The objective of this work is to analyze the mechanisms of reproduction of the coloniality of knowledge and the domination of indigenous epistemologies, based on the analysis of the materials and reading-writing instruments with which students work in different Andean and Amazonian schools of the Ecuadorian educational system during the Correísmo. The research methodology is cualitative and integrates ethnographic techniques: documentary analysis, participant and non-participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Starting from the recognition that interculturality is not possible without the “other” and without its decolonization, the findings reveal that, under the prostituted name of interculturality, these materials and instruments support the monocultural educational model of Eurocentric matrix within the logic of the coloniality of knowledge. The findings also show that in this scenario, some indigenous teachers are the ones who develop answering educational practices through which they transmit indigenous epistemologies, trying to alter the logic of the coloniality of knowledge.

To study the diet of a sample of peasants from Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico who suffered seasonal changes in body composition, we conducted an observational study of dietary patterns over 24-hour periods made at 15-day intervals during the 2001-2002 agricultural cycle. The study was complemented with a list of locally hunted, harvested or gathered foods, obtained from key informant interviews in 2018. Significantly more Kilocalories (Kcal) were obtained from the local environment than from store-purchased foods in both seasons, emphasizing the dietary importance of local subsistence production over commercial endeavors. There were no Kcal differences between seasons. Food obtained from agricultural plots, backyards and woodlands offered a balanced diet, but diversity was greater during the abundance season. The results suggest that the reported weight loss during the scarcity season is not due to a lack of food, but to the deterioration of the diet ́s complementarity which store foods are unable to compensate for.

Mónica A. Berón, Florencia N. Paez, Manuel P. Carrera Aizpitarte and Eliana N. Lucero

The aim of this paper is to report on the characteristics of a singular burial corresponding to the Middle Holocene, in the central region of Argentina (Western Pampa subregion). Its chronology provides valuable information for the knowledge of settlement processes in this semi-arid region, where there is currently scarce data available for this period. The burial possesses abundant and varied grave goods, comparable with those in another similar burial in the subregion. Archaeological information from the macro region under study (32 to 39o LS) is summarized, and models of mobility patterns and initial occupation of spaces are analyzed, including biases and general trends in the population processes. Finally, regularities in the modalities of Middle Holocene burials from the Western Pampa are outlined.

Cristian M. Favier Dubois, Dalila Herrera Villegas, Ana P. Alcaraz, Marcelo Cardillo and Paula Vitale

Along the semi-arid coast of northern Patagonia (Golfo San Matías, Río Negro) mountain ranges composed of rhyolites illustrate different stages in the evolution of rock cavities. A comparative study carried out in the Punta Pórfido area allows us to evaluate rockshelter formation processes and their sedimentary fillings. Cavity morphology in this sector results from the romboidal pattern of joints in the volcanic rock and weathering processes, mainly the development of tafoni. The fillings are made up of gravel and blocks derived from the weathering of the rhyolite, with the contribution of fine sediments originating from wind and marine salts that have collaborated in the preservation of unusual organic remains. At the main cavity surveyed, Alero 2, two excavations were carried out and four radiocarbon dating samples determined the ages on charcoal to be between ca. 2200 and 7500 years cal. AP. In this contribution, we present the initial results of the geoarchaeological study of these cavities in the coastal area of Punta Pórfido to understand their development and some properties of the archaeological and taphonomic record contained in their fillings.