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

Abstract

In this study we used a multidisciplinary approach, coupling morphological, geological, geochemical, and statistical analyses to investigate the provenance of rhyodacitic and dacitic glass knapped at the Pilauco site (40°34′11” S, 73°06′17” W; 13,570 ± 70–12,540 ± 90 14C year BP) in northwestern Chilean Patagonia. A morphotechnological analysis was performed on the entire lithic assemblage, which is composed of cores, retouched and unretouched unifacial flakes, and small pieces of debitage, some of them closely associated with Notiomastodon aff. N. platensis gomphothere bones. Sixty‐two archeological and geological samples were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry revealing a wide range of basaltic to rhyodacitic compositions. The archeological knappable dacitic and rhyodacitic glasses were recovered from pebbles deposited mainly on a beach away from the site, as deduced by the presence of minute and dense crescentic percussion marks on the cortexes. Geochemical trace element analysis suggests that the Puyehue–Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex is the most likely source for the volcanic glass artifacts at Pilauco. The new morphotechnological and provenance record and improved stratigraphic sequences highlight the Pilauco site as an important contribution for the diversity of the South American geoarchaeological context.

Experimental Development of Transport Percussion Marks on Obsidian Clasts, Pilauco Site, Chilean Northwestern Patagonia

“…In the context of Pilauco, geochemical studies of a set of artifacts and chips composed of rhyodacitic and dacitic glass made it possible to propose that the source of these raw materials corresponds to a volcanic complex located about 80 km east of the site [9]. Frequently, surface micro-texture analyses use scanning electron microscopy of the sandy fraction of quartz grains ( [27] and references therein).…”

“…The richness of its findings has made it possible to reconstruct part of the life of the first inhabitants of northwestern Chilean Patagonia during that time, as well as the associated existing and extinct flora and fauna [7]. The research conducted at the Pilauco site has been approached from several disciplines, i.e., geology, paleontology, paleobotany, archaeology and astrophysics, with a transdisciplinary strategy [8][9][10][11][12].…”

“…During the Late Pleistocene, the human settlement of South America through the Bering Strait became one of the most inspiring research issues for archaeology ( [1,2] and references therein). South American archaeology has strongly focused on understanding the relationship between early Americans and their natural environment [3][4][5][6]9,[13][14][15]. The study of lithic artifacts has often been carried out by combining morphotechnological studies with geochemical identification of raw material sources (e.g., [16][17][18]).…”

“…In general, the lithic artifacts described are usually unifacial and quite simple, as is the case of the Pilauco site [20]. Characteristics of the artifact surface crust fabric are barely mentioned [9].…”

Onthophagus pilauco sp. nov. (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae): evidence of beetle extinction in the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in Chilean Northern Patagonia

“…1A ). Pilauco is considered to be a well-developed site at which to study the Pleistocene–Holocene transition due to its very obvious stratigraphy, large amount of animal and plant fossil remains, evidence of early-human occupation, and sedimentary record of the Younger Dryas bolide-impact at 12.8k cal yr BP ( Pino et al 2013 , 2019 , Moreno et al 2019 , Navarro-Harris et al 2019 ). The current weather regime in Osorno (11.4 °C mean annual temperature, ~1300 mm precipitation per year) indicates temperate-warm climatic conditions.…”