Análisis morfométrico y tecnológico de artefactos bifaciales. Un caso de estudio del golfo san matías (Provincia De Río Negro, Argentina)

Abstract

Bifacial technology has many characteristics which are related to efficiency. Because it is a curated technology, it allows, among other things, to extend the use-life of different lithic raw materials and to increase the amount of flakes removed from a core. Moreover, bifacial edges have greater durability and a wide functional flexibility. In general, the study of these artifacts is based on a technical and morphological analysis, while the actual morphological variation is treated qualitatively. However, this variation is continuous and responds to both functional and technological aspects as well as to the life history of these artifacts. The geometric morphometric allows to characterize the morphological variation as it is, a continuum. Moreover, it also facilitates its characterization and its quantitative study. In San Matías Gulf coast this technology is widely represented in the lithic assemblages, with great variability in the final forms and raw materials that were used. The results suggest there are no significant differences regarding the use of different rocks used: raw materials that are locally were reduced to the same extent than raw materials more abundant in the sources of the area. Because of the general characteristics of the sample and environmental conditions of the Gulf, we believe that the manufacture of these bifaces would have been directed towards obtaining flexible tools that would have allowed the performance of a wide variety of tasks. Show more