Elsevier

Quaternary International

Volume 473, Part B, 20 April 2018, Pages 161-172
Quaternary International

Assessing Fishtail points distribution in the southern Cone

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2018.01.005Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper discusses possible causes affecting the distribution of Fishtail points in the southern Cone. This distribution is discontinuous, with large territories without diagnostic remains and areas where sites and points are concentrated. Also, most of the sites with this type of points exhibit few specimens, with remarkable exceptions in Uruguay, the Argentinian Pampa and Patagonia and southern Chile.

We present thoughts arising from long term research in the central east Tandilia ranges, in the Argentinian pampas with information relevant to this discussion. We call the attention to the importance past social practices have in conforming current point distribution together with the history of research and site visibility. This issue is then considered in the broader regional scale. It is concluded that the discontinuous distribution observed is due to factors inherent to both the original occupations and to current research.

Introduction

Projectile point distribution has been widely used in North America Paleoindian archaeology to interpret mobility and land use strategies, settlement patterns, peopling models and pathways; and the origin and spreading of fluted projectile point technologies (for example, Anderson and Faught, 1998, Prasciunas, 2011, Daniel and Goodyear, 2015, Miller, 2016). Fluted projectile point concentrations are interpreted as “staging areas” of population growth, and fluting technology origin or as intense occupation areas (Anderson and Faught, 1998, Daniel and Goodyear, 2015); and also as “easy to find” and resource rich places of periodic group aggregation, or places of high point discard rates linked to raw material availability (Miller, 2016). Gaps and discontinuities are interpreted as regional boundaries (Daniel and Goodyear, 2015), a discontinuous distribution of human groups at the end of the Pleistocene; and as evidence of a “leap frog” model for the American peopling (see Anderson and Faught, 1998, Buchanan, 2003, Prasciunas, 2011). Most of these studies assess the potential biases influencing our knowledge of projectile point distribution (Anderson and Faught, 1998, Anderson and Gillam, 2000, Shott, 2002, Prasciunas, 2011, Loebel, 2012, Daniel and Goodyear, 2015).

In South America models of point distribution are infrequent (Bird, 1969, Borrero, 1983, Mayer Oakes, 1986, Politis, 1991, Suárez, 2015) and large data bases are not yet available and need to be built.

Currently, in the Southern Cone Fishtail points (FTP) show a discontinuous distribution with large territories without FTPs or other diagnostic remains (discoidal stones and small ground spheres) and other areas with concentrated FTPs or isolated findings (Fig. 1). This pattern is also recognized at smaller scales, where some places show a particular trait: they concentrate FTPs, discoidal stones and ground spheres (Flegenheimer et al., 2013a, Miotti and Terranova, 2015). There is a growing agreement suggesting FTPs are similar throughout the continent and that the people who made and used them were somehow related, and shared technological and stylistic concepts and social meanings (Bird, 1969, Politis, 1991, Bayón and Flegenheimer, 2003, Flegenheimer et al., 2003, Flegenheimer et al., 2013a, Politis et al., 2004, Miotti and Terranova, 2015, Suárez, 2017).

In this paper we assess potential causes influencing our current knowledge concerning FTP distribution in the Southern Cone. We will consider scientific and taphonomic biases, (see for example Prates et al., 2013, Martínez et al., 2015 for biases on chronological trends); and we will also reflect on past social practices as another possible factor influencing FTP distribution. We will focus our discussion on the information gathered in the last thirty years working in the central-east Tandilia Ranges (Pampean Region, Argentina), with inter-connected sites occupied by people with FTP, in order to reflect about the larger scale FTP distribution.

Section snippets

Spatial framework

The pampas are best known for their rolling plains covered with eolian sediments, mostly loess or sandy deposits whose surface largely exceeds the study area (Zárate, 1997, Zárate, 2015). Today these comprise a rich agricultural and grazing land, and the densest populated region in the country. But, in a more detailed scale, necessary to assess site formation processes and visibility, this general setting exhibits a heterogeneous environment: the plains are traversed by several rivers and two

Materials and methods

For data analyses we used published information coming from excavated sites and well dated contexts. As shown in Fig. 1, most of the FTPS are surface findings. Several contexts with excavated FTPs, as RS C 43 (Brasil), Valiente (Chile), Santa Inés (Chile), and Tapera Moreira (Argentina), do not have associated radiocarbon dates (Berón, 2004; Jackson et al., 2004, Méndez et al., 2010, Loponte et al., 2016). Other contexts have problematic dates: Pali Aike (Chile), Los Toldos Cueva 3 (Argentina),

Archaeological visibility and site formation processes

Archaeological visibility and its relation to the record of early sites is an important concern for researchers working in the area (for example, Barrientos, 1991, Flegenheimer and Zárate, 1993, Prates et al., 2013, Martínez et al., 2015). The dominating feature in the region is the loessic plain but, at a scale of detail, a variety of environments must be considered when discussing visibility and site formation processes.

The following is a brief description of some relevant traits affecting

Research intensity and FTP findings

We recorded 169 excavated and dated sites in the Humid Pampas (Supplementary material Table A1). Considering the number of excavated sites per area (Fig. 3), the most intensely studied areas are the Delta and adjacent plains, South, Interserrana and Tandilia.

The Delta area has the most numerous excavated and dated archaeological sites. However, neither early sites nor FTP are recorded and all the dates correspond to the Late Holocene (Fig. 3a; Supplementary material Table A1).

In the South area,

Past social practices: assemblages and intersite variability

In the Pampean Region several sites could correspond to FTP peoples, some of them include points, others do not (Table 2). The sites mentioned above in central-east Tandilia show a great intersite variability, both related to different functions and to landscape choice (Flegenheimer, 1994, Flegenheimer and Mazzia, 2013, Flegenheimer et al., 2015a). This variability concerns differences in the archaeological assemblage, site emplacement, the presence of different moments of the production

Discussion

Recent chronological information from archaeological sites in the South American Southern Cone supports the proposal of an early peopling ca. 14,500 cal BP (i.e: Miotti et al., 2003, Prates et al., 2013, Politis et al., 2014, Suárez, 2017, Suárez et al., 2017). So far, diagnostic artifacts or projectile technology for these early groups were not found (Politis et al., 2016, Suárez, 2017). Suárez et al. (2017) proposes a “regional social and technological reorganization” for the Uruguayan

Conclusion

In synthesis, although information about FTP distribution is increasing, it is still discontinuous at the scale of the Southern Cone. Although some concentrations of early sites can be explained by the history of research and modern high population areas with good visibility and/or good preservation, others probably are due to human choices; certain landscapes and resources, such as hills and rocks, were especially attractive for early settlers. Furthermore, as sites occupied by early hunter

Acknowledgements

We want to thank Rafael Suárez and César Méndez for the invitation to publish in this volume and very especially for their patience during the process of writing the manuscript. We are much grateful to Romina Frontini, Paula Escosteguy and Marcelo Zárate whom we consulted on different issues. A special thanks to the reviewers of the manuscript for their enriching comments. The presentation was written with support from grants CONICET-PIP 112 -201101-00177 and PICT 2014-3054.

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