Recycled Fishtail Points in the Argentinian Pampa: Everyday Tools on Distinctive Paleoamerican Objects?

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we present the case of recycled Fishtail points from a late Pleistocene site in the Pampean Tandilia ranges, Argentina. Detailed descriptions of the recycled tools are integrated with previous breakage and fatty-acids analysis. We assess if the practice of recycling was related to a specific task, a conservative strategy, functional reasons, and if other non-economic reasons may have played a significant role. Results show a marked selection of certain fragments to manufacture burin-like tools and a few other tool types. We propose that recycling of Fishtail points played a role in making and repairing weapons, and that different factors must be considered to explain the reasons behind this practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Late Pleistocene
• South America
• recycling
• lithic analysis
• fatty acids

Acknowledgements

To Materia Hnos. Oleochemicals. To Pedro Senyk for his help with the photographs. Grants PICT 2014-3054 and PICT 2019-1287 supported this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Materia Hnos. Oleochemicals lab’s HP 6890N gas chromatograph with flame ionization detector (FID) and a back automatic injector were used for the analysis, along with a Supelcowax 10 capillary column. The column temperature was 200°C, the injector temperature was 250°C, and the detector temperature was 280°C.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by ANPCyT-Fondo para la Investigación Científica y Tecnológica [grant numbers PICT 2019-1287; PICT 2014-3054].

Notes on contributors

Celeste Weitzel

Celeste Weitzel is a Research Fellow for the National Research Council of Argentina (CONICET). In 2010 she received her PhD in Archaeology at the University of Buenos Aires. Her main research interests are lithic technology and taphonomy, and fishtail points. Her research on lithic-artifact breakage focuses on how this informs about past activities, social practices, and decision making, as well as taphonomic processes.

Natalia Mazzia

Natalia Mazzia is a Research Fellow for CONICET. In 2011 she received her PhD at La Plata National University. She specializes in landscape archaeology related to the early peopling of the Pampean region, and the chemical analysis of lithic artifacts.

Salomón Hocsman

Salomon Hocsman is an independent Research Fellow for CONICET and Professor at Tucuman National University. He obtained his PhD at La Plata National University (2006) and specialized in lithic technology and typology, specifically variability and change in hunter-gatherers.

Franco Pazzi

Franco Pazzi is a PhD student at CONICET. His main interest is the social dynamics involved in the provisioning of lithic resources and the related ways of inhabiting the places in which those social practices took place.

Nora Flegenheimer

Nora Flegenheimer is a retired Senior Research Fellow for CONICET. She obtained her degree at La Plata National University (1978), where she specialized in lithic analysis. She has excavated sites related to the early peopling of the Pampas and built the regional lithic-resource base. She has developed an interest in public archaeology in her Pampean hometown of Necochea.