English: Lapa do Santo. In addition to the tens of thousands of flakes and cores recovered from Lapa do Santo, one hematite “axe” blade (PN: Ls-6410) was also found in the deposits belonging to early Holocene period of occupation of the site. The piece identified with accession code St-6410 is the proximo-mesial part of a broken hematite ‘axe’-blade and it weights 375g. It was found on level 31 of unit G13 of Lapa do Santo (x = 6.621, y = 12.726, z = -2.998). It was recovered in August 2008. When this z-values is applied to the linear regression proposed in section 2 the estimated chronology for the hematite axe blade is 10.4 cal kyBP, ranging from 9.7 cal kyBP to 11.0 cal kyBP within a 95% parametric confidence interval.

The presence of knapping stigmas in the ventral face indicates this blade was produced from a thick flake and that it was most probably the head of an axe. Since no agriculture is known among the groups inhabiting Lagoa Santa during the early Holocene is unlikely this blade was the head of an adze. The straight and planar breakage at the distal part is commonly observed in other blades from Brazil and is probably the result of a strong impact during use. The hematite blade from Lapa do Santo presents some polishing, mostly concentrated near the butt. The grinding seen in some parts of the artifact are the result of attrition with some vegetal material, probably the wooden shaft. Both sides of the blade show technological signs of being produced over an anvil. After the breakage, there was an attempt to reshape the blade, trough flaking the ventral side and using the flat broken surface as the striking platform. This process, however, was unable to properly reshape the blade, possibly leading to its abandonment/discard. The hematite blade from Lapa do Santo can be tentatively classified as cordiform following the typological scheme proposed by Prous et al., (2003). Cordiform blades are characterized by i) being completely bifacially flaked, ii) usually presenting the active edge narrower than the butt, iii) having an asymmetric beveled edge and, iv) presenting an aspect of an overall lack of aesthetic refinement. They contrast with the more symmetrical and fully polished axes blades that are more commonly found in Brazil. Hematite blades are rare in Brazil. In the state of Minas Gerais (586,528 km2), where Lapa do Santo is located, from a total of 155 known blades only 10 were produced over hematite (Ott 1958). The non-hematite blades are usually associated with ceramist occupations and are assumed to be more recent than those made over hematite. However, this is a working hypothesis deserving further testing. Among all hematite blades from Brazil only two were found in context: the one described in the present contribution and one from the archaeological site of Lapa das Boleiras (PN: Bi-2179)(see Araujo et al. 2008 for a detailed description of the site). Similar to the one from Lapa do Santo, the hematite blade from Lapa das Boleiras was found within the early Holocene component of the site. Although a sample size of two is far from enough to propose a general pattern, it seems that the hematite axe blades were a common element of the early Archaic tool-kit. The findings from Lapa do Santo and Lapa das Boleiras support Prous et al., (2003) original suggestion that the so-called “cordiform blades” are related to the earlier periods of occupation in central Brazil. A third cordiform hematite blade was found in the site of Santana do Riacho (ca. 40 km from Lapa do Santo) and might belong to the early Archaic period as well. However, its chronology is ambiguous since it was found between layer 2 and layer 4 that are dated to 5.0-8.0kyBP and 8.0-10kyBP, respectively. A detailed study on the provenience of the hematite used in Lagoa Santa region (i.e. Lapa do Santo and Boleira) is not yet available. The nearest known ferrous outcrop is located ca. 55 km to the south (the Cauê formation on the Curral Hills) but it might be possible that cobbles of hematite were available in the beds of the Velhas River, less than 10km distant from Lapa do Santo. Therefore, it is not possible to be sure if the hematite was immediately accessible for the production of the blades or not.

Therefore, it is possible that the groups inhabiting Lagoa Santa during the early Holocene were intentionally targeting hematite as one of their favorite raw material for the production of axe blades. This might be explained by the greater hardness of hematite when compared to other raw materials commonly used for blade production and it has been shown (Souza 2013) that hematite blades have sharper cutting edges when compared to non-hematite blades. Besides, its red color and metallic shine can be considered as aesthetic appealing characteristics and, therefore, non-utilitarian reasons might explain the selection of hematite as raw material.