Variability in the lithic and faunal record through 10 reoccupations of a XIX century Yamana Hut

The excavation of Tunel VII, a Yamana site dating to the indigenous/European contact period was part of a long term research project based on the north coast of the Beagle channel (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina). The aim was to evaluate the theory and methodologies and devise an archaeological method that would enable a complete picture of subsistence strategies to be constructed. At Tunel VII (a site with shell middens), we were able to analyse these strategies through 10 successive occupation events on a single location. Archaeozoological analysis of the faunal remains and use-wear analysis of lithic material were used to examine the management of resources. Production and consumption are two very useful concepts, and together they have been used to create a methodology, which, together with spatial analysis using significant variables, has enabled identification of recurrent or significant tendencies in relation to alteration or continuity in subsistence strategies. In the case of Tunel VII, we know that the people who continually occupied the hut were all from the same group.