New Analysis of Unifacially Shaped Technology from the Tropical Lowlands of Colombia

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe Middle Magdalena River Valley in central Colombia provides evidence of early human occupation between 13000 and 12000 cal BP during the global Younger Dryas period, characterized by mixed lithic industries involving both bifacial and unifacial technology. This article describes a unifacially shaped artifact discovered in the locality of Puerto Berrío, Antioquia, Middle Magdalena, central Colombia. Due to its high diagnostic value, a detailed technological analysis of its manufacture is presented to enable comparisons with similar artifacts in South America. Techno-structural analysis reveals a complexly manufactured piece with different tools, suggesting different usages. Various manifestations of this type of highly curated tool have been found in various regions of northern South America during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, indicating that unifacial technology is a characteristic tool type of this stage, beyond projectile points. This article also aims to open a dialogue on what a tropical lithic tool is in its individuality and variability.KEYWORDS: Middle Magdalena river valleyearly peopling of the AmericasColombiaunifacial technologycurated technology AcknowledgmentsWe deeply appreciate the help of our colleagues at the Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira (UTP) during the collection analysis stay. We would like to thank the support of the Fundación de Investigaciones Arqueológicas Nacionales and the Temple University (TU) of Philadelphia, USA. We would also be grateful to express a special thanks to Marcellus d’Almeida for his recommendations on technical illustrations.Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 The terminology associated with the description of South American unifacial technology remains problematic. Various authors have been primarily inspired by the original morphological typology of François Bordes (Citation1961). Although many authors have wrongly used the term « limace » to refer to the South American unifacially shaped tools, « limace » refers to a specific type of south american tool with specific morphological, technological and structural features, as recent defined by Lourdeau (Citation2010, Citation2015) and Moreno & López (Citation2023).Additional informationFundingThis work is part of M. González-Varas’s doctoral research, which has received financial support from the AnTET Team (Anthropologie des techniques, des espaces et des territoires au Pliocène et au Pléistocène) and the UMR 7041 ArScAn Equipe AnTET (Archéologies et Sciences de l’Antiquité)