This paper discusses the maize consumption record among hunter-gatherers outside assumed production areas in northeastern Patagonia. We evaluated if this anomalous record is the result of occasional events of local production/consumption; the transport of the microremains in the teeth of individuals after consuming maize in non-local production areas; or the local consumption of maize after its transport/exchange from production areas. Archaeobotanical results showed that analyzed individuals, including maize-consumers, mainly consumed local wild plants. Maize was not cultivated locally, and its consumption was unusual but not extraordinary in northeastern Patagonia. Oxygen isotope values of analyzed individuals are strongly compatible with local water sources, which imply that the mobility range of them must have not exceeded extra-Andean North Patagonia. For this reason, the most plausible explanation for the presence of maize in the local archaeological record is that this plant to have entered northeastern Patagonia through exchange, probably from southern Andes (central Chile or central-west Argentina).

本文讨论了巴塔哥尼亚东北部假定生产区以外的狩猎采集者的玉米消费记录。我们评估了这种异常记录是否是本地生产/消费的偶然事件的结果；在非本地产区食用玉米后，个体牙齿中微量残留物的运输；或玉米从产区运输/交换后的当地消费。考古植物学结果表明，包括玉米消费者在内的分析个体主要食用当地的野生植物。当地不种植玉米，其消费在巴塔哥尼亚东北部很不寻常但并不特别。分析个体的氧同位素值与当地水源高度相容，这意味着它们的移动范围一定没有超过安第斯山脉以外的北巴塔哥尼亚。出于这个原因，在当地考古记录中对玉米存在的最合理解释是这种植物通过交换进入巴塔哥尼亚东北部，可能来自安第斯山脉南部（智利中部或阿根廷中西部）。