APPLICATION OF HIGH RESOLUTION SCANNING AND 3D MODELING TO THE STUDY OF LATE PLEISTOCENE/EARLY HOLOCENE LITHIC ASSEMBLAGES FROM MACIZO DEL DESEADO (SANTA CRUZ, ARGENTINA)

DELGADO,MIGUEL; LYNCH, VIRGINIA; HERMO, DARIO; MIOTTI, LAURA

TERRAGONA

Simposio; ROCK AND ROLL:13th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM OF KNAPPABLE MATERIALS; 2021

The Deseado Massif (Santa Cruz, Argentina) is a region with an abundant and diverse archaeological record. The recurrent occupations throughout the Pleistocene / Holocene transition have allowed detailed studies of material cultural and the first human groups way life who arrived to this region. Despite different lines of evidence are commonly investigated, in recent decades new approaches are explored, including the digitalization of lithic artifacts in two and three dimensions and their subsequent quantitative analysis. Lithic technology is an important line of evidence for understanding the social and technological processes, settlement systems and subsistence strategies of past human populations. Thus, lithic artifacts can be understood as social and material products of behavior and must be considered as morphologically dynamic entities, which reflect a part of the technological organization of past societies under a specific spatial-temporal frame (Nelson 1991). In this sense, this study aims to explore the diversity of early lithic assemblages from stratified and non-stratified sites from the Deseado Massif through the application of high resolution scanning and 3D modeling. The sample investigated includes stone tools from the first occupations of Cueva Maripe (~ 9500-7200 BP), Piedra Museo (11,000-9200 BP) and Tito del Valle (surface). These artifacts are characterized by different unifacial and bifacial technologies. 3D models (with color and texture) were generated using a high-resolution manual scanner (Artec Space Spider) and the images were processed using Artec Studio and MeshLab software. The analyses consists of 3D landmark-based (landmarks and semilandmarks) and landmark-free geometric morphometric (3D surfaces) analysis; topometrical analysis, 3D use-wear analysis, quantitative analysis on convexities, twist and scar patterns as well as information about area, volume, thickness, lengths, and a range of surface statistics.These results will allow us to discuss the regional lithic technological diversity, raw materials diversity, 3D artifact shape variability, design and use on a wide spatial scale and to trace technological change through the archaeological sequences. The identification of late Pleistocene/early Holocene artifact shape patterns also will helps to detect common traits to those pieces recovered from surface contexts. Overall the data generated during this research program will allow not just obtaining novel information, but the proposal of new questions and hypotheses to be addressed with this new line of evidence. Importantly, through this project a more clear definition, identification, and characterization of the local techno-complexes will be achieved.