The introduction of bow and arrow across South America's Southern threshold between food-producing societies and hunter-gatherers

CASTRO, SILVINA; YEBRA, LUCÍA; CORTEGOSO, VALERIA; MARSH, ERIK; CASTILLO, AGUSTÍN; RUGHINI, AGUSTINA; FERNÁNDEZ, MARÍA VICTORIA; GARVERY, RAVEN

ANCIENT HUNTING STRATEGIES IN SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA,

Springer

Año: 2021; p. 137 - 158

ACLARACIÓN: EL ISBN CORRESPONDE AL EJEMPLO QUE SE DA EN "ACERCA DEL ISBN". ELCAPÍTULO ESTÁ EN PRENSA Y POR EL MOMENTO NO NOS INFORMARON SOBRE ESE DATOPastoral and agropastoral societies are widespread throughout the Andesof South America. The southern limit of this adaptation extended to around 34°Son the eastern side of the Andes at the time of Spanish contact. Historicdocuments describe agricultural and sedentary groups north of 34°S andhunter-gatherers to the south. This division falls along South America?s ariddiagonal, a continental biogeographic boundary that may be important tounderstanding the chronology of initial bow adoption. This study presents themetric distinctions of projectile points between arrows and darts, likely usedwith bows and spears or atlatls, respectively. We use associated radiocarbondates to build a chronology of the earliest introduction of the bow at a seriesof sites located between 29 and 36°S for ~3100?400 cal AP. The earliest date,cal 3080 BP (median), is from the northernmost site; generally, the farthersouth, the later the date. In low-level food-producing societies the bow couldreplace previous weapon systems. In contrast, hunter-gatherers added the bowlater, but it coexisted with dart-based weapon systems. The regional trendsoutlined here suggest that both the arid diagonal and subsistence strategiesexplain the chronological framework of bow adoption at the continental limit offood-production in South America.