Abstract
The use of mineral elements with special characteristics, such as quartz crystals, in ornamental or ceremonial contexts, is not uncommon in archaeology. Their appearance in different archaeological sites is the basis to discuss their significance for past societies. However, while these objects are loaded with symbolic value, it is difficult to identify them in hunter-gatherer sites. In this chapter, we discuss this subject from the case of a series of crystals discovered in the central area of the Big Island of Tierra del Fuego, and we outline their interpretation based on technofunctional analysis confronted with the ethnographic information for the region. Tierra del Fuego is located at the southern tip of South America. It was inhabited by hunter-gatherer societies since the end of last glaciation until the beginning of the twentieth century. In historical times, the central-northern sector of the Big Island was occupied by the Selknam society, in which there is an extensive ethnographic and ethnohistorical bibliography. Archaeological research in the central area of Tierra del Fuego has revealed a continuous occupation of hunter-gatherer societies. The analysis of provenience of raw materials lets us to propose hypothesis about mobility and interaction networks that can be confronted with the ethnographic information.
Highlights
Tierra del Fuego is located at the extreme south of South America
Unlikewise, with respect to the quartz crystals, it is surprising to note that their presence in archeological sites is very low: they have only been registered in Laguna town northwest of Filaret (NOF), in San Sebastián Bay, and in Rancho Donata site (Borrazzo, personal communication, 2013) and the cases of our research that we present in this work
5.1 Meaning of quartz as manuports. The presence of these materials in Kami 7 and Lainez sites, in the central part of the Big Island, is extremely interesting in several aspects. It is not the case of materials that were taken to the site as raw materials for tool making, nor for uses of any kind, as it was revealed to be the technofunctional analysis, since they do not present any kind of modification
Summary
Tierra del Fuego is located at the extreme south of South America. The archipelago is formed by a large island, the Big Island of Tierra del Fuego, and a series of smaller ones extending to the south up to Cape Horn. Our research concerns the central mountains region of the Big Island, within the frame of an ethnoarchaeological project called “Proyecto Arqueológico Corazón de la Isla” (PACI) that started in the late 80s and early 90s This region, according to the reports written by the travelers arrived to Tierra del Fuego during the nineteenth century, was inhabited by the Selknam, a nomad hunter-gatherer society who exploited a wide range of biotic and abiotic resources. For the different environments, it has been possible to document differences in density and intensity of occupation, as well as differences in raw materials used, as revealed by technofunctional analysis These variations are related to the mobility of hunter-gatherer groups, due to the accessibility, availability, and/or seasonal abundance of resources (i.e., in Refs.[7, 24, 27, 28, 31–33]). It would be interesting to explore them in relation with different findings of quartz crystals in archeological contexts in other parts of the world
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