f the AmazonianFormative

Heckenberger

005),

the socialchangesexperienced ytheearlyFormativepeoples n south-easternUruguayn

the

midstof a

changing

mid-Holocene nvironment id not take

place

n

a vacuum.

At the

moment,

it is difficult

to assess the role that local

developments

and

interregional

interactions

layed

n

the

emergence

f

early

Formative ocieties

n

the La PlataBasin.No

doubt,

as we learnmore

about the mid and late Holocenecultural

developments

n

the

La

Plata

basin,

we

will

come to realizethat interactions t a broad

geographical

cale with

contemporary

developments,

such as the Preceramic

mound-building

ultures of the

Pantanal

Schmitz

et

al.

1998),

he

pit-housevillages

of the

Itarare/Taquara

raditionof

the

southernBrazilian

Highlands

Beber

2005;

Schmitz

2002),

the

sambaqui

hell-middens

of the

southernAtlanticcoast of Brazil

Andrade

and

Lopez

2001;

DeBlasiset al.

1998),

and

possibly

the

ring

villages

of southern

ringes

of Amazonia

Wust

and Barreto

1999),

must

have

played

a

major

role in

shaping

he

emergence

f

these societies.

The

research

resented

n

this

paper

not

only

showshow flawed s the

concept

of

marginal

area

by

exposing

the

potential

of

grasslands

and wetlands for

pre-Hispanic

cultural

development

Stahl 2004),

but is also

starting

o reveala

diversity

of different

pathways

towards ocial

complexity

aken

by early

Formative

eople

n

the

region.

Theevidence rom

Los

Ajos

has

provided

a basis for the

interpretation

of the rise of

early

Formative

communities n the

La Plata

basin,

which

will

now allow for a broaderconsideration

of the role that

dynamic

human-environment

nteractions,

mported

cultivarsand social

conditions

played

n the

emergence

f

early

complex

societies

n

the La Plata Basin.

Acknowledgements

Research

at Los

Ajos

was funded

by grants

from the National Science

Foundation,

Wenner-Gren oundation or

Anthropological

Research,

Smithsonian

Tropical

Research

Instituteand the

University

of

Kentucky

GraduateSchool. I also received

upport

rom

the

ComisionNacionalde

Arqueologia,

Ministeriode Education

y

Cultura,

Uruguay

and

the

Rotary

Club of

Lascano, Rocha,

Uruguay.

Sean Goddard from the

University

of

Exeter

drafted

Figures

1

and

3.

My

work at Los

Ajos

benefited rom the advice and

insightful

omments

uggested

over the

years by my

Ph.D.

advisory

committee

ncluding

Jim

Brown,George Crothers,Tom Dillehay, RichardJefferies,Tassos Karathanasis,

Dolores

Piperno,

Chris

Pool,

and SisselSchroeder.Tom

Dillehay

helped

me

conceptualize

early

Formative

societies

in

broad

anthropological

erms and also

pushed

me to think

beyond

the confines of

Uruguay

and South America.

I

am also

particularly

rateful

o

OscarMarozzi.The

occupationalhistory

of Los

Ajos

came into

sharper

ocus

during

our

long

discussions over

many

mates while

digging

at Los

Ajos.

I

should also like to

acknowledge

Roberto

Bracco,

Leonel

Cabrera,

and Jose

Lopez

for their

pioneering

and

continuedwork

in

south-eastern

Uruguay;

t is

upon

their foundations hat this

paper

stands.All

statementsmade

herein,however,

are

my

own

responsibility.

Department f Archaeology,University f

Exeter,

[email protected]








mounded

villages

and

adopted

cultigens

659

Notes

1 A bulk sediment ampleextractedwith a bucketaugerfrom an unspecified ontextin

the basal

area of Cerrode la Viuda was radiocarbondated to

5,420

±260

(URU014)

(Bracco

and

Ures

1999).

More work is neededat the site to

prove

ts association

with a

culturalcontext.

2

When

evaluating

the

PRONAPA

in

hindsight,

t must be remembered hat

it was

a

pioneering

and ambitious

undertaking

which tried to

explore

and

study

Brazil's

8,500,000km2

erritory

with

only

a small handful of

archaeologists.

n

Rio Grande

do

Sul

state,

the work of PRONAPA

represented

he first reconnaissanceof an

archaeologically

unknown

region, generated

the first

chronological

scheme for the

area,

provided

us with the first

systematicdescription

f

sites and artifacts n the

region,

and

broadenedour

understanding

f

past

human-environmentelations.

3 Recent

multiproxy

paleoenvironmental

econstruction

n the

region

by

Braccoand his

collaborators

2005)

should be

regarded

with

considerable aution

since the

changes

n

the Poaceae

phytolithpercentages

hat

they

used to infer broaderclimaticreconstruc-

tion in termsof

temperature

nd

humidity

or the mid and late Holocene

may simply

be

reflecting

he

dynamic

natureof the

Laguna

Negra

salt marsh

during

he mid-Holocene

highstands

and not climatic

changes

(see

Iriarte2006:

28-9).

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Jose

Iriarte s a lecturer

n

the

Department

f

Archaeology,

University

of Exeter.He is an

archaeologist

and

palaeoethnobotanist

whose

principal

research interests are

the

development

of

early

plant

food

production

and the rise of Formativesocietiesin the

Americas.He

receivedhis

PhD

in

anthropology

rom

the

University

of

Kentucky

and has

conducted

archaeological

esearch n

Uruguay,Argentina,

Brazil,

Peruand Mexico. He is

currently

ontinuing

his

investigations

f

early

agriculture

nd

emergent omplexity

n

the

ParanaRiver

Basin

(Misiones,

Argentina).

iriarte 2006. world archaeology

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