Análisis arqueobotánico de piezas de madera del extremo austral americano

the preservation of bows and arrows in the archaeological record of patagonia is rather scarce. however, in the specific case of tierra del fuego, the ethnographic information portrays a wide use of plants to manufacture these kinds of weapons. in order to overcome the biases between both records an archaeobotanical and morphometric study of a collection of bows and arrows from the museo del fin del mundo (ushuaia, argentina) has been undertaken. the main objective is to obtain information about the performance characteristics of bows and arrows used by hunter-gatherer societies who inhabited this island and to determine the necessary stages of procurement and transformation of wood materials. the results have revealed the exploitation of raw materials which have not been acknowledged up to the present.