Metamorphic lithic knives and domestic practices between the 3rd and 9th centuries A.D. in the southern Cumbres Calchaquíes (Tucumán-Argentina)

MOLAR, ROCÍO; FRANCO SALVI, V; MONTEGÚ, JUAN

Simposio; Rock and Roll: 13th International Symposium on Knappable Materials.Multi-scalar Characterization of Raw Materials; 2021

The emergence of the village way of life in northwestern Argentina in the last centuries B.C. implied changes in the way of inhabiting landscapes with new technologies, materialities, and variable social experiences (Albeck 2000; Olivera 2001; Tarragó 1999). In this context, lithic technology was expanding with the incorporation of artifacts for agricultural work such as shovels, hoes, and large knives/sidescrapers (Avalos 1998; Babot et al. 2008; Escola 2000; Escola & Hocsman 2011; Escola et al. 2013; Haber & Gastaldi 2006; Pérez 2004, 2010; Yacobaccio 1983). At times of full development of village life, we can observe in different residential units of the region the presence of a new very particular artifact with the shape of a knife produced with metamorphic rocks foliated by marginal micro retouches, whose edges would be fragile for intensive cutting work (Borgo 2014; Carbonelli 2009; Colobig et al. 2020; Gastaldi 2010; Gero 2015; Maloberti 2019; Moreno, 2014; Moreno & Sentinelli 2014; Vilches 2016).The aim of this study is to present the initial results of the analysis carried out on a set of knives of the aforementioned type from archaeological sites located in the southern Cumbres Calchaquíes (Tucumán province, Argentina) and with dates ranging from 250 to 850 A.D. We were particularly interested in understanding the practices in which such instruments were involved, whether they were changing through time, and their relationship with human and non-human agents (Haber & Gastaldi 2006; Hoffman & Dobres 1999; Ratto et al. 2019; Thomas 1996).A comprehensive study that forms a synthesis of techno-morphological, morphological-functional, archaeobotanical, and domestic context analysis in which these objects circulated is proposed. A bibliographic review of local and international cases, where similar artifacts were identified and systematically studied, was also carried out. The results allow us to argue that the knives were used in recurrent domestic practices related to the processing of plant and animal resources. Specifically, they would be linked to cutting tasks of non-woody vegetables and to the chipping of prey, whose products would have been used in food production and technofacture tasks. In this way, lithic tools would have interacted with people and other materialities in activities that are central to the biological and social reproduction of the groups.Escola, P. S., Hocsman, S. & Babot, M. P. 2013. Entre las residencias y los campos de cultivo. Aporte de los cuchillos/raederas de módulo grandísimo a la cuestión del laboreo agrícola en Antofagasta de la Sierra (Puna de Catamarca) durante el primer milenio d.C. Relaciones de la Sociedad Argentina de Antropología, XXXVIII(1): 83-110.Haber, A. & Gastaldi, M. R. 2006. Vida con palas. Antípoda. Revista de Antropología y Arqueología, 2: 275-302.Hoffman C. R. & Dobres, M. A. 1999. Conclusion: making material culture, making culture material. In: The social dynamics of technology. Practice, politics and world views (M. A. Dobres & C. R. Hoffman,Eds.), Smithsonian In Institution Press.