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Obsidian sources from the southern Andean highlands (Laguna del Diamante, Argentina and Chile): geochemical insights on geological complexity and human biogeography

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Abstract

New geochemical results for two obsidian types, Laguna del Diamante and Arroyo Paramillos, naturally available in the Laguna del Diamante locality, a seasonally accessible highland wetland emplaced in the current border between Argentina and Chile at 3300 masl (34°S), are presented. A total of 1219 archeological artifacts from 41 sites located on both sides of the Andes have been assigned to these sources. The artifacts were analyzed by non-destructive, energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF). Archeological distributions of these obsidian types are assessed through GIS spatial analysis. Results show a great asymmetry in the distribution of these sources toward the two Andean slopes: the Laguna de Diamante chemical type shows a fairly local use pattern, being concentrated almost entirely in Cordillera sites, but the Paramillos shows a less homogeneous distribution and tends to be more concentrated in the sites that are in the western natural corridor. Although these lands were accessed and occupied from diverse demographic nodes in lower-altitude settings, the spatial analysis of obsidian artifacts reinforces the argument of dominant geographic vectors of access connecting with the western valleys and lowlands of Chile.

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Acknowledgments

The projects PICT 2014-0940 (Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica) and PIP 0301 (CONICET) from Argentina fund this research. The Archaeometry Laboratory at MURR is supported in part by a grant from the United States National Science Foundation (1621158).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Paleocología Humana, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Instituto Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Básicas (ICB), CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Padre Jorge Contreras 1300, 5500, Mendoza City, Mendoza Province, Argentina

    Valeria Cortegoso, Lucía Yebra, Víctor Durán & Ramiro Barberena

  2. Laboratorio de Paleocología Humana, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina

    Gustavo Lucero

  3. Universidad de Chile, Región Metropolitana, Chile

    Luis Cornejo

  4. Department of Anthropology, Northeastern Illinois University, 5500 N. St. Louis Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60625, USA

    Martin Giesso

  5. Archaeometry Laboratory, University of Missouri Research Reactor Center, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Brandi L. MacDonald & Michael D. Glascock

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  1. Valeria Cortegoso
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  2. Lucía Yebra
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  3. Víctor Durán
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  4. Ramiro Barberena
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  7. Martin Giesso
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  8. Brandi L. MacDonald
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  9. Michael D. Glascock
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Correspondence to Valeria Cortegoso.

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Cortegoso, V., Yebra, L., Durán, V. et al. Obsidian sources from the southern Andean highlands (Laguna del Diamante, Argentina and Chile): geochemical insights on geological complexity and human biogeography. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 12, 29 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-01009-w

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