During the second half of the Nineteenth Century successive Argentine governments brought into national history a new sense of nationalism. This nationalism was not based on native traditions or the colonial past, rather it was designed and created by European immigrants; indigenous people were excluded from this process. In this article we examine themes such as cultural heritage and indigenous heritage. We also assess how the archaeological heritage and narratives of the past are integral to present-day ethnic rights movements, which in turn impacts on the relationships between communities, archaeologists and the State. This situation of “emergent disputes” elucidates the existing asymmetries whereby state officials, academics and private citizens, at different times, have heritagized, lobbied, “protected”, and administered the heritage, without accounting for the participation of indigenous groups. Parting from this particular framework we consider case studies from the Andes and Northeastern Argentina, were we interpret the landscape as heritage tracing the interrelation between the physical landscape and social memory, power and knowledge. We adopt a theoretical-methodological perspective that emphasizes the role played by the asymmetric relationships between the different actors and the process by which this interaction is established across time. This study draws on historical and ethnographic data.