Contreras Mira, Catalina María;
(2023)
Lithic technology and raw material economy in the steppe of Central-Western Patagonia.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
The highly mobile lifestyle of Patagonian hunter-gatherers impacted their technological behaviours and selection and use of knappable lithic raw materials. This study investigates the organization of the human occupation of the steppe of Central-Western Patagonia across the Holocene, based on lithic technology and raw material economy. To do so, it evaluates toolstone availability on a regional as well as on a local scale, which it then compares to raw materials present in five archaeological assemblages from two valleys in Central-Western Patagonia. It also characterises technologically, typologically, and taphonomically those five assemblages, and then evaluates the relation between mobility, raw material economy and technology. The results of this study indicate that there is a preference for the use of finegrained siliceous raw materials for the production of varied types of artefacts, but these raw materials are not locally available in the surveyed area of Central-Western Patagonia, and are therefore deemed allochthonous. Chaînes opératoires are highly fragmented and dispersed over the wide territory these populations inhabited. Also, diachronic technological change is not marked, and raw material economy, technological composition and attributes at each site are conditioned by local availability and quality of knappable toolstones, and site function.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Lithic technology and raw material economy in the steppe of Central-Western Patagonia |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2023. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10168201 |
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