This article presents a methodology for the technostructural analysis of carved lithic artifacts that aims to understand how tools were used in the past. The proposal is based on the premise that all tools are a threefold structured system that comprises three parts: transformative, prehensility and energy reception. An artifact belonging to the lithic assemblage recovered at the site of Vadopampa in Ayacucho, Peru, has been analysed with the help of students as an example of the application of the technostructural approach. The paper thus introduces a new methodology for the Central Andes in a didactic and critical way, promotes a dynamic perspective for lithic tools, and assesses the potential and the limits of all technological interpretations.

During the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene and in the early Holocene period, hunter-gatherer communities across tropical South America deployed a range of technological strategies to adapt to diverse environmental conditions. This period witnessed a rich tapestry of technological practices, from enduring, widely disseminated tools to local and sporadically utilized technologies, shaping a multifaceted landscape of technological traditions. Lithic technology during this period was mainly marked by localized sourcing of raw materials, the use of multifunctional tools, a variety of projectile point designs, and the frequently utilization of unifacial shaping technology. In tropical Central Brazil, the Itaparica technocomplex, with unique unifacial lithic tools like limaces, is a pivotal innovation from the Late Pleistocene through the Holocene. However, the factors influenci...