Bone instruments from the first millenium AD northwestern Argentina occupations. A macro and microscopic approach to study their functionality

IZETA, ANDRÉS DARÍO; CATTANEO, ROXANA; SCATTOLIN, MARÍA CRISTINA; CORTÉS, LETICIA INÉS

Paris

Congreso; XI International Conference del International Council for Archaeozoology (ICAZ); 2010

Museum Nationalle de Histoire Naturelle

Bone instruments are rare in Northwestern Argentina first millennium AD occupations. While the paucity of this kind of evidence is clear, one specific type of instrument is recurrently found: South American camelid metapodials with a standardized shape (a rounded tip at the proximal epiphysis). By contrast, camelid element profiles from archaeological sites show a lack of metapodials as a general trend. This suggests that those elements were used as raw material for making very specific and standarized instruments. Macroscopic and microscopic analyses were performed in order to assess possible ways in which these instruments were used and how their raw material was procured. Preliminary results indicate weaving as one possible function.