Stylistic variability in bone tools from the Low Paraná wetland. Late Holocene, Argentina

Abstract

Although the Paraná River wetland includes a high number of Late Holocene archaeological sites from hunter-gatherer groups which share material properties related to a common subsistence strategy, material variability can be seen in the regional scale. Through the analysis of pottery style, some authors have proposed that this could be related to the development of social limits. While in sites earlier than 1100 years BP pottery decoration is heterogeneous, in later samples, there is a group of archaeological sites with homogeneous patterns in pottery decoration, while this is mostly plain in others. Bone technology could be used to test and discuss these ideas, as it is well represented in different sectors of the Paraná River, in archaeological contexts from ~2300 to 700 years BP. Although the functional character of bone tools has been largely addressed, decorative and morphological stylistic features have remained outside the scope of traditional literature. As a result of our analysis, we conclude that there is a differential behaviour in the decorative style of bone tools. In early sites, decoration is rare and highly variable, which could be interpreted as an individual marker. In late contexts, decoration is only present in sites with plain pottery and it shows a standardized pattern that suggests the existence of a common code among certain groups of people.