Society for American Archaeology

Correlations between Archaic Cultures of Southern California and Coquimbo, Chile

Author(s): Jorge Iribarren Ch.
Source: American Antiquity, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Jan., 1962), pp. 424-425
Published by: Society for American Archaeology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/277808
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424

AMERICAN ANTIQUITY

It has been suggested (Mewhinney 1957: 37) that the

use of prepared cores to produce blades might be expected to be discovered by any group of people devoted
to the breaking of rocks on a big scale. In such case the
occurrence at Five-Mile Rapids may not be significant in
terms of cultural connections. Certainly the technique
apparently known at Five-Mile Rapids seems separable
simply by its roughness from the better Old World bladecore industries, from those of Mexico, and from the precise microblade technique of the American Arctic. FiveMile Rapids products seem more comparable (without
implication of relationships) to artifacts like those of the
blades ilearly level of the Malta site in Siberia-the
lustrated by Bonch-Osmolovsky and Gromov (1936, P1.
17) together with the scraper which is obviously also a
core (PI. 17, 11), all of which are re-illustrated by Griffin (1960, Fig. 3) -or, even farther afield, those of the
Lower Paleolithic from Markkleeberg (Grahmann 1955).
In any case, however, the Five-Mile Rapids technique
employs a pattern of flake removal identical to that
of better controlled techniques.
It is also worthy of note that Full Early is characterized
by the presence of burins, of bolas, of atlatI spurs, of
notched cobbles, and of other artifacts which on the
basis of present evidence may be said to be predominantly
northern in distribution. Cressman (1960: 73) has
pointed out that if the direction of diffusion of techniques
represented by these artifacts is inferred from absolute
dates presently available, the direction must be concluded to have been from south to north. This is not to
argue that the Five-Mile Rapids blade-core industry in
particular is genetically related to later (on the basis of
present radiocarbon dates) blade-core industries of the
Arctic. Such a relationship has yet to be demonstrated,
and between the blade-core technique of The Dalles and
that of Cape Denbigh is obviously a technical giant-step.
L. S. Cressman made collections available
Acknowledgments.
for study in the Oregon State Museum of Anthropology, and generously read and commented upon this paper in draft.
Carol
Steichen Dumond produced the illustrations.
BARNES,A. S.
1947 The Technique of Blade Production in Mesolithic and
Neolithic Times. Proceedings of the Prehistory Society, n.s.,
Vol. 13, No. 6, pp. 101-13. Cambridge.
BONCH-OSMOLOVSKY,
G., AND V. GROMOV
1936 The Paleolithic in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
International Geological Congress, Report of XVI Session,
U.S.A., 1933, Vol. 2, pp. 1291-311. Washington.
BORDEN,C. E.
1952 Results of Archaeological Investigations in Central British
Columbia.
Anthropology in British Columbia, No. 3, pp.
31-43. British Columbia Provincial Museum, Victoria.
CRESSMAN,L. S.
1960 Cultural Sequences at The Dalles, Oregon. Transactions
of the American Philosophical Society, n.s., Vol. 50, Pt. 10.
Philadelphia.
GRAHMANN,RUDOLF
1955 The Lower Palaeolithic Site of Markkleeberg and Other
Comparable Localities near Leipzig. Transactions of the
American
n.s., Vol. 45, Pt. 6.
Philosophical
Society,
Philadelphia.

J. B.
1960 Some Prehistoric Connections between Siberia and America. Science, Vol. 131, No. 3403, pp. 801-12. Washington.

GRIFFIN,

[ VOL. 27, No. 3, 1962

LAUGHLIN,W. S. AND G. H. MARSH

1954 The Lamellar Flake Manufacturing Site on Anangula Island in the Aleutians.
American Antiquity, Vol. 20, No.
1, pp. 27-39. Salt Lake City.
MAcNEISH, R. S.
1959 Men Out of Asia; as Seen from the Northwest Yukon.
Papers of the University of Alaska, Vol.
Anthropological
7, No. 2, pp. 41-70. College.
MEWHINNEY, H.
1957 A Manual for Neanderthals.
Austin.

University

of Texas Press,

Movius, H. L., JR.

1953 Curran Point, Lame, County Antrim: The Type Site of
the Irish Mesolithic.
Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol. 56, Sect. C, No. 1. Dublin.
NELSON,N. C.
1937 Notes on Cultural Relations between Asia and America.
American Antiquity, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 267-72. Menasha.
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON

Eugene, Ore.
June, 1961

CORRELATIONSBETWEEN ARCHAIC
CULTURES OF SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA AND COQUIMBO, CHILE
JORGEIRIBARRENCH.
ABSTRACT
Cogged stones from preceramic sites on the coasts
of California and Chile may reflect a north-to-south
diffusion during the Archaic period with greater elaboration of the trait in Chile.
ON A RECENT trip to the United States, made possible
by a grant from the Organization of American States,
I observed a number of circular cogged stone objects
from the south coast of California in the Museum of
the American Indian in New York and the Denver Natural History Museum. These are reminiscent of examples found near the Coquimbo coast in Chile. Correspondence with Hal Eberhart, author of a recent article on the subject (1961), permits the establishment of
a number of parallel features. In addition to the artifact
similarity, both the California and Chilean cultures represent preceramic shellfish-gathering complexes.
Cogged stones in Chile are limited to the Province of
Coquimbo, where they are rather common in coastal
sites. Four years ago, Roberto Gajardo and Luis Strozzi,
working under the auspices of the Sociedad Arqueologica
de Vifia del Mar, discovered some at Huentelauqu6n, in
the southern part of the province. At the beginning of
1961, the Sociedad Arqueologica de La Serena began
fieldwork in the Huentelauquen zone as part of its annual field program. Hans Niemeyer, Mario Segovia, and
I participated in the fieldwork. The most characteristic
stone objects found were cogged stones of different types,
stemmed points, blades, scrapers, perforated discs, and
other forms of projectile points.

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425

FACTS AND COMMENTS

The geometric or cogged stones vary in shape from
triangular to six-sided and range from 2 to 8 inches in
diameter. In terms of technique of manufacture, they are
of two general types: (1) small natural stones, which are
found abundantly in the region, and (2) larger rocks
that appear to have been chipped into the desired shape.
The first technique results in a thinner object which
retains the natural surface of the stone. Objects of the
second type may have polished surfaces, and are in some
cases slightly convex on one side. Some disc-shaped examples occur, which may be either an intentional variation or incompletely finished.
The projectile points associated can be classified into
three types: (1) large points with a stem equivalent to
one-third the total length; (2) stemmed and barbed
points somewhat similar to specimens from the Ayampitin culture, a well-known complex widely distributed in
Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile; (3) projectile points that
appear contemporary with later ceramic cultures. The
blades, produced by percussion with slight finishing by
pressure flaking on the edges, range from 4 to 5 inches
in length.
According to Eberhart (1961: 367) and Meighan
(1959: 289), the cogged stones from Orange County,
California, along the Santa River, including such sites
as Topanga and Little Sycamore Shell Mound, can be
placed within the Archaic period, giving them an antiquity of about 6000 years. They continued to be made
until the primary phases of the Intermediate Horizon,
dated by these authors at around 3500 B.c.
The geometric lithics of the Huentelauquen culture,
among which we include these cogged discs that bear
such a striking resemblance to the California cogged
stones, cannot be dated with this degree of accuracy.
However, the association with Ayampitin-like points
suggests they may have been contemporary with the
Ayampitin culture and can be considered as belonging to
the Archaic stage. The great elaboration of these objects
in Chile appears to be slightly later, probably just prior
to the Shell Fishhook culture, dated by Bird at around
1500 B.c.
It is hoped that the existence of these archaeological
correlations between the Coquimbo area and the south
California coast will contribute to our understanding of
intercontinental diffusion during the Archaic horizon.

A DISTINCTION BETWEEN BLADES

AND MICROBLADESIN
THE AMERICAN ARCTIC
WILLIAM E. TAYLOR, JR.
ABSTRACT

Width frequencies plotted for 293 microblades and

blades from the pre-Dorset Arnapik site on Mansel Island, Northwest Territories, produce a bimodal curve
which suggests a maximum width of 11 mm. as a criterion for distinguishing microblades from blades.
WITH THE MANY recent discoveries of pre-Okvik and
pre-Dorset assemblages in Arctic America, chipped stone
industries have gained prominence in northern archaeology. The polyhedral core-microblade technique characterizes most of those early assemblages; that technique,
like its frequent companion the burin, raises many minor
and major problems of terminology and classification.
Not the least of these is the difference between the microblade and the blade. Since most readers have their
own definition of the two categories, I will attempt none.
The two are often lumped under a single term such as
microblade, microflake, prismatic blade, or, in many
papers of a few years ago, lamellar flake or lamelle.
Where authors distinguished two categories for these
products of the polyhedral core technique, they have
prudently left the criterion of division unstated. In most
samples, such objects have been so few that a casual
attitude has sufficed. I was told in conversation that our
Danish colleagues divide blades and microblades on a
basis of width, that any such object with a maximum
width exceeding 10 mm. was a blade, and that the narrower specimens, assuming again the other attributes,
were microblades. Such a criterion seemed adequate for

HAL
EBERHART,

1961 The Cogged Stones of Southern California. American

Antiquity, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 361-70. Salt Lake City.
IRIBARREN,
JORGE
1961 La cultura de Huentelauqu6n y sus correlaciones. Museo
Arqueologico de La Serena, Contribuciones Arqueol6gicas,

No. 1, pp. 1-17. La Serena.

MEIGHAN, C. W.

1959 California Cultures and the Concept of an Archaic

Stage. American Antiquity, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 289-305.
Salt Lake City.
WIDTHIN MM

MUSEO ARQUEOL6GICO DE LA SERENA

La Serena, Chile
July, 1961

FIG. 1 [Taylor]. Frequency occurrence of blade-microblade widths, Arnapik site, Mansel Island, Northwest
Territories, Canada.

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