Estudio de huellas producidas con objetos de metal durante el último cuarto del siglo XIX en el sitio arqueológico La Libertad (partido de San Cayetano, Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Abstract

The research conducted since 2007 at the archaeological site of La Libertad (San Cayetano county, Buenos Aires Province) indicate a heterogeneous context consisting of faunal remains, vitreous pieces, fragments of earthenware, stoneware and china clay pipes, and many of metal and brick objects. These findings are related to the advance and occupation of the Interserrana area by creole populations, and specifically with an agricultural establishment that worked there in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. In this paper we present the first results of the study of the cut marks made with metal elements in the archaeofaunal assemblage from that site, which is composed of both materials found on the surface (n= 817) as in stratigraphy (n= 1361). The objective of this analysis is to understand the different forms of exploitation, processing and consumption of the various species that were manipulated by local populations. For this purpose, different variables were considered, including the metallic element used, the animal to process, and the anatomical unit that was selected. In general, most of the traces analyzed (n= 384) were conducted in both medium-sized mammals (mostly Ovis aries) and large sized mammals (e.g. on different anatomical parts of Bos taurus), with metal objects such as knives, axes and saws.