Lithic raw material procurement and use patterns in the south of Baguales Range: evidences from Cerro León 3 archaeological site (Santa Cruz Province, Argentina)

BALIRAN, C.; BORRAZZO, K.

Tarragona

Simposio; 13th International Symposium on Knappable Materials; 2021

IPHES

Cerro León 3 (CL3) is located in La Verdadera Argentina archaeological locality in the southeastern end of the Baguales Range (Santa Cruz Province, Argentina). First excavation conducted in CL3 (CL3-S1) showed a stratigraphy containing archaeological material (mainly bone and lithics) in all its units. Radiocarbon dates indicated the human presence in the area since the Early Holocene. The study of lithic materials recovered at CL3-S1 led to the proposal that while a provisioning of places strategy was used in Early and Mid-Holocene occupations, the provisioning of individuals was prioritized during the Late Holocene levels. Recent excavations (CL3-S6) provided new archaeological assemblages dated exclusively to the Late Holocene.The aim of this work is to characterize the use of raw materials in CL3 throughout the Holocene focusing on the presence of local and non-local rocks and the patterns of their exploitation. Primary trends recorded along the CL3-S1 stratigraphic sequence (covering most of the Holocene) were also observed in CL3-S6: large complete tools with fresh or still resharpenable edges produced on local raw materials, and a smaller number of rock types in the lower levels of both samples. In the upper levels of CL3-S6 we found smaller artifacts and an increasing variety of non-local rocks, including different types of colored chalcedony, as observed in CL3-S1. Finally, and differing from CL3-S1 sample, CL3-S6 showed a higher frequency of resharpening flakes and evidences of lithic artifact reclamation. Our results suggest that although the use of raw materials varied through time, the debitage composition suggests that the activities were similar throughout the whole sequence. Finally, we propose general hunter-gatherer land use patterns for La Verdadera Argentina through the Holocene.