The introduction of the bow and arrow across south America´s southern threshold between food-production societies and hunter-gatherers

SILVINA CASTRO; LUCIA YERBA; CORTEGOSO, VALERIA; MARSH, ERIK; AGUSTIN CASTILLO; RUGHINI, AGUSTINA AYELEN; FERNÁNDEZ, M. VICTORIA; GARVEY, RAVEN

Ancient Hunting Strategies in Southern South America

Springer International Publishing

Año: 2021; p. 1 - 361

This study presents a discriminant analysis of projectile points (n=44) from late Holocenecontexts (~3100?400 cal BP) in the Argentine Andes (29?37°S). About two thousand yearsago, the groups that inhabited the regions north and south of 34°S began divergent culturalhistories. To the north, groups developed mixed economies that included domestic plants andanimals. To the south, Patagonian hunters maintained their nomadic lifestyle until Europeancontact. This study explores the geographic vectors and pace of the initial spread of the bowand arrow, if the bow replaced or coexisted other weapon systems, and how these trends differednorth and south of 34°S. We use Shott?s formula to metrically distinguish darts and arrows.Current data suggest that the bow was an innovation in the central Andes that rapidlyspread south along the Andes to around 29°S at 3500?3000 cal BP. At this point, the temposlowed dramatically. It was adopted by groups at 32°S around 1300 cal BP. At 37°S it arrivedshortly after 1000 cal BP. Over the next two to three centuries, it was rapidly adopted by moresedentary food-producing groups north of 34°S as well as more mobile hunter-gatherers to thesouth. There is no evidence the bow was ever abandoned once adopted, and except in the caseof Patagonia, it seems to have replaced previous weapon systems. This speaks to its versatilityregardless of ecology, economic system, or cultural preferences.