Patagonian Plain

A dry stalk rubs against your ankle as the wind whips the plain into a sea of tiny waves. Your whole body bends right along with the brown blades of grass beneath your feet, humbled by the majesty of this raw earth scene as a striking mountain range towers above your little head, your eyes wide with awe and inspiration, you can barely remember what modern life is like after having your face wizened by unrelenting fresh air and shining open sky. Patagonia is a region located at the southern end of South America, territory shared by Argentina and Chile. Human habitation of the region dates back thousands of years, with some early archaeological findings in the area dated to at least the 13th millennium BC, although later dates of around the 10th millennium BC are more securely recognized. Several sites have been excavated, notably caves such as Cueva del Milodon in Ultima Esperanza in southern Patagonia, and Tres Arroyos on Tierra del Fuego. Hearths, stone scrapers, animal remains dated to 9400-9200 BC have been found east of the Andes. The Cueva de las Manos is a famous site in Santa Cruz, Argentina. A cave at the foot of a cliff, it has wall paintings, particularly the negative images of hundreds of hands, believed to date from around 8000 BC. The indigenous peoples of the region included the Tehuelches, whose numbers and society were reduced to near extinction not long after the first contacts with Europeans.