Estudios arqueobotánicos del sitio Nutria Mansa 1 (partido de General Alvarado, provincia de Buenos Aires): II. Análisis fitolíticos comparativos de artefactos de molienda.

ZUCOL A.F. Y BONOMO M.

Matices Interdisciplinarios en Estudios Fitolíticos y de otros Microfósiles/ Interdisciplinary Nuances in Phytolith and other Microfossil Studies.

BAR Internacional Series (Oxford, Inglaterra).

Año: 2007; p. 1 - 13

A comparative analysis of the phytoliths and siliceous microremains assemblage present in surface of grinding artifacts (mills) and the sediment, in which they were found, was made. The pieces come from archaeological site Nutria Mansa 1 (38º 24’ S and 58º 15’ W), stratigraphic unit III that is part of the lower archaeological levels of the site, which belong to the late Holocene (2,700-3,100 years a.P.) The analysis of these samples showed a similar phytolith assemblage composition to the sedimentary level one, with several prismatic, point and fan-shaped phytoliths; and, less frequently, dumbbell, truncated cones and saddle-shaped phytoliths. Articulated phytolith formed by long, short, bulliform and subepidemic cells are present. The study also showed the presence of colored amorphous organic matter and other microremains such as stomatocysts, spicules and diatoms. The comparative analysis of assemblages showed neither qualitative-quantitative significant differences between their components and their preservation states. Therefore, the results do not enable to prove the utilization of plants producing phytoliths in the surroundings of the site. Nevertheless, despite the difference between the sediments from unit III, it has been registered in the mills the presence of organic matter and colored siliceous remains, as well as carbonaceous remains and graminoid phytoliths, whose siliceous matrix is somewhat turbid. These indications might be associated to the use of mills, since they could have been utilized to process organic pigments or substances that were toned, whose origin is not possible to establish by means of the evidences hereby provided.