Quaternary International Special Issue Central and South America, archaelogy and palaeoenvironments.

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

Quaternary International

Año: 2013 p. 157

This volume contains regional contributions to a new project, involving compilation of a well-screened, geo-referenced archaeological 14C database for South America and the isthmus of Panama for the period 13,000-7,000 14C years BP. We selected this time span because is only after ca. 13,000 14C years BP when the human signal in the continent became continuous and we can trace it in the major ecological regions. Before this time mark the signal is weak, sparse and discontinuous. Is only after this time when we can see some regional trends. Therefore, the kind and abundance of the available data do not allow to make a fine-grain analisis of the timing of the peopling process as we intent in this volume. We do not want to mean that there were no people before 13.000 14 C years BP - this is still subject to debate- what we want to stress is that if there were people in South America before 13,000 14C, it seems that they were un-connected and dispersed population. Much more research is needed in the proposed pre-13,000 sites in order to incorporate them in a wider model related to the early peopling.