New archaeological evidences from the late Pleistocene/early Holocene Paso Otero 5 site (Pampean region, Argentina)

GUSTAVO MARTÍNEZ; MARÍA GUTIÉRREZ; JOSÉ LUIS PRADO

Current Research in the Pleistocene

Center for the Study of Early Man

Lugar: Texas; Año: 2004 vol. 21 p. 16 - 18

8755-898X

  The archaeological knowledge of the early human occupations in the Pampean Region has improved through the finding of new archaeological sites dated between 10,000 and 11,200 BP (Martínez 2003; Politis 2003). Among them, Paso Otero 5 (Martínez 2001), chronologically located between ca. 10,000 and 10,400 years BP, is characterized by the presence of extinct megamammals and modern species in association with fish tail projectile points (Holliday et al. in press; Martínez 2001).The goal of this paper is to present the preliminary results obtained from the latest field seasons carried out during 2000-2003. The previous excavations (1994-1997) covered an area of 30 m 2 and the current excavated surface is 98 m2 As the results of this work, data on fauna, lithic, stratigraphy, chronology, pollen, silicophytoliths, diatoms, stable isotopes on gastropods, geoarchaeology, taphonomy, and diagenesis are recovered (Martínez et al. 2003). At present, the analyses of these evidences are in process. This paper focuses on the faunal and lithic data, as well as on chronology.