Cultural Aglomeration Zone (CAZ)

> projects / 2026 / caz / Participants

Research in Bahía Wulaia and Seno Ponsonby

The Cultural Aglomeration Zone project investigates the accumulation of cultural, historical, and environmental layers in Bahía Wulaia and Seno Ponsonby (in the Cape Horn archipelago), considering more than 7,000 years of occupation by seafaring nomads. In collaboration with the Austral University of Chile, the project will carry out an extensive study in the Ponsonby area during January and February 2026, with the aim of rethinking the current conception of human settlement in this territory and its historical interaction with the environment.
The effects of climate change can be observed in real time in the region as well the rapid growth in logistics linked to the expanding Antarctic route. This pressure threatens the heritage and a uniquely rich sub-Antarctic oceanic ecosystem. Ancient forests, lichen cultures, peat- and wetlands, rivers, and marine habitats face increasing vulnerability in a geopolitical zone long shaped by territorial disputes that often ignore ecological fragility.

Non-invasive archaeological survey and heritage sites

The Terra Ignota team will apply non-invasive archaeological survey methods to document heritage sites and cultural traces including shell middens, culturally modified trees, canoe slipways (see Caleta Wulaia, Historical and Archaeological Evidence). The data will be cross-referenced with narratives, historical accounts, maritime practices, and ecological records to generate a vector map of long-term human–environment interactions. Particular emphasis will be placed on sound, reflecting both the central role of oral tradition in preserving heritage and the importance of voiced communication in environmental navigation and mapping. Close consideration will also be given to the relationship between early inhabitants and marine mammals—especially the refracted presence of whales (Whale Refractions: Heritage in the Age of Mammals) —to examine how these encounters influenced strategies of subsistence, mobility, and social organization.

Wulaia as a nomadic “megapolis”

The project conceives of Wulaia not only as a zone of transit, also as a zone of social aggregation–anomadic “megapolis”, a center of complex activity where knowledge, remains, and cultural practices from different epochs overlap. It is understood as a center of complex activity where knowledge, material remains, and cultural practices from different epochs converge. The results will include archaeological and environmental records integrated into interactive maps, open databases, and accessible educational resources co-created with the Yagán Communityand the Yagán Usi Territorial Museum.

Two dimensions: science and digital art in co-creation

This research consists of two complementary dimensions. On the one hand, a scientific line that, through alternative, collective, and non-invasive methodologies, seeks to rewrite the forms of sub-Antarctic settlement within the broader human project. On the other, an artistic dimension that employs digital tools to layer and visualize cartographic data, generating devices for critical analysis and cultural mediation. This second dimension is oriented toward processes of artistic-scientific and community co-creation, fostering knowledge exchange and the development of open resources that transcend the academic sphere to engage with diverse audiences in the international arena.

Cultural Accretion Zone: heritage and Antarctic future

The Cultural Accretion Zone is a space for reflecting on the ways of inhabiting, where past and present layers overlap, promoting the integral preservation of tangible and intangible heritage and deepening the understanding of settlement, ecosystem relations, and the strategies of seafaring nomads in Wulaia—a territory that today emerges as a transit zone toward Antarctica. See https://terra-ignota.net/2025/07/24/antarctic-congresses-2025/