Technological and Social Strategies for the Acquisition and Exploitation of Long-Distance Lithic Raw Materials in the Central Pampean Dunefields of Argentina

ABSTRACT

The lithic raw material sources in the Pampas of Argentina present a very restricted distribution. This has generated various scenarios linked with the acquisition and conveyance of stones carried out by human groups in the past. We explore the mechanisms performed in the procurement, transport and exploitation of rocks by those hunter-gatherer societies that inhabited the Central Pampean Dunefields, an area where lithic resources are absent. The results obtained from five lithic assemblages from the Middle and Late Holocene points to a preference in the exploitation of Tandilia Hills stones through both periods, with an increase in rock diversity in the Late Holocene. Our data indicate a direct procurement of orthoquartzite and chert from Tandilia Hills, although the acquisition of the rest of the raw materials could have involved both direct and indirect procurement. These results may be related to the existence of more fluent exchange networks among Pampas hunter-gatherer groups.

KEYWORDS:

• Pampas region
• Middle and Late Holocene
• stone conveyance
• mobility patterns
• social interactions

Acknowledgements

To the authorities of Lincoln/Martínez de Hoz, Trenque Lauquen and San Carlos de Bolívar, and the owners and administrators of the places where the excavations were carried out. We also want to thank to Nahuel Scheifler and Paula Vitale for advice on the statistical tests and to Daniel Rafuse for improving the English of this article. This work is part of our ongoing research carried out in the INCUAPA-CONICET (Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, UNICEN).

Disclosure Statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Geographic Society (grant number #NGS-50543R-18) and the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (grant number PICT 2018-02154).