Paso Otero 5: Plains, processing, and environments - History, Government, Language, and Sources

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Southern South America: Pampas, Patagonia, and Living Heritage
Quequén river grasslands · Source-reviewed profile

Paso Otero 5: Plains, processing, and environments

No securely recorded ancient self-designation is established for this archaeological context.

Open-air deposits connect activity involving large animals with changing floodplain environments. Chronology and sample association matter as much as the presence of an extinct species.

Open-air occupation and environmental context Late Pleistocene–early Holocene transition; approximately 10,400 radiocarbon years BP in the 2005 account, not calibrated calendar years Animal remains, AMS dating, sedimentary context, pollen and silica microfossils. Necochea public town orientation, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Approximate public orientation only, never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, political, cultural or sovereignty boundary. Not a burial, ancestral-remains, restricted rock-art, sacred-site or private deposit location; no access, excavation or collecting permission is implied.
Overview

Landscapes, communities, and the evidence

Landscapes and regional connections

The Quequén floodplain preserves both cultural and natural deposits; the marker provides town orientation only.

Political organization and community scale

The evidence concerns selected activities, deposits and local community scale, not one centralized government, capital, bounded people or complete account of authority. Tools, mounds, paintings and preservation alone cannot establish political organization.

Colonial encounters, living heritage, and modern reception

Modern research and heritage care differ from ancient occupation. Living Indigenous communities and custodians are not vanished archaeological classifications; this profile neither establishes nor denies automatic continuity, recognition or descent. Cited institutions have not endorsed this atlas.

Fauna Extinct horse evidence

The 2005 study identifies horse remains within a broader local assemblage.

Source review: 2026-10-20 [S1]
Dating Samples and context reassessed

The AMS study evaluates early-occupation dates at specific sampled contexts.

Source review: 2026-10-20 [S2]
Environment Microfossils preserve change

The phytolith volume describes local environmental indicators and their interpretive limits.

Source review: 2026-10-20 [S3]
Historical sequence

A concise, sourced timeline

These milestones are orientation points, not a complete history.

  1. Open-air activity

    The registered studies examine animal remains and activity in a floodplain setting.

  2. Environmental archive continued

    The microfossil account separates later deposits from the earliest occupation context.

  3. Horse study published

    The publication reported an approximate radiocarbon age, not an interchangeable calendar date.

  4. AMS reassessment

    Accepted-manuscript and publication dates belong to modern research history.

Culture and language

Food, skilled work, households, and language limits

Languages named in this profile

  • No secure spoken-language assignment from these archaeological materials alone; later ethnonyms and ethnography cannot identify every earlier resident.

Language family: Material styles and site names do not establish language families or a single community identity.

The 2005 study identifies horse remains within a broader local assemblage.

The AMS study evaluates early-occupation dates at specific sampled contexts.

Independent DNAGENICS AI-assisted educational summaries, not reproductions of the cited works or professional scholarly review. Cited communities, museums, researchers, universities, heritage authorities, UNESCO and publishers did not author or endorse this atlas. Names identify sources only; no logos, source imagery, human remains, restricted cultural expressions or sensitive coordinates are reproduced. Public availability does not establish cultural consent. Use the site's contact channel for corrections or concerns.

AI research guide

Ask about this reviewed profile

The guide can explain and connect facts already present on this page. It cannot search the open web, establish identity or citizenship, or evaluate ancestry and genetic information.

Grounded in approved profile content Citations use the source IDs below No account or DNA context

Do not enter names, contact details, family-tree information, account or kit identifiers, or genetic data.

Evidence register

Sources used for this page

Prefer living community institutions, heritage authorities, accountable archaeological projects, original studies and institutional repositories. Repository abstracts and research notices are identified as such, not substituted for complete excavation records. Attribute sample types, dates, units and changing interpretations. Distinguish tentative heritage proposals from inscriptions and modern restitution work from ancient occupation.

  1. C1

    Cronología radiocarbónica

    CONICET, institutional research record · Scholarly bibliographic record and author-supplied abstract, not a new excavation · 2014

  2. C2

    Broken stone tools from Cerro El Sombrero Cima (Tandilia Range, Argentina)

    CONICET Digital, scholarly repository · Institutional archaeological account or original study, with interpretation attributed · 2012-11

  3. C3

    Nuevas evidencias sobre las ocupaciones tempranas en Cerro Casa de Piedra 7

    CONICET, institutional research record · Scholarly bibliographic record and author-supplied abstract, not a new excavation · Undated resource; accessed 2026-10-20

  4. C4

    Micromamíferos, tafonomía y paleoambientes del cuaternario tardío en Tierra del Fuego: Los roedores de Tres Arroyos 1

    Institutional journal via SciELO Chile · Institutional archaeological account or original study, with interpretation attributed · 2020

  5. C5

    Cultura material y procesos interculturales en Sancti Spiritus (1527–1529). Un abordaje arqueológico contextual

    Universidad Nacional de Rosario, archaeological research repository · Fabián C. Letieri and Gabriel Cocco, contextual archaeological study · 2015, Revista del Centro de Estudios de Arqueología Histórica, Año IV, Vol. 4

  6. C6

    Lengua yagán

    Subdirección Nacional de Pueblos Originarios y Tribal Afrodescendiente chileno · Living-language institutional context, not ancient population evidence · Undated resource; accessed 2026-10-20

  7. C7

    Restitución Colección Gusinde

    Museo Territorial Yagan Usi · Institutional restitution and living community stewardship account · Undated resource; accessed 2026-10-20

  8. C8

    Fuentes y distribución de diferentes tipos de obsidianas en sitios arqueológicos del centro-sur de Chile (38–44°S)

    Institutional journal via SciELO Chile · Institutional archaeological account or original study, with interpretation attributed · 2009

  9. S1

    Equus (Amerhippus) neogeus Lund 1840 at Paso Otero 5: implications for extinction of the South American horse

    CONICET, institutional research record · Scholarly bibliographic record and author-supplied abstract, not a new excavation · 2005

  10. S2

    AMS 14C dating of early human occupation of southern South America

    Journal of Archaeological Science, CONICET repository · Institutional archaeological account or original study, with interpretation attributed · 2008 accepted manuscript; published version cited as 2009

  11. S3

    Matices Interdisciplinarios en Estudios Fitolíticos y de otros Microfósiles

    CONICET, institutional research record · Scholarly bibliographic record and author-supplied abstract, not a new excavation · Undated resource; accessed 2026-10-20

Sources and names remain the property of their respective publishers and communities. Their inclusion is for citation and education; it does not imply endorsement of DNAGENICS. Summaries are original editorial paraphrases and should be checked against the linked source for important use.

Editorial review: October 20, 2026

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