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Lithic Technology in Lagoa Santa in the Early Holocene

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Archaeological and Paleontological Research in Lagoa Santa

Abstract

In this chapter, we delineate a brief history of the interpretations about lithic technological variability in Lagoa Santa region during the early Holocene. We begin presenting some considerations about Lagoa Santa lithic industry made by studies undertaken during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. After that, we present the general characteristics of two lithic collections that we have studied and that were made on the course of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We discuss the interpretations formulated regarding the composition and significance of the lithic industry in the Lagoa Santa region, especially in the aspect of its role as an indicator of time and space. The central issue concerns the proposals of artefact homogeneity and variability and their implications for understanding the process of occupation of the Lagoa Santa karst. Based on these data, we propose, even though the lithic technology of Lagoa Santa continues to be largely undefined, that the image of a simple, homogenous lithic industry of little interest is no longer sustainable. What we see is a technological organization that integrates different areas: the circulation of raw material, the combination of different techniques in exploiting those raw materials and the production of artefacts with diversified uses and meanings, constructing a mosaic of choices that define the specificity of that industry.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For a characterization of the history of the interventions at that site, see Neves et al. (2004, 2008) and Araujo and Feathers (2008).

  2. 2.

    See Bueno (2012) for details of the methodology adopted.

  3. 3.

    See Bueno (2010) for a more detailed discussion of the Coqueirinho site lithic assemblage.

  4. 4.

    It should be remembered that polished blade artifacts may have had other uses apart from felling trees. They could be used to produce sculpted items (canoes) or to extract materials like honey from hollows in trees.

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Acknowledgments

Our thanks go to the FAPESP for financing the postdoctoral research of L. Bueno (Process 08/53474-6) in the period from September 2008 to August 2011, to Professor Walter Neves for extending an invitation to L. Bueno to participate in the Origins project, to Professor Tânia A. Lima for granting permission to study the Lagoa Santa lithic collection preserved in the archaeological storeroom of the National Museum, and to Walter, Pedro, and Mark for their invitation to participate in this volume. We are exclusively responsible for all the information set out in this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. History Department at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Campus Universitário, Bairro Trindade, Florianópolis, SC, CEP: 88040-970, Brazil

    Lucas de Melo Reis Bueno

  2. Anthropology and Archaeology Department and researcher of the Archaeology Sector at the Museum of Natural History and Botanical Gardens of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Rua Gustavo da Silveira, 1.035, Santa Inês, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

    Andrei Isnardis

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  1. Lucas de Melo Reis Bueno
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Correspondence to Lucas de Melo Reis Bueno .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Human Evolutionary and Ecological Studies Department of Evolutionary Biology and Genetics in the Biosciences Institute, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Pedro Da-Gloria

  2. Laboratory for Human Evolutionary and Ecological Studies Department of Evolutionary Biology and Genetics in the Biosciences Institute, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Walter A. Neves

  3. Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA

    Mark Hubbe

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Bueno, L., Isnardis, A. (2017). Lithic Technology in Lagoa Santa in the Early Holocene. In: Da-Gloria, P., Neves, W., Hubbe, M. (eds) Archaeological and Paleontological Research in Lagoa Santa. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57466-0_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57466-0_16

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