Grinding, processing, and reuse: an integrated functional and microbotanical study of polished stone artifacts from the Southern Pampean Hills (Ongamira and Characato, Córdoba, Argentina)

Abstract The study of hunter-gatherer societies and their transition toward food-producing lifeways is a central topic of ongoing debate in central Argentina. This paper presents an integrative analysis of lithic artifacts manufactured through pecking, abrasion, and polishing techniques from two archaeological localities in the Southern Pampean Hills of Córdoba, Argentina: The Ongamira valley (Ischilín Department) and Characato (Cruz del Eje Department). Combining techno-morphological, microbotanical and traceological analyses, we reconstruct artifact life histories, estimate possible functions, and explore daily practices related to plant processing. Microscopic analysis revealed numerous use-wear traces associated with plant resource processing, along with starch grains and phytoliths from both wild and cultivated taxa. The evidence includes wild species characteristic of the Chaco Serrano Forest, the biogeographical region where the sites are located, as well as cultivated plants associated with small-scale horticultural practices typical of the last two thousand years of human occupation. This integrated approach provides valuable insights into production strategies, plant exploitation practices, and the processes of change underlying the transition from hunter-gatherer to food-producing lifeways in central Argentina.