Temporary Camps at Puerto Deseado: A Comparative Approach to the Representation and Materiality of the Maritime Landscape in Eighteenth-Century Eastern Patagonia. A Perspective from Historical Sources

This article aims to compare and discuss short-term occupations, a subject that has not been widely addressed in the context of maritime historical archaeology in Argentine Patagonia. Framed within late eighteenth-century disputes over appropriation and colonisation along the south-west Atlantic coast, it undertakes a comparative analysis of representations and materiality associated with coastal-maritime spaces. The study draws on narratives and other sources related to two temporary occupations at Puerto Deseado (present-day Santa Cruz Province, Argentina). The first case concerns the camp established by the survivors of the British sloop of war HMS Swift, which was wrecked in 1770; the second concerns the provisional camp established by Antonio Viedma in 1780, associated with the subsequent Spanish foundation of the Floridablanca colony at San Julián Bay. The approach adopts a historical and archaeological perspective that holistically integrates both terrestrial and maritime landscapes. From this perspective, the article explores the specific characteristics of historical processes, representations, space use and material expressions in both case studies. In addition, it seeks to identify material correlates that may inform and guide future archaeological fieldwork in the Deseado estuary. Fil: Grosso, Mónica. Secretaría de Cultura de la Nación. Dirección Nacional de Cultura y Museos. Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Pensamiento Latinoamericano; Argentina Fil: Buscaglia, Silvana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Historia y Ciencias Humanas; Argentina