New Radiocarbon Dates from the Campo Laborde Site (Pampean Region, Argentina) Support the Holocene Survival of Giant Ground Sloth and Glyptodonts

PABLO G. MESSINEO; GUSTAVO G. POLITIS

Current Research in the Pleistocene

Texas A&M University

Lugar: Texas; Año: 2009 p. 5 - 9

8755-898X

Evidence obtained for the extinction of megafauna and the survival of some species into the early Holocene is scarce in South America. Most of the evidence comes from the Pampean region (Messineo and Politis 2008; Politis and Gutiérrez 1998; Politis et al. 2003). One of these archaeological sites that can help clarify this issue is Campo Laborde (37° 00′ 36″ S and 60° 23′ 05″ W), a single-component site located along a tributary stream in the upper basin of the Tapalqué Creek (Pampean region, Argentina). Until recently, chronology of the archaeological component has been a little unclear owing to the range of 14C dates from megafaunal bones (see discussion in Politis and Messineo 2008) from about 9700 to 6750 RCYBP. In this paper, we present new conventional 14C dates obtained from soil organic matter collected from the archaeological deposit and we discuss the chronology and contextual association between humans and megafauna during the early Holocene.