Levallois technology in southern Patagonia (Argentina and Chile): current knowledge and future perspectives

Abstract

Situated on the extreme point of South America, southern Patagonia has yielded the southernmost evidence of Levallois lithic technology. There, enough evidence of the use of a method of core preparation for production of predefined flakes similarly structured to the known Levallois technology in the Old World is present. An overview of the currently available information (distribution, chronology, frequency, artifact classes, raw materials and techno-morphological attributes) on Levallois technology in southern continental Patagonia and on the Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego (Argentina and Chile) is presented here in order to discuss its place in the shared technological background of local hunter-gatherers during the Holocene.