Obsidian in Patagonia: a social map of a long distance traveler rock in hunter-gatherer contexts

FERNÁNDEZ, MARÍA VICTORIA; LEAL, PABLO

Simposio; 11 th Symposium on Knappable Materials ?From Toolstone to Stone Tools?; 2017

In Patagonia obsidian has been widely used from the beginning of the occupation, even in sites far from the sources. Geochemical analyses carried out for archaeological obsidian indicate that multiple sources were used to procure this rock. The most important ones, with high quality nodules, abundance and wide dispersion, were used since the first peopling. However, there are still some outcrops ignored or briefly considered in archeological studies. Therefore, we attempt to construct a map that included not only the archeological known sources, but also those geologically prospected. These allow make a more complex study of the supply, transport and exchange of obsidian on a macro regional scale such as Patagonia. To achieve this goal, we analyzed all the current geological and archeological information.