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First Report of a Newly Discovered Paleoindian Quarry Site on the Isthmus of Panama

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Georges A. Pearson
Georges A. Pearson*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, 622 Fraser Hall, 1415 Jayhawk Blvd. Lawrence, KS 66045-7556 (ftgap@ku.edu)
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Abstract

An archaeological survey on the Azuero Peninsula in Panama has recently discovered a Paleoindian quarry/workshop at the base of a quartz outcrop. The Nieto site contains seldom-seen preforms and flake blanks that provide new information on early-stage reduction strategies used by Clovis-like point makers in the Neotropics. Finished tools recovered at the site include gravers, side scrapers, and large scraper planes. The production of flake blanks followed a core reduction and rejuvenation strategy already observed at other Paleoindian sites in Costa Rica and Florida. Although the quartz outcrop is located only a few kilometers away from better-quality sources of jasper and chert, Paleoindians appear to have preferred this translucent stone for their weaponry. This new information, when combined with late-stage production strategies previously recorded from other Panamanian sites, brings us closer to tracing a complete manufacturing trajectory for Clovislike points on the Isthmus. It is hoped that data from the Nieto quarry/workshop will eventually help archaeologists determine if the presence of the fluting technique in Central and South America is attributable to a migration of Clovis-related people or a technological diffusion among pre-established southerly populations.

Investigaciones arqueológicas llevadas a cabo recientemente en la Península Azuero, Panamá, ha dado como resultado el descubrimiento de una cantera/taller perteneciente al Horizonte Paleoindio, localizada en la base de un afloramiento de cuarzo. Sitio Nieto contiene preformas poco comunes, y lascas nodulares que proporcionan nuevos datos en relación a las estrategias tempranas de reducción empleadas en el Neotrópico. Entre las herramientas recuperadas en el sitio se incluyen picos, raspadores laterales, y grandes raspadores pianos. Las lascas obtenidas como resultado del proceso de reducción de talla y estrategias de rejuvenecimiento son similares a las observadas previamente en otros sitios paleoindios de Costa Rica y Florida. Existen algunos afloramientos de jaspes y pedernal próximos a la cantera/taller de cuarzo de Sitio Nieto, por lo que pensamos que los pobladores paleoindios parecen haber tenido una clara preferencia por el cuarzo con el objeto de elaborar su utillaje de piedra. Los nuevos datos obtenidos sobre técnicas de manufactura tempranas conectan con las estrategias tardías registradas en otros sitios de Panamá, gracias a lo cual hemos podido realizar un trazado aproximado de la trayectoria de producción de las puntas Clovis en el Itsmo. Esperamos que los datos de la cantera/taller de Sitio Nieto tarde o temprano ayuden a los arqueólogos a determinar si la presencia de la técnica de acanalado paleoindia, en América Central y América del Sur, es atribuible a una migratión de poblaciones Clovis, o bien si está relacionada con una difusión tecnológica entre poblaciones pre-establecidas del sur.

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , September 2003 , pp. 311 - 322
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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References

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