Geoarchaeological and paleoenvironmental context of the human settlement in the Eastern Tandilia Range, Argentina

MARTÍNEZ, GUSTAVO; MAZZANTI, DIANA LEONIS; QUINTANA, CARLOS; ZUCOL, ALEJANDRO FABIÁN; COLOBIG, MARÍA DE LOS MILAGROS; HASSAN, GABRIELA; BREA, MARIANA; PASSEGGI, ESTEBAN

QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Año: 2011

1040-6182

The processes related to human settlement of South American Pampas environments produced the highest levels of site density and re-occupation in all of southern South America in the Tandilia mountain range. This discontinuous series of hills and valleys occupies the central area of the Pampas region in Argentina. Processes of human settlement and population would have taken place in the context of the extreme climate changes that characterized the Pleistocene- Holocene transition. In this paper, we discuss our analysis of geoarchaeological records from cave and rockshelter sites, which have archaeological deposits in early stratigraphic contexts dated by radiocarbon to c 9,400 -10,500 BP. The various lines of evidence analyzed (stratigraphic, geoarchaeological, archaeological, zooarchaeological, and paleobotanical), support the interpretation that around 10,500 BP, the climate changed abruptly from the cold, arid to semi-ariditions of the late Pleistocene to the warmer conditions that characterized the beginning of the post-glacial. Because of this, the populations that inhabited the Tandilia range would have had a broad range of resources available. This environmental context can also help explain the high levels of site density and re-occupation found in the area for the period under consideration.