Early Holocene human skeletal remains from the Argentinean Pampas

FLEGENHEIMER, NORA; CRISTINA BAYÓN; CLARA SCABUZZO; NATALIA MAZZIA; RODRIGO VECCHI; CELESTE WEITZEL; ROMINA FRONTINI; MARIANO COLOMBO

Current Research in the Pleistocene

Peopling of the americas

Lugar: Texas; Año: 2010 p. 10 - 12

8755-898X

Currently two sites containing bones of megafauna and humans, sites 1 and 2 at El Guanaco locality, are being excavated in the Pampean plains. We here present AMS radiocarbon dates for both sites. They are about 500 m distant from one another, towards the north and east of a shallow lake. They both exhibit early Holocene occupations, dated ca. 10,000 RCYBP. Site 1 is multicomponent and includes extinct megafauna in its lower levels, and site 2 has recently yielded early human skeletal remains dated in 8123 ± 82 RCYBP (AA-82710), and 8433 ± 84 RCYBP (AA-82705). These dates place the burials at El Guanaco site 2 among the earliest human bones recovered in the region. Although currently 17 sites with dates between 12,000 and 8000 RCYBP have been published for the pampean region, only one is known to include early human remains. In this context, the information at El Guanaco is relevant to discussions of several issues concerning the early inhabitants, namely burial practices and their relation to domestic environments, diet and cooking practices, and the relationships between humans and megafauna.