Industries lithiques du centre et du nord-est du Brésil pendant la transition Pléistocène-Holocène et l'Holocène ancien : la question du Technocomplexe Itaparica

In publications on Brazilian prehistory, the Itaparica tradition corresponds to the first relatively dense human occupation in central and northeast Brazil, during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition and early Holocene. It is characterized in typological terms by the presence of unifacially shaped stone tools, traditionally called lesmas. We present here a critical review of the concept of Itaparica tradition, testing, beyond these typological similarities, its technological coherence. For this, we rely on the techno-functional analysis of lithic collections from reference site GO-JA-01, in State of Goiás, compared to those of sites Boqueirão da Pedra Furada and Pica-Pau, in State of Piauí. The results of this study demonstrate the existence of a technical system based on the design of an original tool blank, the unifacially shaped artifact, and a complementarity between these and the associated tool flakes. The comparative approach between the different sites shows a strong technical relationship. Consequently, we can talk about the existence of an “Itaparica technocomplex”. This implies a cultural link between human groups that participated in this first dense peopling of central and northeast Brazil.