New records of fishtail projectile points from Brazil and its implications for its peopling

Abstract

Fishtail or Fell projectile points constitute a specific design associated with early hunter-gatherers at the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary in many parts of South America, especially along the Pacific Coast, Patagonia, and the Argentine-Uruguayan Pampas. In this paper, we present new records of fishtail projectile points, recovered mainly in the southern states of Brazil, including design and metric descriptions, as well as some technological features, which are similar to other South American findings. The pieces are curated in different academic and private collections, some of which have been available a long time for study, but have not been published until now. This record doubles, at least, the known data available for these projectiles within the territory of Brazil. Finally, the importance of this widely distributed record within the context of the peopling of southern Brazil is briefly discussed.