Outils bifaciaux multifonctionnels emmanchés comme marqueurs des premiers habitants des forêts de montagne en Colombie occidentale

The sub-Andean forests in the Middle Cauca River Valley (Central West of Colombia) show evidences of preceramic lithic industry, recovered from paleo-soils buried by volcanic debris. Their production and use were dated by 12,000 to 4000 BP. Lithic assemblages included cobbles with modified edges with surface modification by use. According to the shape, size or raw material those instruments were used as hammers or ground-stones. Other flint knapped products, such as cores and flakes, or products of bipolar percussion, are present. Additionally, in those cultural contexts there were some particular instruments with bifacial manufacture, standardized shape and preparation for hafting. Those instruments were used in different tasks, basically for preparation of soils toward domestication and harvest of plants. Lithic assemblages were localized on rolling hills, alluvial or colluvial terraces. Artifacts demonstrated careful selection of raw material, from volcanic or metamorphic origin. A relative stability can be proposed during the Early and Middle Holocene in the inland basin of Cauca, taking into account the similar typological and technological characteristics of the lithic ensembles, attesting to the role of this region in the origins of horticulture.