Exploring Morphometric Variations in Fishtail Projectile Points from Uruguay, Pampa, and Patagonia

CAROLA CASTIÑEIRA , JUDITH CHARLIN, MARCELO CARDILLO Y JORGE BAEZA

SOUTHBOUND: LATE PLEISTOCENE PEOPLING OF LATIN AMERICA

Center for the Study of the First Americans

Año: 2012; p. 57 - 62

Fishtail or Fell I type (FTPP) projectile points are usually associated with the early hunter gatherer populations who inhabited South America in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. These artifacts are defined by a convex blade, rounded shoulders, slightly concave stem sides, concave base, and sometimes fluting on one or both faces (Bird 1969). The largest number of these points has been collected from Uruguay, the Pampas (Argentina), and Patagonia (Argentina and Chile). In this study, we evaluate FTPP variations at a supra-regional scale by means of geometric morphometric techniques. For this purpose we use published images of projectile points from the Argentinean Pampas (n = 7) (Bayón and Flegenheimer 2003; Flegenheimer 2009; Flegenheimer et al. 2010; Nami 2007), southern Patagonia (n = 16) (Amorosi et al. 2007; Bahamondes and Jackson 2006; Bird 1969, 1988; Nami 1985/86, 1987, 2003), and Uruguay(n = 25) (Baeza and Femenías 2005; Castiñeira et al. 2011).