Cuantificación y Análisis de la Distribución de Rocas Útiles para la Manufactura de Instrumentos a través del Uso de Sistemas de Información Geográfica (SIG) en el Área de Piedra Museo, Santa Cruz, Argentina.

CATTÁNEO, GABRIELA ROXANA; DI LELLO CLAUDIA; GÓMEZ JUAN CARLOS

El uso de SIG en la arqueología sudamericana.

B.A.R. International Series. Archaeopress

Lugar: Oxford, UK.; Año: 2012; p. 1 - 29

Cuantificación y Análisis de la Distribución de Rocas Útiles para la Manufactura de Instrumentos a través del Uso de Sistemas de Información Geográfica (SIG) en el Área de Piedra Museo, Santa Cruz, Argentina. Cattáneo, Gabriela Roxana, Di Lello Claudia y Gómez Juan Carlos. In order to evaluate the variability in the use of lithic resources by Southern Patagonia old inhabitants it is essential the study of the regional raw material variation. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to locate the sources of this kind of materials through the use of a Geographical Information System (GIS) in order to study the potentially used outcrops since Late Pleistocenic times to compare it with the lithic archaeological materials found in the area. GIS was used to facilitate the control of the large amount of spatial data and to change scales from a geological point of view to an archaeological one. The region studied encompasses the archaeological locality Piedra Museo and surrounding areas, located in the Nesocratón del Deseado (Santa Cruz, Argentina). Forty geological formations were described for this environment and thirteen of these were studied based on its presence in archaeological contexts or their petrologic characteristics (high silicification and vitrification) commonly related to regional prehistoric lithic use. The first step in this study was to analyze the geology of the area where the archaeological locality is placed and the availability of lithics resources in the area considering four stages in the investigation: 1) Analysis of distribution and characteristics of each lithology in the area. 2) Field controlling and non archaeological in situ rock sample gathering.   3) Calculations of availability of lithic resources. 4) Comparison between geologic and archaeological samples. The methodology includes the processing of the available cartography in an ER MAPPER© environment: - SEGEMAR Geological map 4769-IV, 1: 250,000, - Detailed geological map 1:100,000 taken from the geological map 4769-IV, "Monumento Natural Bosques Petrificados? SEGEMAR - Topographical map 1:100,000: " Monumento Natural Bosques Petrificados " of the Instituto Geográfico Militar 4769-IV (1992), - Landsat 742 satellite image, provided by the Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales, Argentina. - Digital elevation model (DEM), USGS. - Aerial photographs 1:60,000 SEGEMAR. With these products a GIS was modeled using ESRI©ARC GIS 3.1 software. Using GIS and DEM we calculated the surface and the volume (two and three dimensions) of the different lithological selected units. Then we obtained the differential representativeness between outcrops.  The last stage of the analysis contemplated petrological comparisons between the archaeological and geologic samples through rocks thin sections analysis. Lastly, the results from this new one perspective is presented, emphasizing on types of raw lithic material resources (their spatial presentation), quality of the deposits (in terms of lithic prehistoric technology), distribution, volume, seasonal availability, and differential productivity considered of each outcrop.