Study of an open-air site of hunter-gatherer in the Salar del Hombre Muerto (boundary area of Salta and Catamarca provinces).

A contribution to the archeology of the early holocene in the Puna of northwestern Argentina

Abstract

We present the results obtained in the investigation of an open-air archaeological site (SHM-S2-s2) located in the southwestern slopes of the cerro Ratones (Salar del Hombre Muerto, bordering area of the provinces of Salta and Catamarca). The site is composed by a dispersion of lithic artifacts at surface (SHM-S2-s2/2) and a spatially associated parapet (SHM-S2-s2/1). Here we will examine a lithic assemblage collected from the surface through its techno-morphological and morphological-functional analysis. On the other hand, the results obtained in the excavation of the parapet will be presented. The chronology of the site, established in a relative basis by surface registers of diagnostic morphological types (non-stemmed triangular points), corresponds to the early Holocene. In order to analyze the morphological variability of these points, we used a univariate statistical test, comparing them with similar artifacts from other NOA sites. These records allow this area of ​​the Puna to be included into the earliest moments of human peopling in northwestern Argentina.