MICROSCOPIC USE-WEAR ANALYSIS IN LATIN AMERICA ITS CONTRIBUTION TO NEW PROBLEMS, RAW MATERIALS AND TAPHONOMIC CONTEXTS

MANSUR, E.; ALONSO LIMA, M.; DE ANGELIS H.

TRACEOLOGY TODAY. METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN THE OLD WORLD AND THE AMERICAS. BAR, Intenational Series 2643

Archaeopress

Lugar: Oxford; Año: 2014; p. 75 - 84

Since the publication of S. Semenov?s Prehistoric Technology in Europe in 1964, microscopic analysis of archaeological materials has developed continuously, although it has followed an uneven rhythm -sometimes more rapid and sometimes slower-. In Latin America, microscopic analysis started at about the same time -and developed in a parallel way- as in Europe and North America. Nevertheless it had its own course to follow, as it tried to solve different methodological problems, mainly concerning raw materials used, depositional contexts, etc. But besides methodology, it was also singular because of its theoretical-methodological approach in relation with the type of ethnographic and archaeological problems investigated. Different reasons led it to be little known, not only in the Old World but also in North America. We believe that this first meeting of the Commission Tools function and socio-economical reconstructions of the past, which takes place in a Latin American country, is an excellent opportunity to attempt to dress a preliminary synthesis of the principal investigations and lines of research developed, as well as their contribution to micro wear analysis as a whole.