Archaeology of la Laguna de los Minuanos (Cerro Largo, Uruguay)

Abstract

Not limited to this area, the northeast of present-day Uruguay was populated by hill-building peoples since pre-colonial times and by Guenoa/Minuano groups from the 17th to the 19th centuries. This study describes the first results of a study the central objective of which was to explore the historical and cultural continuity between both sociocultural entities and their interaction with colonial and Guaraní societies. Excavations were carried out at an archaeological site called Laguna de los Minuanos in the Tacuarí River Valley, Cerro Largo Department (Uruguay). Lithic tools, ceramics, and chronology dated by 14C yielded relevant clues consistent with such continuity and interaction. However, they provided no direct information regarding conflict situations, which were highly intense in the mid-18th century. Although this research was unable to find the site of the 1751 massacre [A5] (Battle of the Tacuarí), its results confirm a settlement pattern with two mounds and suggest some hypotheses about their location in the landscape.