ABSTRACT

There are local variants, naturally, represented by the Saladillo-type projectile points of the Puna de Jujuy (one-sided and lance-shaped) or by the Circamo-La Fortuna complex of north-central Chile and western Argentina, whose medium and large lance-shaped points have wide, triangular stems. There are also two known sites in the Atacama Desert (Tuina and San Lorenzo), and one or more in the part of Argentina furthest to the northwest (Inca-Cueva IV), which is characterized by medium and small triangular points. This fact, together with its antiquity (between 8800 and 7000 B.C.E.), cause it to be regarded as an Andean "micro-horizon" distinct from the preceding one, whose origin and relationships are still to be explored.