Discussing the Early Peopling of South America on the basis of Radiocarbon Data.

PRATES, L.; STEELE, J.; BUENO, L.; SILVA, F.; POLITIS, G.

Kyoto

Congreso; 8° World Archaeological Congress.; 2016

This paper presents the analysis of a comprehensive radiocarbondatabase (N>1000 dates) of South America for the period between 13,000 and 8,00014C years BP. Dates older than this were not included because theyare still chronologically isolated and away from the continuous sequence of archaeologicalsignal. The goal of this paper is neither to examine sites in depth nor identifythe oldest one, but to rough out the main chronological and spatial trends ofthe colonization process during the transition between Pleistocene and Holocenein South America. We conclude that there is clear evidence of occupation at the time of North AmericanClovis culture, and substantial cultural variability in South America duringthis period. Although we are still not able to infer the age of the initialentry into the Americas, this database shows a pattern of an effectiveoccupation of distinct, distant and diversified environments by the end ofPleistocene in South America.