Fishtail Projectile Points in the Pampas Inland: New Information from the Central Pampean Dunefields of Argentina

Abstract

Fishtail projectile points (∼12,800–12,100 cal yr BP) have been used as a proxy for the peopling of South America. We analyze the first three Fishtail projectile points found in the Central Pampean Dunefields of Argentina, an area where, until now, the earliest human occupations dated back to the early Holocene. These points show technological and morphological similarities with others recovered in the Pampas of Argentina and southern South America. The raw materials used in their manufacture come from the Tandilia Hills, which is also one of the places with the highest concentration of Fishtail projectile points in the Pampas. The distribution of these points in the Central Pampean Dunefields could be the result of long-distance logistical mobility trips undertaken by bands from the southeastern Pampas, or they may represent the earliest human occupations that began to colonize this sandy and shallow-lake landscape during the final part of the late Pleistocene.