Following the tracks of the first southamericans

BAYÓN. CRISTINA; MANERA. TERESA; POLITIS, GUSTAVO; ARAMAYO, SILVIA

Evolution . Education and Outreach

Springer

Lugar: New York; Año: 2011 vol. 4 p. 205 - 217

1936-6426

In this article, a summary of the geologic, paleontological, and human history of an area of the Atlantic coast in the Pampean plain, Argentina is discussed. This area presents very interesting characteristics. On the one hand, the area includes the Monte Hermoso clif f s studied by Charles Darwin in 1832, which compose the set of localities related to the dev elopment of the theory of ev olution. On the other hand, in the ref erred area, an extraordinary amount of human and Pleistocene mammal f ootprints are registered. Also in that section, four diachronic stages hav e been registered which depict the ev olutionary scenario during the last f iv e million y ears. Four paleontological and archeological sites are described showing that the palaeoenv ironmental changes occurred there regarding fauna associations and human settlement. The f irst scenario is found at Monte Hermoso cliff , whose sediments contain fossil remains of the autochthonous South American fauna. The second scenario shows a remarkable change in the drainage system and the f auna is composed of immigrated taxa due to the Great American Biotic Interchange. Both last scenarios show human presence; the third one shows f aint ev idences (one human trackway and two isolated footprints) and in the last one the hunter– gatherers are f ully represented as a well-established population on the Pampean coast during the Early Holocene registered at La Olla and Monte Hermoso I sites. In this way-, the sites summarized in this work allow the reconstruction of four remarkable evolutionary scenarios in South America, as regards landscapes, fauna associations, and human population.