Tiny arrowpoints, bone-tipped projectiles and foraging during the Late Prehispanic Period (Sierras of Córdoba, Argentina)

Abstract

This paper presents the techno-typological analysis carried out on the projectile points recovered from three Late Prehispanic Period archaeological sites (1500-360 year BP, Sierras of Córdoba, Argentina), in order to assess how the dynamic of the sociocultural process influenced the design of hunting and warfare weapons. Projectile points were described in techno-typological terms, classified in typological sub-groups and functionally assigned to arrow or atlatl dart point. The sub-group of tiny arrowpoints with short triangular-shaped blade, contracted stems and barbed shoulders dominates the assemblages. All of them were made of opal and chalcedony, a high quality rock for tool knapping. Moreover, a sub-group of bone arrowpoints with triangular-shaped blade, straight stems and barbed shoulders as well as other sub-groups of quartz unstemmed with a triangular-shaped blade and concave base or lanceolate-shaped dartpoints were also recognized. The diversity of projectile point-types and hafting methods identified on-sites, along with the extensive use of the bow, the selection of high-quality lithic raw material and the incorporation of bone-tipped projectiles, led to interpret that physical violence was not an uncommon behavior and that hunting was not a complementary subsistence activity, being the later integrated into a mixed foraging and cultivation economy where flexibility was one of its defining traits.