The prehistory of history: Historical archaeology in the Paseo del Bosque

of La Plata
Introduction
In this paper initial results obtained in Iraola site (city of La Plata) are put into
knowledge, by the task force of the Project “Arqueología Histórica en el Bosque”. This
project, carried out by the joint effort of the Centro de Arqueología de la UBA and the
Departamento Científico de Arqueología de la UNLP, has formally developed its
activities from the month of may of the current year, and it is composed by graduates
and advance students of the career of Archaeology of the Facultad de Ciencias
Naturales y Museo in the UNLP.
The investigation project raised from a propose from Dr. Schávelzon, to investigate –
though archaeology- the early origins of the history of the city of La Plata. Having this
idea as a base, we decided to investigate the diverse “pasts” of the place, from the
written documents to the archaeological material. We aim to maintain a dynamic
relationship the data provided by diverse sources, so to obtain a complete picture of
the site we work on and a wider perspective from which tell the history of the city’s
early days, when La Plata was not yet it.
Mythical origin of La Plata
The city of La Plata is characterized for being a place with a life of its own, a “built
being” whose identity refers to a particular time and space -Buenos Aires, 1880- and
whose past is manifested like a constant presence. From an architectural and urban
point of view, La Plata clearly refers to what is called “the 80’s generation”, set of
individuals and ideas that, at the end of the nineteenth century, carefully designed a
country project they desired for Argentina. Even though some of their planes were
never accomplished, they could realize their ideas in a city located to the south of
Buenos Aires, creating a population whose existence was planned to the detailed. With
the passing of time, the origin of the city of La Plata would come to acquire the
characteristics of a legend, a monument which the 80’s generation built themselves, a
concreate demonstration of a society capable of building a city out of nothing and
converted not only in the capital of the province, but also one of the most culturally
important capitals of the country.
In May of 1881 Dr. Dardo Rocha was elected Governor of the Province of
Buenos Aires, becoming the last official to take on that position in a city with the same
name (dePaula, 1987:56). The country’s capital aggressive process of federalization
was in its last stage, and as a result made it necessary to immediately create a new
provincial capital. Rocha considered this as one of his management’s top priority, and
only four days later of taking on his position, ordered the start of the necessary
investigations to determined which would be the best location for the foundation of the
new capital. A special commission was appointed for that, its mission being to evaluate
the pros and cons of different areas of the bonaerense region. Between the various
towns proposed as candidates for that end, the government finally chose a
semidesolate area, located 60 km to the south of the city of Buenos Aires,
denominated “Lomas de la Ensenada”. Of the many arguments made for its
designation, its proximity to the Ensenada port was considered vital, and the existence
of railways and roads which communicated it with the rest of the region.
It was not sought out a population to be restructured or modified its building
aspect in order to fulfil the requirements of a provincial capital; on the contrary, the aim
was to find a site in which a completely new city could be built that was representative
of its era. The ideals of “order and progress” that guided Rocha and his people were
shown in this city, concrete proof of an Argentina that could be projected -and project
them- to the rest of the world, over the image of barbarism that up to that moment was
engulfed in the country. As what J. Morosi said, ‘Se trató de una ciudad fundada en un
momento histórico determinado, como producto deliberado de un plan preconcebido)
(Morosi, 1999:9).
La Plata’s design -name given to the city by the writer José Hernández- united
architectural elements typical of the era, among which the concept of “hygienic city”
and full of green spaces that prevailed in Europe. The city was thought and executed in
function of a geometrical scheme of axial symmetry, with the buildings’ architecture and
public areas up to its gardens planned in detail, as well as the existence of three urban
parks and sixteen squares (Contín, 2000). The “foundational myth” of the city -reported
and heighten by a great quantity of chroniclers and historians of the 80’s Generation
and many of their successors- accounts how, in less than four years, the magnitude of
the city was built from desolated region from the pampa. The popular memory echoed
this version of the facts, liberating itself -so to speak- from those that until that moment
had built the history of Lomas de la Ensenada and changed La Plata into the merit
product of the lights’ decade.
However, and like other pasts supposedly desolated the country have had (the
“pampa desierta”, for example), the ideal and material past of the area where the city of
La Plata was settled was rich and complex; a detail inspection of the sources will help
to its recovery, and maybe, to the construction of a wider local identity.
The review of historic documentary sources and archaeological material
recovered by other researching teams, show the early presence of aboriginal residents
of the platense area, as well as the existence of an expanded sequence of historical
settlements, which can be reconstructed by documents almost until the original division
of lands carried out by Juan de Garay at the end of the sixteenth century 1. It is then
discovered that the city was noy built out of nothing, but that it was edited -literal and
figuratively- over the history of those who -until that time- inhabited the region.
Multiple examples can be mentioned that give substance to this “prehistory” of
the official history of the city, examples we have said go back up to its foundation as a
new capital; fragments of a complex and documented past that, still, has not
transcended. As archaeologists, we consider that our work consists in “digging up” this
other past, and ensure that this enriches the formal history as well as the popular
memory of the region. We are aware that the history and memory flow in different
ways, but we hope that the archaeology can generate stories from the past that
contribute to both.
Thus, it was considered appropriate to begin the research of the platense
“prehistory” with a paradigmatic case of what was claimed before: of the Iraola site, a
residence located in Ensenada which existence goes back to 30 years before the
foundation, and that from the beginning of the 80’s was systematically destroyed and
forgotten from the material and ideal, to the point complete disappearance from the
region’s history, as if it has never been there.