Beyond Rupture: Archaeological Insights into Resilience, Resistance and Adaptation in Industrializing Aysén Patagonia

Javiera Letelier-Cosmelli^1,2*Amalia Nuevo-Delaunay²César Méndez³Omar Reyes⁴

• ¹KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
• ²Centro de Investigación de Ecosistemas de la Pata, Coyhaique, Chile
• ³Estudios Aplicados, Escuela de Antropología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
• ⁴Centro de Estudios de Historia y Arqueología, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile

The Aysén region in central-western Patagonia provides a valuable case for examining nonindustrial societies' long-term resilience and adaptation to industrial expansion. Inhabited for more than 12,000 years, Aysén has undergone significant socioecological transformations, particularly during the 20th century, with the rise of peripheral capitalism. State-driven policies encouraged industrial livestock farming, logging, and mining, which altered landscapes and posed challenges to indigenous and rural creole communities. In this context, industrialization can be understood not as an abrupt rupture but as part of a longer-term process of environmental and social change. By examining this transition through archaeology, we gain a long-term perspective on human–environment interactions, enabling us to trace how resilience and human impact operate in preindustrial contexts and societies experiencing industrial expansion. However, studying these processes involves methodological challenges, mainly due to archaeological selection bias. Large industrial sites often dominate the archaeological record, overshadowing the smaller-scale local adaptations crucial for understanding indigenous local dynamics. This research employs a multiscalar approach to address these challenges and integrates archaeological, historical, and environmental data. This approach helps uncover how preindustrial strategies persist and transform in an industrializing world. Overall, this study contributes to global change research by demonstrating how long-term human‒environment interactions can critically inform contemporary discussions on resilience, resistance and Formatted: Space Before: 0 pt sustainability while also highlighting the methodological challenges of recognizing these processes in the archaeological record.