Maggard 2010--New Evidence of Fishtail in Northern Peru

8/13/2019 Maggard 2010--New Evidence of Fishtail in Northern Peru

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/maggard-2010-new-evidence-of-fishtail-in-northern-peru 1/3



some 35–45 km to the east. A similar pattern of raw material use (local quartzcrystal and non-local fine-grained silicates) was also reported for Fishtail pointsrecovered elsewhere in northern Perú (Briceño 2004; León C. et al. 2004). Incontrast, Paiján points found on these sites are manufactured entirely from

locally available fine-grained quartz, quartzite, and rhyolite. All the documented Fishtail points from northern Perú (Q. Batán, Q. SantaMaria, La Cumbre, Piura Alta, and Laguna Negra) are similar in size (approxi-mately 5–6 cm long). This average length is similar to that of points from sitesin Argentina, Uruguay, and Ecuador, whose length averages 4–7 cm (Bell2000; Nami 2007; Politis 1991, Table 2; Suárez and López 2003). In spite of thesimilarities in size, there is a relatively wide range of morphological variability among Fishtail points within and across different regions. As the points fromthe Q. Batán demonstrate, this appears to be equally true in northern Perú.

Fishtail points from western South America generally date to ca. 11,200–10,100RCYBP (Borerro 2006; Dillehay 2000; Nami 2007). AMS dates from intact deposits at two of the sites in the Q. Batán (Je 996 and 1002) suggest a somewhat more restricted time frame of regional occupation (ca. 11,100–10,600RCYBP).Site Je 1002 yielded an AMS date of 11,014 ± 64RCYBP (AA57942); site Je 996 yielded a date of 10,650 ± 50RCYBP (Beta 185074) (Maggard 2010). Both datesare from wood charcoal samples from buried strata containing lithic debitageand tools of the same non-local raw materials (chalcedony and chert) used inthe manufacture of the Q. Batán Fishtail points. These raw materials are

different from those used in Paiján lithic manufacture and are considered torepresent the Fishtail occupations at these sites. Other artifacts collected fromFishtail contexts included a variety of lithic tools (unifaces, bifaces, and re-touched flakes) and limited faunal remains including South American fox(Psuedalopex sp.), peccary (Tayassuidae), and crab (Decapoda).

Because so few Fishtail sites in northern Perú have been documented, muchless excavated, our understanding of Fishtail occupation in the Central Andesis severely limited. However, data from the Q. Batán sites are refining theregional temporal framework of Fishtail occupation, which appears to have

been more restricted than in other parts of South America. Data from thesesites are also providing important new insights regarding the technological,economic, and mobility patterns of Fishtail groups outside of the more thor-oughly studied areas in the southern cone of South America.

References Cited

Bell, R. E. 2000Archaeological Investigation at the Site of El Inga, Ecuador . R. E. Bell Monographs in Anthropology no. 1, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, University of Oklahoma.

Norman, Oklahoma.Borrero, L. 2006 Paleoindians without Mammoths and Archaeologists without ProjectilePoints? The Archaeology of the First Inhabitants of the Americas. InPaleoindian Archaeology: A Hemishperic Perspecitive , edited by J. E. Morrow and C. Gnecco, pp. 9–20. University Press of Florida,Gainesville.Briceño Rosario, J. 2004 Los Primeros Habitantes en los Andes Centrales y la Tradición dePuntas de Proyectil “Cola de Pescado” de la Quebrada de Santa María. In Desarrollo Arqueológico Costa Norte del Perú , ed. by L. Valle Alvarez, pp. 29–44. SIAN, Trujillo.

18 M AGGARD Archaeology: Latin America



Chauchat, C., and J. Zevallos Quiñones 1979 Una Punta en Cola de Pescado Procedente de laCosta Norte del Perú.Ñawpa Pacha 17:143–46.Dillehay, T. D. 2000The Settlement of the Americas: A New Prehistory . Basic Books: New York.León Canales, E., J. Alcalde Gonzáles, C. Toledo Gutiérrez, J. Yataco Capcha and L. ValenzuelaLeyva 2004 New Possible Paleoamerican Fish-tail Point Finds at Laguna Negra, Northern Peru.Current Research in the Pleistocene 21:11–13.Maggard, G. J. 2010 Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene Colonization and Regionalization inNorthern Perú: Fishtail and Paiján Complexes of the Lower Jequetepeque Valley . UnpublishedPh.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky, Lexington.Mayer-Oakes, W. 1986 El Inga: A Paleo-Indian Site in the Sierra of Northern Ecuador.Transac- tions of the American Philosophical Society 76(4). Philadelphia.Nami, H. G. 2007 Research in the Middle Negro River Basin (Uruguay) and the PaleoindianOccupation of the Southern Cone.Current Anthropology 48(1):164–74.Ossa, P. 1976 A Fluted “Fishtail” Projectile Point from La Cumbre, Moche Valley, Peru.Nawpa

Pacha 13:97–98.Politis, G. G. 1991 Fishtail Projectile Points in the Southern Cone of South America: An Over- view. InClovis: Origins and Adaptations , edited by R. Bonnichsen and K. L. Turnmire, pp. 287–302.Center for the Study of the First Americans, Oregon State University, Corvallis.Suárez, R., and J. López 2003 Archaeology of the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in Uruguay: An Overview.Quaternary International 109-110:65–79.

CRP 27, 2010 MÉNDEZ ET AL. 19

Documents

Maggard 2010--New Evidence of Fishtail in Northern Peru