Description

The Pilauco site, in northwestern Chilean Patagonia, presents evidence of human occupation in South America ca. 16,500 cal yr BP. This article presents the techno-functional analysis of a unifacial artifact belonging to a 17,300 cal yr BP level, found in association with five other lithic pieces. Artifacts of this type have long been considered expedient rather than formal or curated pieces. These artifacts remain in the shadow of bifacial pieces, particularly so-called projectile points. The results of the techno-functional analysis made it possible to diagnose the unifacial artifact as a plano-convex volumetric structure with two parallel backs, on which two different tools were produced at different manufacturing stages via the technical operations of affordance, debitage, and shaping. The detailed description of this type of artifact is crucial for a more complete definition of the technical phenomena associated with the first occupations in South America.

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3DModel

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This Paper is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Elvin Taylor

AMS-based 14C ages have been obtained on plant, wood, and charcoal fragments taken from a series of 1-cm segments of a 94.5 cm long core drilled into sediments adjacent to archaeological site of Monte Verde, Chile. With four exceptions, the 14C values on organics taken from about the lower approximately 25-cm of the core (70-94.5 cm levels) suggests a relatively rapid deposition of sediments. A Bayesian analysis of the 14C values have narrowed the time interval provided by the 14C data for the high-sediment rate depositional segment of the core. During the deposition of the sediments in that segment of the core, there are four instances which may indicate that sediments from one or more older watershed area(s) were being transported into the sediment accumulation zone from which the core was taken for relatively short periods of time. In two of these cases, 14C ages on the organics from 2 adjacent 1-cm increments were about 1250 14C years older than organics in both adjacent levels. With these exceptions, 14C ages obtained on the sediment organics in the bottom 25-cm segment of this core are consistent with the 14C values previously reported on artifacts and other materials excavated from the adjacent archaeological site.

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DigitalDocument

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