Tecnología lítica, funcionalidad de sitios y modelos de asentamiento aldeano temprano en la puna meridional argentina: el sitio Las Escondidas (Antofagasta de la Sierra)

T The early sedentary societies of Antofagasta de la Sierra (southern Argentine Puna) have been studied through a model that proposes a mixed agro-pastoral settlement-subsistence system involving functionally complementary occupations across the different environmental sectors of the basin. In recent decades, a series of sites in the intermediate sectors of the basin have shown that the variability of the living spaces is broader than expected under the site-categorization scheme of the model (residential bases vs. logistical campsites). Within this framework, the techno-typological analysis of the lithic assemblage from Structure 4A (E4A) at the Las Escondidas site, located in the intermediate sector of the Miriguaca River ravine, addresses the functional expectations for sites in these sectors, characterized by particular environmental conditions. Furthermore, the indices of artifact diversity and homogeneity at this site allow these expectations to be evaluated relationally with other sites in the area. Taken together with the typological characterization of the assemblage, the raw materials, production trajectories, and the reconstruction of practices linked to the production and use of lithic tools at E4A, these data highlight previously overlooked aspects of lithic technology in the evaluation of settlement models and suggest possibilities of site occupation that may have been underestimated.