New Paleoindian Finds, Further Fell Points Data, and Technological Observations from Uruguay

Implications for the Human Peopling in Southeastern South America

Dados Bibliográficos

ID9360944
AutoresHugo Nami (0000-0001-7419-933X, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, autor correspondente), Hugo G Nami, Andrés Florines (Universidad de Montevideo), Arturo Toscano (Centro Uruguayo de Imagenología Molecular)
Ano2017
Volume06
Fascículo01
Páginas21-37
Data de publicação2017-12-26
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoArchaeological Discovery (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2331-1959 • E-ISSN: 2331-1967
EditoraScientific Research Publishing (PUBLISHER • CN)
DOI10.4236/ad.2018.61002
OpenAlexW2779304872
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas16
Referências citadas43

Mainly represented by “fishtail” or Fell points (~11,000 - 10,000 uncalibrated years BP), Paleoindian remains in Uruguay are distributed over a wide area. However, just a few stratified sites have yielded evidence of the earliest settlers in this part of South America. Cueva Amarilla was discovered as a result of an intensive survey conducted in the Lavalleja department. Because cave sites in Uruguay are scarce, an evaluation of its archaeological potentiality was performed. Lithic artifacts and charcoal were exhumed from its sedimentary deposits. A sample of the latter yielded a conventional radiocarbon date of 10,000 uncalibrated years BP. This date suggests that Cueva Amarilla witnessed an occupation during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, which was thus Paleoindian. This date agrees well with the time-span of the Fell occupation in South America in general, and particularly in southern Uruguay. Therefore, this level might have belonged to hunter-gatherer colonizers who used “fishtails” as part of their weaponry. In this regard further “fishtail” points data as well the specimens coming from neighboring departments are reported. In the study area, and around the cave, there are ubiquitous primary and secondary sources of lithic raw materials, mainly significant outcrops of a yellowish/pale-brown siliceous rock, commonly called “opal” or “jasper”, which was used since Paleoindian times. Related to the stone tool reduction systems, this material along with other finds from Cueva Amarilla is discussed from a technological perspective. The finds from this cave along with the Fell point finds from the region, are discussed within the framework of the colonization process of South America

Archaeology · Cave · Charcoal · Fell · Geography · Holocene · Middle Stone Age · Pleistocene · Radiocarbon dating · Rock shelter · Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Geology · Paleontology