Arqueología durante la Transición Pleistoceno-Holoceno en Uruguay: Componentes Paleoindios, Organización de la Tecnología Lítica y Movilidad de los Primeros Americanos

The main objective of this investigation is to obtain basic data that allow generation of cultural, geoarchaeological, paleoenvironmental and paleoecological knowledge about the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. These will allow discussion of different topics about the peopling of Uruguay within the context of the peopling of America.The book is illustrate with more than 90 photos and linedraw images of artifacts and excavation details.
The book presents a detailed investigation carried out at the Pay Paso locality, which contains a total of nine sites of archaeological, paleontological and paleoecological interest on the plains of the Cuareim River in northwestern Uruguay. The investigation presents a solid chronology that includes 34 14C ages determined by four different laboratories, including 32 by AMS. The excavation of Pay Paso 1 allowed stratigraphic, chronological and archaeological definition of the succession of three cultural components, including two dated during the Pleistocene Holocene transition at 10,930 and 10,500 yr 14C BP (component 1) and 10,205 and 10,115 years 14 C BP (component 2), and another occupation during the early Holocene dated between 9,585 and 8,570 yr 14C BP (component 3). Components 2 and 3 present two different projectile point types, indicating more cultural variability during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition and early Holocene in northwestern Uruguay than previously known.
The excavation of Pay Paso 1 allowed recovery of the first records of Pleistocene fauna at an archaeological site in Uruguay. The 186 bones recovered presently make the only faunal collection for an early archaeological site in the country. The contextual, stratigraphic and chronological associations between artifacts and fauna include two extinct mammals of the Pleistocene: Glyptodon sp. and Equus sp. and three other species of present-day fauna, including: a fish, Leporinus sp. (boga), a bird Rhea americana (ñandú), and a medium-sized mammal, Myocastor (otter). The recovered bones do not present cut marks caused by lithic artifacts. Samples of scute and bone of Glyptodon sp. as well as teeth of Equus sp. were dated between 9,585 and 9,120 years 14C BP, which suggests survival of these herbivores until the early Holocene, similar to what occurs approximately 800 km further south in the Pampa of Argentina.
The data obtained from the artifacts from excavation of Pay Paso 1 are compared with those recovered at site K87, where correlations are observed in the use of raw materials, as well as the presence of similar formal artifacts in both sites. The two types of projectile points recovered in components 2 and 3 of Pay Paso 1 are present in stratigraphic contexts of site K87. This investigation defines two new types of early projectile points. The K87 points were dated in three different stratigraphic archaeological contexts with a total of 6 radiocarbon ages during 10,420-9,700 yr C14 BP.
The study of a collection of Fell 1 or "fishtail points" from Uruguay indicates that the classic definition of the Fell 1design actually is insufficient to give an account of the morphological variety represented by these artifacts, fundamentally in the stems and blades. Using a mathematical expression I generate a rejuvenation index that allows measurement of the maintenance that had been applied to the Fell 1 points.
Lastly, using the distribution of resources and artifacts in the landscape, I propose a model of the mobility for the early groups in northwestern Uruguay. The movement involves displacements with ranges of distances within 140-170 km from residential sites toward quarry-workshop and provisioning sites of translucent agate.
The recent data permit new implications about the early peopling of southeastern South America within the general context of the peopling of America.