IMHICIHU   13380
INSTITUTO MULTIDISCIPLINARIO DE HISTORIA Y CIENCIAS HUMANAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Size and shape variation in Late Holocene projectile points of southern Patagonia. A geometric morphometric study
Autor/es:
CHARLIN, J. Y R. GONZÁLEZ-JOSÉ
Revista:
American Antiquity
Editorial:
Society for American Archaeology
Referencias:
Año: 2010
ISSN:
0002-7316
Resumen:
Since the beginning of systematic
archaeological studies in southern Patagonia (Argentina and Chile),
projectile points have played an important role as cultural markers.
Using a sequence of projectile point types differentiated according to
size and shape changes, these stone tools, along with other cultural
evidence, were used to distinguish a series of cultural periods that
have been the frame of reference for understanding the cultural
evolution in southernmost Patagonia. Although later research have
questioned several of the assumptions used in creating this framework,
the classical typology of projectile points continued in use until the
present day. The goal of this study is to evaluate size and shape
variation of two late Holocene projectile point types, known as Fell-,
Bird- or Magallanes-IV and V points, or Patagónicas and Ona points,
respectively. We compared both point types using geometric
morphometrics and multivariate statistical analyses. Our focus is on
the reliability in the discriminating between point types in light of
point reduction due to maintenance and use. These analyses show
reduction has a major impact on shape rather than on size, and on the
blade rather than on the stem. Importantly, point types IV and V can
still be distinguished in terms of size and stem shape despite
reduction. Thus, while successive cycles of use, damage, and
resharpening can have a great influence over the size and shape of
projectile points, resharpening techniques are specific enough to
maintain differences in size and shape between point types, and is
probably related to functional requirements.