Sources of lithic material procurement in Estancia La Suiza archeological locality (San Luis, Argentina)

GISELA SARIO

Journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

Springer

Año: 2013 vol. 5 p. 245 - 254

1866-9557

The present study is the first step in the elaboration of a regional base of lithic resources for an area located in the northeastern San Luis province, Argentina. Within this area lies the Estancia La Suiza archaeological locality, near the hills of Sierra de la Estanzuela, where prehistoric quarry-workshops have been identified. The main objective of this work was to explore the use of the different raw materials by prehistoric groups. The general geological setting of the hills of Sierra de la Estanzuela is described and a distribution of raw material in the area is proposed. The principal sources of lithic material procurement representing the archaeological record were identified and lithic types were quantified and classified. Finally, the lithic material recovered from the Estancia La Suiza 2 (ELS 2) quarry was characterized; the results show that the artifacts correspond to the earliest stages of production.