Climate change, availability of territory, and Late Pleistocene human exploration of Ultima Esperanza, South Chile

Paleoamerican Occupation, Stone Tools from the Cueva del Medio, and Considerations for the Late Pleistocene Archaeology in Southern South America

“…Different opinions have been expressed about the status of extinct fauna in the consumption behavior of the earliest regional inhabitants (e.g., [6,11,12,51]), and in particular about the exploitation of Hippidion saldiasi [52]. However, it is currently accepted that hunter-gatherers living during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition had a generalized diet with regional variations, using extant and extinct fauna as a resource [2,[7][8][9][17][18][19][20][21][22]31,50,53]. In the southern cone in particular, current research on early sites reveals that a wide range of animals were consumed by humans living at ~11-10 kya [53][54][55][56][57][58][59], among others.…”

“…As observed during the archaeological excavations and by bone analysis, its largest accumulation comes from layer four, mostly Camelids, but also Hippidion saldiasi, were consumed by the earliest hunter-gatherers [14,17,[21][22][23]31] (Figure 10), Numerous dermal ossicles, several vertebrae and other elements from the Mylodon were exhumed at the top of layer four, mainly in the NW sector of the main excavation (grids 27/11, 28/10 to 28/13, 29/12, and 29/13). Nevertheless, there is no evidence of its consumption [31,50]. Different opinions have been expressed about the status of extinct fauna in the consumption behavior of the earliest regional inhabitants (e.g., [6,11,12,51]), and in particular about the exploitation of Hippidion saldiasi [52].…”

“…Most of the rocks used for making the PA tools were acquired in the secondary sources that were locally available in the glacial deposits surrounding the CB [8,69]. Despite a lack of scientific provenance analysis studies, it has been suggested that the chalcedony came from the Sierra de Los Baguales, a place located ~108 km north of the site [50]. With regard to the first step in the reduction sequences, throughout the excavated sectors, no evidence of blank obtaining activity was detected.…”

Synergistic roles of climate warming and human occupation in Patagonian megafaunal extinctions during the Last Deglaciation

“…Crucially, the first records of human presence in southern Chile occur immediately prior to the ACR stadial, at Monte Verde near Puerto Montt on the western edge of Patagonia, before ~14.6 ka ( 12 , 13 ). The central plateau of northern Patagonia was occupied before ~13.2 ka ( 14 ), with the first confirmed occupation in southern Patagonia between ~13.2 and 12.9 ka, and ~12.7 ka in Tierra del Fuego ( 14 , 15 ). In contrast to the relatively intense occupation of the central plateau, the first human occupations in southern Patagonia appear relatively ephemeral, with the number of sites and intensity of occupation increasing markedly from the early Holocene ( 15 , 16 ).…”

Past human populations and landscapes in the Fuegian Archipelago, southernmost South America

“…12,400–9000 cal yr BP (10.314 ± 0.81–8.265 ± 0.65 ka; McCulloch et al, 2005; McCulloch and Morello, 2009). This initial peopling is associated with southern steppe populations of continental Patagonia (Borrero 1994/95, 2008), probably as a result of logistical forays from the Pali Aike volcanic field region (Martin and Borrero, 2017; Fig. 1) in a warming trend (e.g., McCulloch and Davies, 2001; Haberzettl et al, 2007; Wille et al, 2007; Hahn et al, 2013; Jouve et al, 2013; Irurzun et al, 2014).…”