Expanding the scope of Actualistic Taphonomy in Archaeological Research

Abstract

This chapter presents the application of actualistic taphonomy to the study of one of the inorganic remains produced by hominins since 3 million year BP up to historical times: lithic artifacts. As rocks are among the most durable raw materials employed by modern humans and their ancestors, differential preservation has conferred a leading role in archaeological research upon lithic artifacts. Indeed, lithics -flaked artifacts in particular- are the proxy for culture or anthropic presence most commonly used by scholars all over the world. This artifact-human relationship promoted actualistic research on flintknapping in archaeology but no similar effort was devoted to assessing alternative non-cultural (i.e. taphonomic) sources for flaked stone objects. Even though actualistic studies have already shown that taphonomic processes may produce lithic pseudomorphs, this fact is only rarely considered in archaeological practice and research design. Furthermore, it is commonly assumed that human products are different enough from any natural specimen to be detected by lithic analysts. However, the current lack of knowledge on non-cultural flaking processes and their byproducts prevents their identification in the archaeological record, thus undermining the accuracy and reliability of archaeological interpretations. This paper illustrates the contribution of actualistic taphonomy to study the inorganic remains of the archaeological record and its critical role in assessing the cultural vs natural origin of lithic specimens in Fuego-Patagonia (South America). Naturalistic and experimental research on rockfall and trampling presented here suggests that the effects of these taphonomic processes result in pseudoartifacts that progressively incorporate to the regional archaeological record.