New Records and Observations on Paleo-American Artifacts from Cerro Largo, Northeastern Uruguay and a Peculiar Case of Reclaimed Fishtail Points

Abstract

A research program directed to deepening the knowledge and understanding of Paleo-American “fishtail” points is being carried out. In pursuit this goal, lithic remains from Cerro Largo department, northeastern Uruguay is examined. One of the samples comes from Paso Centurión, a surface site that has yielded the greatest number of fishtail points in Uruguay. There, and at the Paso Taborda site, several exemplars were reworked as scraping tools, constituting a peculiar case of stone tool recycling and reclaiming by post-Pleistocene hunter-gatherers. The examined collection shed new light on regional lithic assemblages, stone tool behavior and the early colonization of southeastern South America. Additionally, the study of other Uruguayan fishtails show the use of edge-to-edge and overshot flaking, technical features shared with Paleoindian fishtailed points from North and Central America. Similarities with other Paleoindian points from both hemispheres of the New World in relation to the SouthAmerican fishtail origins are discussed.