Hunter-gatherers and herders in the Andes (San Juan, Argentina): changes in technological organization during the Holocene

Abstract

The ARQ-18 rock shelter, located in the northwestern cordillera of the San Juan Province of Argentina, has a long occupational sequence (ca. 8,000 years BP). A middle Holocene hiatus of 1,600 years separates high residential mobility hunter-gatherer occupation from transhumant herder occupation. This article evaluates changes in the organization of lithic technology linked to transformations in subsistence and mobility. Our analysis addresses the origin of resources, artifact density, reduction sequences, artifact variability, and technical classes. The data demonstrates that the transition to a diversified economy resulted in longer stays, a greater diversity of tasks, the use of mostly expedient and opportunistic strategies, and a decrease in time invested in the making of lithic implements. Curation strategies are linked to a continuity of hunting as an economic activity.