Offing 2 Locus 2 archaeological site (Dawson Island, Patagonia, Chile), marine hunter-gatherers and interaction during the Late Holocene

Summary

The results of Offing 2 Locus 2 archaeological site are presented and used to discuss broader implications for Patagonia hunter-gatherer contexts during Late Holocene.

The site is located near Dawson Island, within a strategic geographical position between Fueguian-Patagonian archipelagos and South America mainland . Radiocarbon dating states occupation around 800 BP. Evidence is characteristic of shellmidden deposits and chronological evidence indicates a short occupational sequence. Lithic technology includes use and transport of green obsidian with predominant use of local rocks, and a wide typology of instruments as end-scrapers, side-scrapers and knives, common along the macro-region. As for projectile points they are predominantly stemmed but varied in typology and small size points are identified with bow-arrow weapons similar to those described for ethnographic collections.

Bone instruments consider wedges, retouchers and awls, among others, but the key characteristic instruments are harpoon points of one barb and simple-tenon base that are detachable, also described in historic-ethnographic times. Other fauna elements include guanaco bone remains (Lama guanicoe) and scallop shells (Chlamys sp.) both of exotic origin and decorated bird bone pendants. Subsistence strategies are dominated by pinniped exploitation, sea birds and fishing. Results are discussed in relation to cultural traits and interaction evidence.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

Cite this Record

Offing 2 Locus 2 archaeological site (Dawson Island, Patagonia, Chile), marine hunter-gatherers and interaction during the Late Holocene. Manuel San Roman, Jimena Torres, Flavia Morello. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 398039)

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

min long: -93.691; min lat: -56.945 ; max long: -31.113; max lat: 18.48 ;