The origin and dispersion of the bow in the Andes (16–37°S) based on a controlled database of projectile point metrics

Abstract

We present a discriminant metric study of stone projectile points (n = 422) from 21 archaeological sites in the Andes of South America (16–37°S). We use comparative datasets critically, since darts may have been smaller than previously thought. We assess the use-life of each point and tie them to reliable chronological sequences, in order to increase the reliability of our data. Our results show that in the Lake Titicaca Basin and northwestern Argentina, bows had replaced spearthrowers by 1780–950 cal BP, prior to the development of complex societies such as Wari and Tiwanaku. South of 29°S, the results suggest that bow technology was transmitted from north to south, since the earliest arrow-sized points at 29°S date to 3000 cal BP and at 37°S, 1800–1000 cal BP. North of 34°S, the continental limit of domesticated plants and animals, there is a gradual abandonment of the spearthrower. South of 34°S in northern Patagonia, both weapon systems coexisted. We suggest that bow and arrow technology was not an independent invention in the southern Andes, but instead, it appeared in new groups via macroregional technological borrowing among Andean herders.