Exploring lithic transport in Tierra del Fuego (Southern South America)

Abstract

This paper examines the archaeological case study of Miraflores rocks (tuff and silicified tuff) to explore several alternative causes of lithic transport in Fuego-Patagonia during the Late Holocene. Although these rocks are naturally available within a restricted area of northern Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego, they were both transported several hundred kilometers away from the source in the Miraflores Valley, across and outside the island. Macroscopic, petrographic, and geochemical analyses showed that the identification of both raw materials isreliable, while an extensive sampling of Fuegian artifact collections has assessed the contribution of these rocks to the overall Fuegian lithic assemblages. The integration of technological data from extant Miraflores artifacts and the archaeological and ethnographic information available for Tierra del Fuego suggests that different factors conditioned the transport of Miraflores rocks.The initial goal of our studies was the silicified tuff; however, after ten years of work it appears that the major driving factor for exploitation at the Miraflores source area was the acquisition of tuff. Tuff would have offeredthe most adequate physical properties for the manufacture and use of large polishers with a variety of potential functions. Spatial analyses indicated that the cumulative distance of 200 km to the source (nearly 125 km in linear distance) probably represent the threshold of direct access to Miraflores. The distribution of Miraflores rocks beyond this radius involved other provisioning strategies. We conclude that most of the silicified tuff remains recovered at Fuegian sites represent incidental by-products of mobility, while tuff was an explicitly pursued material.