Materias primas y movilidad humana entre las cuencas de los ríos Santa Cruz y Chico (Provincia de Santa Cruz, Argentina)

FRANCO NORA V. ; CIRIGLIANO NATALIA A.

Arqueología de Patagonia: una mirada desde el último confín

Utopías

Lugar: Ushuaia; Año: 2009; p. 361 - 368

Lithic raw materials are a valuable source of information about mobility and circulation of human populations in the past. Their way of acquisition (direct or indirect) is very important for the understanding of human mobility and it should be evaluated taking into account not only the availability of raw materials but also different characteristics of the artifacts. In this paper we summarize the first results related to the availability and circulation of lithic raw materials between the Chico and Santa Cruz rivers. These results, considered exploratory, point to the variability in the availability of raw materials in the area. Silicified rocks available north of the Chico river were transported more than 100 km. This can be related to the scarcity and small sizes of the nodules of silicified raw materials available to the south. Their way of acquisition remains to be analyzed. In order to do this, new raw material samplings are needed, as well as new surface and stratigraphic information.