Abstract

AMBRUSTOLO, Pablo. BLACK OBSIDIAN IN THE NORTH COAST OF SANTA CRUZ: HUMAN INTERACTIONS AND LITHIC PROCUREMENT. Comechingonia [online]. 2020, vol.24, n.3, pp.40-49. ISSN 1851-0027.

Geochemical analyzes performed on black obsidian artifacts from the north coast of Santa Cruz show the long-distance circulation, at least from the middle Holocene, of the three varieties of this raw material recognized at the Pampa del Asador source, located approximately 400 km west of the mentioned area. Studies of distributional archeology conducted at regional level, argue that the relative frequencies of obsidian artifacts, their sizes and proportion of cortical reserve, would decrease from the west to the east, as they move away from the potential procurement source. In a previous paper, we suggested that the record of evidence of initial knapping events of obsidian pebbles, added to the identification of artifacts with high percentages of cortex, suggested that obtaining pieces of said raw material would have been under pebbles morphologies. Based on the finding of black obsidian pebbles, which have similar dimensions to those recorded at the source itself, we proposal that their procurement would have occurred through various mechanisms linked, among other factors, with the establishment and strengthening of social relations within the framework of mobility circuits that would link the coast and the interior.

Keywords : lithic raw materials; procurement; exchange; mobility; sealittoral.