Caracterización de la distribución y tipos de obsidiana presentes en la costa rionegrina.

FAVIER DUBOIS, CRISTIAN MARIO; STERN, CHARLES; CARDILLO, MARCELO

Arqueología de Patagonia: una mirada desde el último confín.

Utopías

Lugar: Ushuaia; Año: 2009; p. 349 - 359

A characterization, based on trace-element geochemistry, is presented of the types of obsidian present along the coast of the province of Río Negro. The presence of artifacts made from this material, although scarce, extends from the location Bahía Lobos, along the limit with Chubut, north to close to the Faro San Matías (Bahía de San Antonio), but they have not been found in any other location further east along the Río Negro coast. Six different types of obsidian were identified on the basis of analysis of 24 artifacts among a total of 110 collected from 16 archaeological sites. Some of these sites have been dated as late Holocene. The obsidian types T/SC1, T/SC2, S1, MS1, CC? (DesZ), and CL1 have been identified. This same variety of obsidian types, with the exception of the last one, had previously been reported along the coast of Chubut. The sources for three of these (T/SC1, S1 and CL1) are know and each of these reached the coast of Río Negro from linear distances of various hundreds of kilometers. The results of this study helps constrain the evaluation of the circulation of this lithic material along the length of the northern Patagonian coast, as well as their relation to other rocks used to create artifacts present in the region, and contributes to the discussion concerning the mobility of populations and their interchange of goods in the past.