New Paleoindian Finds, Further Fell Points Data, and Technological Observations from Uruguay: Implications for the Human Peopling in Southeastern South America

Abstract

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Luminescence Dating of Late Pleistocene and Holocene Sediments in Uruguay

“…The ages at Los Molles match the expectations of mid-Holocene for Stratum 3 and terminal Pleistocene/early Holocene for Stratum 4. Stratum 4 appears to correspond with the Sopas-Dolores formation, and the dating of UW2935 agrees with radiocarbon ages for this formation in other parts of Uruguay and with ages obtained from archaeological sites with early human occupations (e.g., Austral 1982, 1995; Hilbert 1985; López Mazz 2013; Meneghin 2004, 2015; Nami 2013; Nami et al 2018; Suárez 2017; among others). These include caves, such as Cueva Amarilla with an uncalibrated radiocarbon date of 10.0 kya (Nami et al 2018), and open-air sites mostly located on riverbanks of important fluvial courses, primarily the Uruguay River to the west.…”

“…Stratum 4 appears to correspond with the Sopas-Dolores formation, and the dating of UW2935 agrees with radiocarbon ages for this formation in other parts of Uruguay and with ages obtained from archaeological sites with early human occupations (e.g., Austral 1982, 1995; Hilbert 1985; López Mazz 2013; Meneghin 2004, 2015; Nami 2013; Nami et al 2018; Suárez 2017; among others). These include caves, such as Cueva Amarilla with an uncalibrated radiocarbon date of 10.0 kya (Nami et al 2018), and open-air sites mostly located on riverbanks of important fluvial courses, primarily the Uruguay River to the west. In the open-air sites, such as El Tigre, Pay Paso, and Laguna Canosa, the archaeological finds come from brown silty-sandy-clayed strata compatible with the Sopas-Dolores formations, and radiocarbon dates ranging from the last millennium of the Pleistocene to the transition with the Holocene have been obtained (Suárez 2017:Table 1).…”

A Fossil Bone of a Giant Ground Sloth from the Last Millennium of the Pleistocene: New Data from Salto Department, Uruguay

“…More interestingly, it agrees with additional ages obtained in other species of extinct fauna in the Uruguayan territory (Meneghin & Sánchez, 2009;Ubilla et al, 2018). Archaeologically, it absolutely matches with radiocarbon assays for the earliest regional human occupations (Miller, 1987, Meneghin, 2004, Suárez, 2017Nami, 2017;Nami et al, 2018), suggesting in this way that at least this kind of mega-mammals was coeval with Paleo South Americans hunter-gatherers living in the region. Extremely important were the isotopic values.…”

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

“…170-171 of [63]. Advances in research show that several sites without FPs but with unifacial tools (e.g., Cueva del Lago Sofía, e.g., [9,96,97]) may have been part of these sites' variability, where there were hunter-gatherers who used these kinds of points [19,63,98]. A similar fact might be expected for "unifacial traditions," with large utensils proposed in other South American countries such as Brazil [99,100], where an important FP surficial record was recently reported [101,102].…”