Human Dispersal in the Atlantic Slope of Patagonia and the Role of Lithic Availability

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of different resources in the human ranking of habitats during the peopling of the Atlantic slope of Central-South Patagonia, as well as the technological strategies used during early human dispersal. We studied the distribution of early sites in the Deseado Massif, where there is a relatively high concentration of evidence of earlyhuman activity. We analyzed published information related to site chronology and distribution, presence/absence of hearths, raw-material provenance, the presence of bifacial artifacts and reduction activities, the location of corridors, and least-cost paths among sites. Results show that water would have been the most important resource in selecting locations. The availability of high-quality rocks would have been an asset, which also helped to generate a highly visiblearchaeological record in which bifaces were important. These resources were probably exploited using a multidirectional half-radius pattern of movements, basically restricted to the eastern margin of Massif.