Abstract

BIANCHI, Pablo E.  and  CAREAGA, Valeria P.. Gas chromatograhy applied to the analysis of lithic artifacts from the Deseado Massif: first results. Rev. Mus. Antropol. [online]. 2020, vol.13, n.1, pp.75-80. ISSN 1852-060X.  http://dx.doi.org/http://doi.org/10.31048/1852.4826.v13.n1.23844.

Abstract This study constitutes a first step to the understanding, from an archaeometric perspective, of the resource procurement strategies used by the human hunter-gatherers in the Southern end of the Deseado Massif (Santa Cruz province) during the Late Holocene. Archaeological samples from La Gruta 3 rockshelter were analyzed using gas chromatography. An experimental activity was carried on, in order to have a control sample that allows us to account how the local raw material behaves in contact with fatty substances. The results have shown the capacity of lithic materials to preserve them and, in the case of archaeological artifacts, to connect them with animal resources, though vegetables can´t be discarded. The preservation of these components in time, in spite of being subjected to processes that can alter their integrity, encourages the analysis of archaeological evidence using chemical characterization techniques. This study recognizes the importance of archaeometric approaches for the resolution of specific archaeological queries intertwined with sample conservation problems or by the kind of question asked.

Keywords : Deseado Massif; Lithic; Lipids; Gas chromatography; fatty acids.

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