Demographic Basis of Archaeological Gaps and Troughs in South American Deserts: A Comparative Exploration

R. BARBERENA; C. MÉNDEZ; L. PRATES

Vista Flores, Mendoza

Conferencia; 4th Southern Deserts Conference; 2014

Laboratorio de Paleoecología Humana (FCEyN-UNCUYO)

The ?mid-Holocene gap? debate in several southern South American arid regions mirrors some aspects of the LGM issue. In many South American regions, parts of this period are associated with dry conditions likely produced by latitudinal displacement to the south of the westerly storm-tracks. Granted, there are huge differences in scale and intensity of the climatic and ecological changes involved in these two cases. Issues of scale aside, the conceptual structure of the debate is similar, in particular regarding its demographic basis. The same can be said for the archaeology of India, the Arabian Peninsula, and parts of Africa following the super eruption of the Toba volcano. We should aim at a continental assessment of desert expansion and of the spatial structure of the mid-Holocene archaeological record. This would be the appropriate scale at which to move from local histories of occupational intensity to continental demographic processes, disentangling spatial rearrangements from actual changes in population size. We suggest that these types of discontinuities provide a wonderful chance to assess mechanisms of social interaction.