Broad-Spectrum Foraging, Trade, and Lithic Technology: A First Approach to the Slab Stone Tools from Prehispanic Sierras of Córdoba, Argentina

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe article presents the study of the slab stone tools collected at the San Roque locality (Sierras of Córdoba, Argentina), a poorly known tool type that merits more detailed studies. . The assemblage was also analyzed from a technological-functional point of view, but the source of raw materials was also investigated to infer the range of past mobility and/or the size of trade networks. The major cost of tools was represented by the systematic acquisition of the raw material from the quarries located 25–200 km rather than by manufacturing. Technological attributes and use-wear on active edges suggest that they were broad-functional tools linked to the need for a broad-spectrum adaptative strategy that required diverse tools for processing a wide variety of foodstuff and their by-products. The landfall of crop plant cultivation ca. 1200 years BP, probably increased the need for this tool type, reinforcing pre-existent trade networks for raw material acquisition. .KEYWORDS: Lithic technologyHolocenebroad-spectrum foraging basetool stonesquarries AcknowledgmentOur acknowledgment also extends to Museo Arqueológico Numba Charava, Reserva y Laboratorio Achala Sacate, Agencia Córdoba Cultura, J. Sfragulla, G. Guraieb, J. Montegú, M. Leipus, D. Rivero, J. Belardi, R. Barberena, L. Tissera, M. Gritti, I. Traktman and M. Traktman, who provided professional advice, equipment and replied to our numerous requests to improve the original text.Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba [Proyecto CONSOLIDAR 33620190100011CB], the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas [PIP 11220200100770CO] and of the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica [grant number 2016-201-0677].Notes on contributorsGisela SarioGisela Sario is an Adjunt Researcher of the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and Professor of the Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina). She got the degree of Ph.D. in Archaeology from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (Argentina) in 2011. She is focusing his research on the Late Holocene foragers and horticuralist from Southern Punilla Valley. There, she has been leading research grant-funded projects since 2018, where she carried out archaeological surveys, stratigraphic excavations, and the analysis of multiple evidence, including lithic, pottery remains, and architecture. Moreover, she also made significant contributions to the archaeological knowledge of early peopling of the Americas in Sierras de San Luis, a neighboring mountain range from Sierras of Córdoba. She published the results of her research in high-impact peer-reviewed journals from Argentina, Chile, Spain, Italy, the USA, the UK, and Germany.Marcos SalvatoreMarcos Salvatore is Geologist of the Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica (CNEA, Regional Centro). He is focusing his research on the prospecting-exploration of rocks and minerals in areas of La Rioja, Argentina. These tasks are accompanied with the support of petrological-mineralogical determinations, through the preparation and observation of thin sections of rock and in particular cases X-ray diffractions and EDS. He is finishing his master’s degree in Environmental Engineering.Florencia CostantinoFlorencia Costantino is a PhD. Student in Anthropology from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (Córdoba, Argentina). She is finishing his Ph.D. thesis focused on the lithic technology of semi-sedentary people from Sierras of Córdoba (Argentina), under the supervision of a Ph.D. Gisela Sario. She participated in diverse meetings, articles, research projects, and numerous fieldwork in Argentina.Sebastián PastorSebastián Pastor is an Independient Researcher of the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and of the Instituto Regional de Estudios Socio-Culturales (IRES, Catamarca). He got the degree of Ph.D. in Anthropology from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (La Plata, Argentina) in 2007. He finished his postdoctoral fellowship in the Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología of the Universidad de Sevilla and the Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) in 2012. He is primarily interested in the cultural evolution of mixed economies from central Argentina, including the Sierras of Córdoba and the Llanos of La Rioja, where he led, co-leaded, and participated in different research projects since 1995. He also made significant contributions to the archaeological knowledge of early peopling of the Americas, rock art, and the early post-contact native people’s lifeways (XVI-XVII centuries AD). S. Pastor published about archaeology in books and peer-reviewed journals from Spain, Colombia, the United States, Slovenia, Colombia, Chile, and Argentina. Moreover, he participated in numerous scientific meetings in Argentina and Europe.Matías E. MedinaMatías E. Medina is an archaeologist primarily interested in multi-resource-based prehispanic economies and how they impacted on ancient environments. He is an Independent Researcher of the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and of the División Arqueología, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo (Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina). He got the degree of Ph.D. in Archaeology from the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 2008. He is focusing his research on the Late Prehispanic Period of the Sierras of Córdoba (∼1220–330 cal BP, Argentina). There, he has leaded, co-leaded and participated in different research grant-funded projects about this topic since 2000, where he carried out archaeological surveys, stratigraphic excavations and the analysis of multiple evidences, including architecture, pollen, faunal, plant, pottery and lithic remains. Moreover, he also made significant contributions to the paleobiology of the mountain biota, applying archaeological data to improve wildlife management decisions. He published the results of his multidisciplinary research in books and high-impact peer reviewed journals from Spain, USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Slovenia and France.