Tools beyond Stones: bone, a non-traditional raw material in continental Patagonia

MIOTTI, LAURA; MARCHIONNI, LAURA

From these bare bones: Raw and Worked Osseous Materials

Oxbow Books

Lugar: Oxford; Año: 2013; p. 116 - 126

Abstract The archaeofaunistic studies in Patagonia have focused on the osseous materials to make taphonomic, paleoenvironmental and economic inferences. However, until twenty years ago bone had scarcely been taken into account as a raw material for tool manufacturing. Archaeological excavations developed in the Central Plateau of Santa Cruz province allow us to formulate interpretations about use, decision-making, and the role of bone as raw material in technological chains of tool/ornament manufacturing. This paper presents the variability of tools of the AEP-1 and Maripe Cave sites in two moments: Pleistocene/Holocene Transition and middle Holocene. Results indicate a high degree of design for both chronological blocks with human occupations at caves 3 and 13 at Los Toldos Locality in the Central Plateau of Santa Cruz. The standardization of forms and high degree of transformation found in some of these tools allow us to infer a curation strategy. This high degree of transformation was registered in other contexts of this region and for the same moments. Toward the middle Holocene we observe a wider spectrum of taxa in the bones used as raw material for tool and ornament confection.