La colonización española en Sudamérica: Estudio del primer asentamiento en la Cuenca del Plata mediante el registro de los microrrestos biosilíceos

Abstract

This article analyzes the biosiliceous microremains recovered at the Fuerte Sancti Spiritus site, the first Spanish settlement established in the Río de la Plata basin, and which marks the beginning of European colonization and conquest in America. The settlement is located in Puerto Gaboto, Santa Fe province, Argentina, and consists of a brief occupation that took place between May 1527 and September 1529. The excavation was carried out according to open area methodology, for which the sampling was distributed in different features located on the site plan. Twenty samples were analyzed, according to two variables, type of trait and chronology, which, in accordance with ethnohistorical sources, established that the cultivation of corn was practiced and that, in turn, wheat was introduced and probably barley. Likewise, the analysis permitted estimation of the content of the traits according to the type of sediment sampled, allowing for characterization of discard areas, fillings, levels of use, and sediment after the abandonment of the settlement.