Looking at the sea: Mt Site, River Plate Coast, Canelones, Uruguay

From the source of the River Plate up to the border whit Brazil in the Atlantic coast, the Uruguayan littoral presents evidence of occupation by prehistoric groups.Based on the Research Project “Prehistoric Occupations of the present Uruguayan territory by the River Plate (Department of Canelones and eastern Montevideo)”, we have recorded, diagnosed and studied several archaeological sites which provide evidence of these occupations and thus broaden our knowledge on the socio-cultural aspects of the groups that generated them.In this article we focus on the MT site, with respect to its ergologic, environmental and chronological aspects, to approach the characterization of prehistoric sites in an area that has been scarcely studied before and of which little is known from an archaeological viewpoint. This area is being affected by coastal dynamics, spoliation and explosive urbanization.The analysis of archaeological material observed during fieldwork, complemented by the approach of created collections during the 20th century, has allowed for the first time, a global vision of the ergology and the site was thus characterized as a residential site.In addition to the singularities of “MT” location, the first absolute dating was obtained for the study area, both allowing for an interpretation of the Human–environment relationship in times of sea level retreat during the late Holocene.