The Introduction of the Bow and Arrow Across South America’s Southern Threshold Between Food-Producing Societies and Hunter-Gatherers

Abstract

This study presents a discriminant analysis of projectile points (n = 44) from late Holocene contexts (~3100–400 cal BP) in the Argentine Andes (29–37° S). About two thousand years ago, the groups that inhabited the regions north and south of 34° S began divergent cultural histories. To the north, groups developed mixed economies that included domestic plants and animals. To the south, Patagonian hunters maintained their nomadic lifestyle until European contact. This study explores the geographic vectors and pace of the initial spread of the bow and arrow, if the bow replaced or coexisted with other weapon systems, and how these trends differed north and south of 34° S. We use Shott’s formula to metrically distinguish darts and arrows. Current data suggest that the bow was an innovation in the central Andes that rapidly spread south along the Andes to around 29° S at 3500–3000 cal BP. At this point, the tempo slowed dramatically. It was adopted by groups at 32° S around 1300 cal BP. At 37° S it arrived shortly after 1000 cal BP. Over the next two to three centuries, it was rapidly adopted by more sedentary food-producing groups north of 34° S as well as more mobile hunter-gatherers to the south. There is no evidence the bow was ever abandoned once adopted, and except in the case of Patagonia, it seems to have replaced previous weapon systems. This speaks to its versatility regardless of ecology, economic system, or cultural preferences.

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