New Records and Observations on Paleo-American Artifacts from Cerro Largo, Northeastern Uruguay and a Peculiar Case of Reclaimed Fishtail Points

Hugo G Nami

doi:10.4236/ad.2015.33011

Abstract

A research program directed to deepening the knowledge and understanding of Paleo-American “fishtail” points is being carried out. In pursuit this goal, lithic remains from Cerro Largo department, northeastern Uruguay is examined. One of the samples comes from Paso Centurion, a surface site that has yielded the greatest number of fishtail points in Uruguay. There, and at the Paso Taborda site, several exemplars were reworked as scraping tools, constituting a peculiar case of stone tool recycling and reclaiming by post-Pleistocene hunter-gatherers. The examined collection shed new light on regional lithic assemblages, stone tool behavior and the early colonization of southeastern South America. Additionally, the study of other Uruguayan fishtails show the use of edge-to-edge and overshot flaking, technical features shared with Paleoindian fishtailed points from North and Central America. Similarities with other Paleoindian points from both hemispheres of the New World in relation to the SouthAmerican fishtail origins are discussed.

Highlights

In scientific research about humankind, the evolution, dispersion and colonization of the world is one of the most fascinating and intriguing anthropological and archaeological issues
As part of these investigations, this paper reports new data obtained on Paleo-American lithic remains from Cerro Largo (CL) department, northeastern Uruguay (Figure 1)
One specimen from Paso Centurión (PC) and the one curated at Museo Histórico Regional de Cerro Largo (MHRCL) have broad blades with convex borders, rounded shoulders and slightly contracted stems with concave borders (Figure 3(a))

Summary

Introduction

In scientific research about humankind, the evolution, dispersion and colonization of the world is one of the most fascinating and intriguing anthropological and archaeological issues To understand general and particular issues of Late Pleistocene human groups, stone tools, mainly projectile points from those times have been subjected to a broad range of investigations. They have been useful in examining the variability of patterns at different localities; and allow the observation of numerous issues concerning their reduction sequences, morphology and function (Rondeau, 2009; Bradley et al, 2010; Jennings, 2008; Shott, 2013; White, 2013; and many others). Particular focus was made on the fishtail points and other artifacts (Nami, 2007, 2010a, 2013; Nami and Castro, 2014) As part of these investigations, this paper reports new data obtained on Paleo-American lithic remains from Cerro Largo (CL) department, northeastern Uruguay (Figure 1)

Archaeological Remarks

Analysis, Observations and Results

Summary and Conclusions