Hostname: page-component-76d6cb85b7-lrvh5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-07-15T00:30:29.556Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Design Change of Projectile Points during the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene in the Pampas (Argentina)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 December 2025

María Paula Barros*
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Paleontológicas del Cuaternario Pampeano, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Olavarría, Argentina
Gustavo G. Politis
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Paleontológicas del Cuaternario Pampeano, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Museo de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina
*
Corresponding author: María Paula Barros; Email: pbarros@soc.unicen.edu.ar

Abstract

Analysis of the projectile points from the Arroyo Seco 2 site allows us to evaluate their design and use from the Early to the Late Holocene in the Pampas region. The Arroyo Seco 2 projectile points are associated with events of interpersonal violence as well as hunting. Based on the techno-morphological and typological analysis and the interpretation of weapon systems, it enables us to establish differences and similarities of several point designs. The results are integrated with projectile point information from other sites in the eastern Pampas to develop a chronological sequence from the Late Pleistocene through the Holocene of projectile designs that were used throughout the period.

Resumen

Resumen

El análisis de las puntas de proyectil halladas en el sitio Arroyo Seco 2, permite evaluar el diseño y uso de estos instrumentos desde el Holoceno temprano hasta el Holoceno tardío en la región pampeana. Estas puntas de proyectil han sido asociadas con contextos de violencia interpersonal y con actividades de caza. A partir del análisis tecnomorfológico, tipológico y de los sistemas de armas de los que pudieron haber formado parte los proyectiles, se establecieron diferencias y similitudes entre ellos. Los resultados obtenidos se integraron con la información de las puntas de proyectil provenientes de otros sitios de la Pampa Oriental, para completar la secuencia cronológica (Pleistoceno tardío y Holoceno), con el fin de establecer una línea de tiempo que represente los diseños de los proyectiles que fueron utilizados a lo largo del Holoceno.

Information

Type
Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for American Archaeology.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Supplementary material: File

Barros and Politis supplementary material 1

Supplemental Figure 1. Size and length-width ratio.
Download Barros and Politis supplementary material 1(File)
File 13.9 KB
Supplementary material: File

Barros and Politis supplementary material 2

Supplemental Figure 2. Location of the sites mentioned in the text.
Download Barros and Politis supplementary material 2(File)
File 14.9 KB
Supplementary material: File

Barros and Politis supplementary material 3

Supplemental Table 1. Radiocarbon dates of the sites mentioned in the text.
Download Barros and Politis supplementary material 3(File)
File 46.6 KB
Supplementary material: File

Barros and Politis supplementary material 4

Supplemental Table 2. Fracture description of AS2 projectile points.
Download Barros and Politis supplementary material 4(File)
File 20.6 KB
Supplementary material: File

Barros and Politis supplementary material 5

Supplemental Table 3. Relative dimensions in complete pieces associated with human burials.
Download Barros and Politis supplementary material 5(File)
File 14.8 KB
Supplementary material: File

Barros and Politis supplementary material 6

Supplemental Table 4. Relative dimensions in complete pieces found in the upper part of the stratigraphic unit Y.
Download Barros and Politis supplementary material 6(File)
File 13.6 KB