Late Pleistocene–Early Holocene human settlement and environmental dynamics in the southern Atacama Desert highlands (24.0°S–24.5°S, Northern Chile)

Abstract

The earliest known population of the Atacama Desert coincided with the Central Andean Pluvial Event II (CAPE II), an extensive pluvial event recorded during the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene (13,800-8,500 cal years BP). A large number of archaeological sites from this period have been found along the borders of the Imilac and Punta Negra (24.5°S) high-altitude basins (ca. 3,000 masl). By combining the results of proxy data obtained from geomorphological, sedimentological, and paleoecological (rodent middens) archives and the spatial location of archaeological sites and radiocarbon series analyses, this paper examines the links between human activities and paleoenvironmental dynamics at different times during CAPE II in the southern Atacama Desert. This is done at a finer spatial and temporal scale than previous studies. The first archaeological sites (ca.12,000-11,200 cal years BP) are concomitant with increased paleowetland occurrence frequency. An occupational hiatus is recorded between 11,200 and 10,800 cal years BP, synchronous with a drop in precipitation and wetland development. This is followed by a displacement of the archaeological sites toward the south-east of the Punta Negra Basin and concomitant again with a second peak of wetland development in the area (10,800-10,400 cal years BP) before the final abandonment of the salt flat margins.

Obituario

“…Como en muchas otras partes del mundo (Vaiglova et al 2023), los datos de isotópos estables son, actualmente, primordiales en la arqueología andina para entender procesos de movilidad y migración entre grupos humanos que viven en ecosistemas de diferentes alturas (p.ej., Capriles et al 2021;Le Neün et al 2023;Scaffidi et al 2021;Szpak 2014;Szpak y Valenzuela 2020). La investigación de Tom en los Andes forma parte de los estudios pioneros realizados entre los años 1950 y 1970, y su idea de que las condiciones ostensiblemente desfavorables de los altos Andes no fueron un factor limitante para la explotación y ocupación tempranas está cada vez más refrendas con datos arqueológicos, genéticos y paleoecológicos (Le Neün et al 2023;véase también Capriles et al 2018;De Souza et al 2022;Grosjean et al 2005;López Mendoza et al 2021;López et al 2022;Loyola et al 2019;Nami et al 2023;Núñez et al 2002;Yacobaccio y Morales 2011).…”

“…As in many other parts of the world (Vaiglova et al 2023), isotopic data is paramount in Andean archaeology to understand processes of mobility and migration among human groups living in ecosystems of different altitudes (e.g., Capriles et al 2021;Le Neün et al 2023;Scaffidi et al 2021;Szpak 2014;Szpak and Valenzuela 2020). Tom's Andean research fell within a cluster of pioneering studies conducted in the 1950s-1970s, and his idea that the ostensively unfavorable conditions of the high Andes were not a limiting factor for early exploitation and occupation is increasingly substantiated by archaeological, genetic and paleoecological data (Le Neün et al 2023; see also Capriles et al 2018;de Souza et al 2022;Grosjean et al 2005;López Mendoza et al 2021;López et al 2022;Loyola et al 2019;Nami et al 2023;Núñez et al 2002;Yacobaccio and Morales 2011).…”