Semi-Sedentary Foragers in the Uspallata Valley, Argentina

SAVANNA BUEHLMAN-BARBEAU; MARSH, E; YEBRA L.; CARLINE, KRISTIN; CASTRO S. C.

Austin, Texas (cancelado por la pandemia de COVID-19)

Congreso; 85th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology; 2020

Society of American Archaeology

The Uspallata Valley Archaeology Project excavated and surveyed the site Uspallata Norte in the Argentine Andes (32°S, 2000 masl) to study the transition from foraging to pastoralism and agriculture. Lithic analysis from the artifacts collected during the 2016 field school with the Institute for Field Research investigated the raw materials, techniques, and finished lithic products. Macroscopic observation of fragments, specific technological characteristics, and morphological characteristics were analyzed to identify specific stages of the reduction sequence and human mobility patterns. There are many expedient lithic tools made from medium-quality raw materials available at the site, although high quality raw chert is available in the adjacent mountain range. This suggests groups living here were less mobile, a possibility reinforced by the large quantities of ground stone implements, probable agricultural hoes, retouched multipurpose tools such as perforators, low quantities of ceramic sherds, and surface hearths. Overall, the pattern suggests more intensive occupation, plant processing, and continued duration spent at the site than would be expected for mobile foragers. The adjacent site, Cerro Tunduqueral, has the province?s largest density of rock art, which may have been made by the inhabitants of Uspallata Norte.