LITHIC ARTIFACTS DIVERSITY AND SPACE USE DURING THE MIDDLE AND LATE HOLOCENE IN THE NORTHERN COAST OF SAN MATIAS GULF (RIO NEGRO, ARGENTINA)

The Northern coast of San Matias Gulf presents a large number of archaeological loci, representative of two different time span within the model of space use and marine resources consumption proposed for the region (Favier Dubois et al. 2009). The lithic artifacts and the lithic raw materials that were used in each present chronological and geographic differences that are presented in this paper. Using statistical analysis, we have established significative differences related to the distribution of instrumental classes in the previously defined temporal blocks. The results suggest that diversity would have been structured chronologically rather than spatially which is consistent with the model of use of the resources previously proposed (Favier Dubois et al. 2009). In the use of lithic raw materials there are differences which would have to do with changes in strategies of provisioning during the occupation of the study area for the hunter-gatherers groups.