Obsidian Use and Mobility Range during the Early and Middle Holocene on the Salt Puna

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the use of raw materials as a tool to understand the mobility range of hunter-gatherers living in a high-elevation desert in the southern end of the Salt Puna (Antofagasta de la Sierra, Catamarca), ~9000– 6000 BP. Macroscopic analyses have shown a differential use of local and non-local lithic raw materials during the Early and Middle Holocene, which suggests a reduction in mobility during the latter period. However, X-ray fluorescence analyses of non-local obsidian from Middle Holocene contexts have determined the use of five sources within a range of 120 km from the basin of Laguna de Antofagasta and indicate high mobility (residential or logistical). Here we expand our knowledge of obsidian use by extending the time depth to the Early Holocene. We present new X-ray fluorescence results from the site Quebrada Seca 3, which provides the chronological backbone of this region, to understand which obsidian sources were used and how mobility ranges varied between the Early and Middle Holocene. We also discuss whether natural barriers that might have arisen due to increased aridity during the Middle Holocene, which could have impeded mobility and the use of some sources. Finally, we examine the use of obsidian beginning with the earliest occupation of the Salt Puna and its role in the interaction between people in different ecological zones on both sides of the south- central Andes over the course of several millennia.