Samuel Alejandro Lafone Quevedo (Montevideo, 28 February 1835 – La Plata, 18 July 1920) was an Argentine industrialist, humanist, archaeologist, ethnographer, and linguist who was born in Uruguay.

[3] His father was Samuel Fisher Lafone, an Englishman of Huguenot origin, and his mother was Argentinian María de Quevedo y Alsina.

He also bought a carob tree plantation located 25 km from Andalgalá with the money obtained from the sale of the Victoria plant that he inherited from his parents.

Other jobs that required less effort, such as the sugar industry or the building of the railroad, made labor increasingly more expensive, which meant that this type of enterprise was no longer profitable.

Between 1883 and 1885, he wrote a series of articles for La Nación on various topics related to the archaeology, ethnography, geography, linguistics, folklore, and history of Catamarca.

Regarding his interest in archaeology, he stated:[3][4][7] Arriving back in Montevideo on 25 December 1858, I soon became the owner of an edition (the new one) of the history of Deán Funes, which at that time was the best encyclopedic reference concerning the Conquest of Tucumán.

But no one would deny that these ruins should be preserved for our history as soon as possible ....In 1890, economic circumstances changed, which forced him to start selling his properties at a very low price.

The figure of that illustrious elderly man, who looked like something out of a museum, with his jacket buttoned up to the top, archaeological in style, its color faded by time, with his huge green umbrella in his nervous and skinny hands, like a character from Dickens.

Dr. Argentino R. Quevedo, who would occupy the office of the deputy governor of the province and a seat in the provincial legislature; Antonio Macías, accountant of the trading house Móller de Andalgalá, senator, provincial deputy, and general director of revenue of the province; Father Joaquín Tula, parish priest of Andalgalá and priest of the Church of La Merced in Tucumán; Mr. Ramón Martínez, secretary in Andalgalá of Mr. David Arce, accountant general of the province and general director of revenue...As a diversion, he formed an orchestra with his pupils and they ended up playing fairly well.