Techno-Morphological and Use-Wear Analyses of Gunflints from Two Spanish Colonial Sites (Patagonia, Argentina)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present the results of the analysis of a gunflints sample from two Colonial archaeological sites located in Patagonia (Argentina). The questions that guided the investigation were related primarily to determination of their origin and the context of their use, as well as the possibility of recycling and reclamation after they were discarded. We perform techno-morphological, raw materials and use-wear analyses. The results indicate that, given their form, the raw materials, an important amount of edge scarring and evidence of contact with metal, all of the pieces were used as gunflints and are of European origin.