The Final Late Holocene at the south of Patagonia: small stemmed projectile points, bow and arrow and the presence of new human populations

FRANCO, NORA VIVIANA; BORRERO, LUIS ALBERTO

New Orleans

Congreso; 89th Annual Meeting of the Sociey for American Archaeology; 2024

Society for American Archaeology

During the Late Holocene, a variety of stemmed projectile points have been recorded in the Atlantic side of central-south Patagonia. Although some of the so-called Fell IV stemmed projectile points may have been part of a bow and arrow weapon system, this is probably not the explanation for the thick so-called Fell IV projectile points. The situation is not so clear for other varieties of these stemmed points. These varieties may have coexisted in some places, like the Magellan Strait. However, in the upper Santa Cruz River Basin there are chronological differences for the deposition of the Fell IV and the smallest varieties of Fell V projectile points. The latter were recorded at the end of the Late Holocene, when other changes in the archaeological landscape were also identified. Genetic information points to the presence of new human populations in the area, suggesting that this is the reason for the introduction of the smallest variety of stemmed projectile points, and the related bow and arrow weapon system.