Exploring size and shape variations in Late Holocene projectile points in Northern and Southern coasts of Magellan Strait (South America)

JUDITH CHARLIN, KAREN BORRAZZO & MARCELO CARDILLO

Congreso; XVI IUPPS World Congress and XVI SAB Congress; 2011

The human peopling of Southern South America occurred around 10-12.000 YBP. At that time, Grande Island of Tierra del Fuego was connected to the continent by a narrow land bridge. Early hunter-gatherers groups populating Fuego-Patagonia used a shared projectile technology, known as fishtail points. After 9000 YBP, the water definitively flooded that dried connection creating the Magellan Strait and the island. Then, land hunter-gatherers populations inhabiting the area were divided and isolated from each other by a permanent marine channel of 3.5 to 30 km width. Here we assess morphometric variation among Late Holocene lithic projectile points recovered from spaces adjacent to northern (southern continental Patagonia) and southern (northern Grande Island of Tierra del Fuego) coasts of Magellan Strait. Geometric morphometric techniques are used to compare size and shape changes of projectile points. We focus on the study of variations in artifact designs and/or use life in order to explore the existence of divergence processes in projectile point technology on both sides of the Strait as was observed through other lines of evidences (rock art, bioanthropological characters, Lama guanicoe body size, among others).