Petrologic analysis of mineral pigments from hunter-gatherers archaeological contexts (Southeastern Pampean region, Argentina)

Mineral colorants are frequent in the Holocene archaeological record of the Southeastern Pampean region, but they have been often unexplored. This paper presents the results of macroscopic analysis, and thin section and X-Ray diffraction techniques applied to mineral pigments from the Calera site and the Zanjon Seco and Nutria Mansa archaeological localities. The use of both analytical techniques as complementary tools is a contribution to pigment provisioning studies and the general discussion of mineral raw material exploitation in the region. In prehispanic times, pigments were obtained from mineral sources available in the Tandilia System and, in smaller proportion, from the Ventania System. Transporting these coloring raw materials to the studied archaeological contexts implied different provisioning efforts through local, middle and long distances, and their procurement was related to local and regional mobility circuits of Pampean prehispanic hunter-gatherers. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.