Experiments and diacritical schemes to explore unifacial faking techniques of the early Holocene in northwest Santa Cruz

Abstract

In the early Holocene archaeological record in Northwest Santa Cruz province, a peculiar modality of manufacture of unifacial lithic artefacts was identifed. In its reduction sequence, the fake blanks were faked by detaching totally or partially covering fakes and then fnished by scalar retouches of about 10 mm. In order to deepen in the knowledge of its manufacture, replicative experiments, and diacritic analysis were performed on the experimental and archaeological specimens. The obtained results show that the totally or partially covering fake-scars correspond to a preconceived and deliberate action tending to shape the fake blank and are not accidental or result from the resharpening. In this way, the research reinforced that this way of making artefacts may correspond to a technical style shared by the early Holocene occupations in central-southern Patagonia.