Abstract
This paper presents the results of a study of the composition of lithic raw materials from the contexts of archaeological sites of hunter-gatherers of Central Chile (latitudes 33° to 34.5° S) between 5000 to 1000 years BP. This territory is characterized by a wide distribution of certain coarse and medium-grained lithic raw materials (andesite, basalt and granite), preferably used in low formatted tools, and the specific location of those of fine grain (obsidian and siliceous rocks), suitable for bifacial reduction, only in some localities. In this analysis, 22 sites have been included, each of which presents different proportions of these raw materials in their context, a set that, when analysed in terms of the diversity of each case, generated clear spatial groupings which were ratified by means of a principle component analysis. These groupings of sites are located in direct association with the lithic landscape of different localities within the region, although we propose that the simple cost-benefit explanation would not account for their formation. According to the authors, these groups would be marked by behaviours that can only result from social restrictions on access to certain sources of these raw materials, especially considering that the distances between their location and the position of the different sources in several cases is not too large to be considered a factor in itself. These restrictions could be interpreted as the existence of socially different groups within the study area, a question that is compared with ethnographic data currently available on the size of the territories of different groups of hunter-gatherers and their annual mobility ranges.
Highlights
The concept of territory as it applies to hunter-gatherer groups has been a constant in anthropological and archaeological discussions
According to the analyses conducted, the proportion of lithic raw materials, recorded as by-products of reduction at hunter-gatherer archaeological sites in Central Chile, allows us to define four groups, each associated with the lithic landscapes of the different regions in which they are situated, especially in regard to the fine-grained raw materials most suitable for bifacial reduction
These groups could not have resulted from a simple cost-benefit analysis by a single group that moved around the entire territory, accessing the raw materials from sources available in the respective lithic landscapes
Summary
The concept of territory as it applies to hunter-gatherer groups has been a constant in anthropological and archaeological discussions. Along the same line, Ingold (1986) proposed a distinction between territorial behaviour and tenure, the claiming of an exclusive right of use of certain places and spaces, in which hunter-gatherer groups took a one-dimensional approach, meaning they concentrated on controlling places where certain resources existed, rather than a two-dimensional conception, i.e., involving an entire area. This opens up the possibility that a single continuous portion of space could have been used by different groups, each of which claimed certain resource sources. We intend to expand this perspective to the entire territory of Central Chile (Figure 1), using access to lithic raw material as an indicator of the social differences that would have existed among hunter-gatherer populations that lived in this area between 5000 and 1000 BP
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