Late Pleistocene Lithic Procurement and Geochemical Characterization of the Cerro Kaskio Obsidian Source in South‐western Bolivia

Abstract

Primary questions regarding the foraging behaviour of the first hunter–gatherers who colonized the New World are how they found, procured and utilized high‐quality raw materials for manufacturing stone tools. In this paper, we present evidence from the late Pleistocene site of Cueva Bautista in the highlands of south‐western Bolivia, which demonstrates that a substantial portion of the recovered stone tool assemblage originated in Cerro Kaskio, a recently discovered obsidian source located 15 km south‐west of the site. In addition to describing the geological and geochronological setting, we provide the first geochemical characterization of the Cerro Kaskio source by means of instrumental neutron activation analysis and energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence. Supported on the technological analysis and archaeometric sourcing of the obsidian lithics found in Cueva Bautista, we discuss the nature of the procurement strategies practised by the earliest mobile hunter–gatherers who explored and colonized the Andean highlands. We conclude that opportunistic lithic resource procurement was probably an important component of the first foraging societies that explored the highland Andes.

Early human-Earth interactions and the initial peopling of the lowlands of southeastern South America (São Paulo, Brazil)

“…Such high presence of early sites in places with greater availability of rocky outcrops differs from the patterns seen in several places linked to landscapes of lower latitudes, such as those in the lowlands of Europe (Duke and Steele, 2010), or higher altitude in South American mountain areas, as in the Andes (Capriles et al, 2018). This distinction may have a contribution from the alteration of the rocks into deep soils to be favored in tropical and subtropical lowlands areas, where soils commonly have tens of meters of thickness (EMBRAPA, 2020), as opposed to the usually less expressive thickness of soils (<4m) of European or Andean landscapes.…”

The procurement and use of knappable glassy volcanic raw material from the late Pleistocene Pilauco site, Chilean Northwestern Patagonia

“…According to Stern (), all the different types of obsidian found so far in Patagonia are chemically distinguishable, which allows their spatial distribution to be well documented. Bivariate diagrams are extensively used in Patagonia for those interpretations, employing elements such as Ba versus Zr (López, Pérez, & Stern, ; Méndez, Stern, Reyes, & Mena, ; Stern & Navarro, ; Stern et al, ; Stern et al, ; Stern, Navarro, & Muñoz, ; Stern et al, ), but also in other latitudes in South America (Capriles et al, , and references therein). No previous data is available for rhyodacitic or dacitic glass.…”

Hunting and feasting in the pre-Columbian Andes: Exploring the nature and scale of early ceremonial aggregations in Tulan Ravine (5300 to 2400 yr cal. BP) through the circulation of obsidian artefacts

“…Subsequently, measured counts from ED-XRF were converted to concentration by normalisation to the area of the Compton scattering peak. Samples from sources have been characterised previously by both XRF and NAA by Capriles et al (2018), Seelenfreund et al (2010aSeelenfreund et al ( , 2010b and Yacobaccio et al (2004).…”