TECHNOLOGICAL DECISIONS IN FISHTAIL POINTS FROM PATAGONIAN CONTEXTS: A COMPARATIVE OVERVIEW

HERMO DARIO; TERRANOVA ENRIQUE; MIOTTI LAURA

Congreso; 11th Symposium on Knappable Materials; 2017

Fishtail points (FTPs) are good indicators of peopling during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in the Americas. These objects have a wide geographical distribution, from the Magallanes Basin (southernmost point in the Americas) to southern Mexico, and are often associated with chronologies ca. 9000?11,500 BP (14C). Moreover, FTPs are usually distributed as isolated artifacts but have also been found in assemblages with different contexts, and settled in a wide variety of environments. Patagonian archaeological contexts show examples of this variability. In this presentation, we consider the evidence from archaeological sites with associated FTPs, located in the Deseado Massif (Santa Cruz province) and the Somuncurá Plateau (Río Negro Province) to discuss the reduction sequence of these tools. We observe that decision making could have been different, following several technical methods (e.g., blank selection and fluting), and furthermore that there were differences in the designs of the morphology of these points (e.g., size, shoulders, maintainability). If we strictly consider the function of FTPs as weapons, where morphology is strongly related with hafting and aerodynamics, it is not clear why there were differences in design or technical decisions. Based on technical features of FTPs, and in comparative analysis we explore interpretations at different scales in order to comprehend the possible roles played by these pieces during the initial peopling of Patagonia.