South America 18,000 years ago: Topographic accessibility and human spread

MIOTTI, L; Y MAGNIN, L.

Current Research in the Pleistocene

Texas A&M University

Lugar: Texas; Año: 2012 p. 19 - 24

8755-898X

The continental surface of South America, at the Quaternary Last Maximum Glacial expansion (18 ka bp.), is modelled using GIS in this work. The base data used is altimetry and bathimetry, hydrography and reconstructions of the extent of the cordilleran glaciers of South America. This data is used to create a “friction surface” or moderator surface in the calculation of cost distances. Using this data and a randomly distributed set of locations, a model of accumulation of optimal displacement of the territory is created. Experimentation with models of accumulation of optimal displacement can be used to generate hypotheses about human movement along the continent at the different time slices considered. Concisely, the model indicates which sectors of the terrain surface represent less cost for being traversed by a human agent in base of the considered variables: topography, hydrography and the extension of glaciers. This model can be tested by the spatial superposition of archaeological evidence which radiocarbon dates. Earlier sites are expected to be located in the most accessible corridors.