Military tactics during Vuelta de Obligado´s Battle. Archaeological field and laboratory strategy

Abstract

In 1845-1846, British and French forces tried to break the ?uvial routes into the territories of Northeastern Argentina and Paraguay, where they intended to exchange goods motivated by its free trade policy. These hostilities against the government of the Argentinean Confederation culminated in what is known as the Parana War. The strategy of the combined ?eet included blocking the River Plate, four battles and several skirmishes. All battles were fought on the shores of the Parana River, two of them, Vuelta de Obligado and El Tonelero in the Province of Buenos Aires. Within this scenario, the main defensive tactic adopted by the Confederation to prevent the enemy ?eet navigate upstream the Parana River was emplacement coastal batteries in key places such as cliffs and beaches.
Since 2000, the staff of the Programa Arqueología Histórica y Estudios Pluridisciplinarios (National University of Lujan) began the archaeological research and
feldwork excavations in the Vuelta de Obligado site. In this place, archaeological surveys, test pits and trenches, excavation of around 300 m2, and surface recovery of materials from the beaches, were carried out. Up to 2011 the excavations were focused on the area where the second battery was located. Nowadays, the feldwork is centered in a mound placed in the woods, and where the frst battery under the command of Colonel Álvaro Alzogaray would have been sited. In the latter, nine units of 2 x 4 m, and one of 3 x 5 m, were open. Finds were done in a humus stratum of about 0.8 m thick, which has not show noteworthy internal differences, and the materials were primarily concentrated in a deposit of about 0.3 m. The stratigraphic sequence contrast with that found in the second battery, where the archaeological remains were located in the junction of the humus layer (from 0.08 to0.2 m) and the upper surface of the tosca-rock. The aim of this paper is to present the archaeological information and its analysis in cabinet. Moreover, it seeks to compare this data with that from the written and pictorial sources, in order to achieve a better understanding of the excavated area. Research conducted so far indicate that the excavated sector corresponds to the occupation ?oor of the frst battery. On the other side, they suggest that the places with major concentrations of artifacts are related with the way that Confederation soldiers arranged the defensive structures for its protection from fre of the Anglo-French ?eet during the battle.