CRP 27, 2010

MAGGARD

17

New Evidence of Fishtail Occupation in Northern Per

Greg J. Maggard
Keywords: Colonization, late Pleistocene, Andean South America The Fishtail complex is best known from numerous sites identified in the Southern Cone of South America (Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay) (Borerro 2006; Nami 2007; Surez and Lpez 2003). Within the Central Andes, however, few sites yielding Fishtail projectile points have been documented. Among these sites are El Inga in Ecuador (Bell 2000; Mayer-Oakes 1986), LaCumbre (Ossa 1976), Laguna Negra (Len C. et al. 2004), and two sites in the Chicama Valley in Per (Briceo 2004). An isolated find in the Piura Alta area of Northern Per has also been reported (Chauchat and Zevallos 1979). Recent survey of the Quebrada del Batn (Q. Batn) in the lower Jequetepeque Valley of northern Per (7 03 49 S, 79 24 53 W) identified four additional sites, Je 979 (7 03 20 , 79 24 13), Je 996 (7 03 28 , 79 23 50), Je 1002 (7 03 32 , 79 24 25 ), and Je 1010 (7 04 20 , 79 25 12 ), yielding Fishtail points and point fragments (Maggard 2010). The four Q. Batn sites are open-air settings situated on alluvial terraces bordering quebradas (large canyon-like drainages) that provide commanding views of large expanses of the drainage floor, intersecting drainages, and the nearby coastal plain. Like the sites in the Chicama and Moche valleys, each of the Q. Batn Fishtail sites also contained projectile points from the contemporary or overlapping Paijn complex (Briceo 2004; Ossa 1976). Both the Paijn and Fishtail points were recovered from mixed surface contexts. However, limited excavations at these sites provided data that identify some materials and strata associated with each complex. Among the four Q. Batn Fishtail points, two (from sites Je 996 and 1010) display sharply contracting stems that flare outward at the stem base (concavoconvex), resulting in the classic fishtail appearance. The stems are relatively narrow, and the stem base is flat to concave. Lateral edges and stem bases are heavily ground. The other two points (from sites Je 979 and 1002) have broad contracting stems with flat stem bases and ground lateral margins. Only one point, the contracting stem example from site Je 1002, displays fluting on a single face. Raw materials used in the manufacture of the Q. Batn Fishtail points include quartz crystal (n = 2), chalcedony (n = 1), and a mottled blue-gray chert (n = 1) (Maggard 2010). Outcrops of quartz crystal occur in the Q. Batn region and likely represent sources of locally acquired materials. The other raw materials (chalcedony and chert) are non-local in origin. The specific sources of these materials are unknown, but most likely are located in the Andean highlands
Greg J. Maggard, Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky, 1020A Export Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40506; e-mail: greg.maggard@gmail.com

18

MAGGARD

Archaeology: Latin America

some 3545 km to the east. A similar pattern of raw material use (local quartz crystal and non-local fine-grained silicates) was also reported for Fishtail points recovered elsewhere in northern Per (Briceo 2004; Len C. et al. 2004). In contrast, Paijn points found on these sites are manufactured entirely from locally available fine-grained quartz, quartzite, and rhyolite. All the documented Fishtail points from northern Per (Q. Batn, Q. Santa Maria, La Cumbre, Piura Alta, and Laguna Negra) are similar in size (approximately 56 cm long). This average length is similar to that of points from sites in Argentina, Uruguay, and Ecuador, whose length averages 47 cm (Bell 2000; Nami 2007; Politis 1991, Table 2; Surez and Lpez 2003). In spite of the similarities in size, there is a relatively wide range of morphological variability among Fishtail points within and across different regions. As the points from the Q. Batn demonstrate, this appears to be equally true in northern Per. Fishtail points from western South America generally date to ca. 11,200 10,100 RCYBP (Borerro 2006; Dillehay 2000; Nami 2007). AMS dates from intact deposits at two of the sites in the Q. Batn (Je 996 and 1002) suggest a somewhat more restricted time frame of regional occupation (ca. 11,10010,600 RCYBP). Site Je 1002 yielded an AMS date of 11,014 64 RCYBP (AA57942); site Je 996 yielded a date of 10,650 50 RCYBP (Beta 185074) (Maggard 2010). Both dates are from wood charcoal samples from buried strata containing lithic debitage and tools of the same non-local raw materials (chalcedony and chert) used in the manufacture of the Q. Batn Fishtail points. These raw materials are different from those used in Paijn lithic manufacture and are considered to represent the Fishtail occupations at these sites. Other artifacts collected from Fishtail contexts included a variety of lithic tools (unifaces, bifaces, and retouched flakes) and limited faunal remains including South American fox (Psuedalopex sp.), peccary (Tayassuidae), and crab (Decapoda). Because so few Fishtail sites in northern Per have been documented, much less excavated, our understanding of Fishtail occupation in the Central Andes is severely limited. However, data from the Q. Batn sites are refining the regional temporal framework of Fishtail occupation, which appears to have been more restricted than in other parts of South America. Data from these sites are also providing important new insights regarding the technological, economic, and mobility patterns of Fishtail groups outside of the more thoroughly studied areas in the southern cone of South America.
References Cited
Bell, R. E. 2000 Archaeological Investigation at the Site of El Inga, Ecuador. R. E. Bell Monographs in Anthropology no. 1, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, University of Oklahoma. Norman, Oklahoma. Borrero, L. 2006 Paleoindians without Mammoths and Archaeologists without Projectile Points? The Archaeology of the First Inhabitants of the Americas. In Paleoindian Archaeology: A Hemishperic Perspecitive, edited by J. E. Morrow and C. Gnecco, pp. 920. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. Briceo Rosario, J. 2004 Los Primeros Habitantes en los Andes Centrales y la Tradicin de Puntas de Proyectil Cola de Pescado de la Quebrada de Santa Mara. In Desarrollo Arqueolgico Costa Norte del Per, ed. by L. Valle Alvarez, pp. 2944. SIAN, Trujillo.

CRP 27, 2010

Chauchat, C., and J. Zevallos Quiones 1979 Costa Norte del Per. awpa Pacha 17:14346. Dillehay, T. D. 2000

MNDEZ ET AL.

19

Una Punta en Cola de Pescado Procedente de la

The Settlement of the Americas: A New Prehistory. Basic Books: New York.

Len Canales, E., J. Alcalde Gonzles, C. Toledo Gutirrez, J. Yataco Capcha and L. Valenzuela Leyva 2004 New Possible Paleoamerican Fish-tail Point Finds at Laguna Negra, Northern Peru. Current Research in the Pleistocene 21:1113. Maggard, G. J. 2010 Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene Colonization and Regionalization in Northern Per: Fishtail and Paijn Complexes of the Lower Jequetepeque Valley. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky, Lexington. Mayer-Oakes, W. 1986 El Inga: A Paleo-Indian Site in the Sierra of Northern Ecuador. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 76(4). Philadelphia. Nami, H. G. 2007 Research in the Middle Negro River Basin (Uruguay) and the Paleoindian Occupation of the Southern Cone. Current Anthropology 48(1):16474. Ossa, P. 1976 A Fluted Fishtail Projectile Point from La Cumbre, Moche Valley, Peru. Nawpa Pacha 13:9798. Politis, G. G. 1991 Fishtail Projectile Points in the Southern Cone of South America: An Overview. In Clovis: Origins and Adaptations , edited by R. Bonnichsen and K. L. Turnmire, pp. 287302. Center for the Study of the First Americans, Oregon State University, Corvallis. Surez, R., and J. Lpez 2003 Archaeology of the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in Uruguay: An Overview. Quaternary International 109-110:6579.