L’analyse du matériel lithique dans la caractérisation archéologique d’une unité sociale

« Yamana » Indians are among the best examples of adaptation to sea-coastal conditions. Being nomadic hunter-gatherers, they lived in the Beagle Channel area (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina) up to the beginning of this century. The wealth of historical information and of ethnographic collections, combined with the archeological research systematically carried out in this region, have allowed us to study the materials of an occupational unit, in an exceptional context. This analysis suggests some hypotheses concerned with the social conception of space, as a function of those activities that were performed in the site. These hypotheses can be tested through the interpretation of other recent or prehistoric hunter-gatherers’ sites.