INVESTIGADORES
NEME Gustavo Adolfo
artículos
Título:
Mid-Holocene paleoenvironments and the archaeological record of southern Mendoza, Argentina
Autor/es:
GIL, A. M. ZÁRATE Y G. NEME
Revista:
Quaternary International
Editorial:
Elsevier
Referencias:
Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2005 vol. 132 p. 81 - 94
ISSN:
1040-6182
Resumen:
The environmental heterogeneity of southern Mendoza led to different environmental responses during the mid-Holocene. More
arid conditions and perhaps higher temperatures were dominant in the lowlands, while the high Andes experienced increased
snowfalls and neoglacial readvances from ca 6000 to 4000 years BP. The opposing climate pattern of the region in comparison with
the western Pacific foothills of the Andes is apparently related to the different influences exerted by the Westerlies on both sides of
the Cordillera. The archeological record of this time period is represented by very few sites with a low density of material. Both the
temporal distribution of the radiocarbon dates and the occupation index suggest a significant decrease of human occupations
manifested by a chronological hiatus which varies in timing and duration according to the areal scale of analysis. The coincidence of
the occupational hiatusand the low amount of archeological evidenceswould point to abandonment and/or a change related to a
low intensity pattern of land use across the region. These human responses seem to parallel the general arid climatic conditions of
the mid-Holocene although more detailed information and particularly numerical dates are needed to test the hypothesis. Site
formation processes, including site disturbance produced by later human occupations are alternative explanations also evaluated to
give account of the archeological record.