206 Evolutionary Anthropology

ARTICLES

The Late Pleistocene Cultures of South America

TOM D. DILLEHAY

Important to an understanding of the first peopling of any continent is an Between 11,000 and 10,000 years understanding of human dispersion and adaptation and their archeological signa- ago, South America also witnessed tures. Until recently, the earliest archeological record of South America was viewed many of the changes seen as being uncritically as a uniform and unilinear development involving the intrusion of North typical of the Pleistocene period in American people who brought a founding cultural heritage, the fluted Clovis stone other parts of the world.5,9–11 These tool , and a big-game hunting tradition to the southern hemisphere changes include the use of coastal between 11,000 and 10,000 years ago.1–3 Biases in the history of research and the resources and related developments in agendas pursued in the archeology of the first Americans have played a major part marine technology, demographic con- in forming this perspective.4–6 centration in major river basins, and Despite enthusiastic acceptance of the Clovis model by a vast majority of the practice of modifying plant and 6–11 archeologists, several South American specialists have rejected it. They contend animal distributions. Others occur that the presence of archeological sites in Tierra del Fuego and other regions by at later, between 10,000 and 9,000 years least 11,000 to 10,500 years ago was simply insufficient time for even the fastest ago, and include most of the changes migration of North Americans to reach within only a few hundred years. Despite this commonly regarded as typifying early 6,10–12 concern, and despite the discovery of several pre-Clovis sites in South America, Archaic (or ) economies: In- 2,3 some specialists keep the Clovis model alive. Proponents of the model claim that creases in site density and abandon- the pre-Clovis sites are unreliable due to questionable radiocarbon dates, artifacts, ment, increased use of high-cost plant 14–16 and stratigraphy. Solid evidence at the Monte Verde site in and other foods, plant manipulation, intensive 6,8,10–12 localities now indicates that South America was discovered by humans at exploitation of coastal resources, least 12,500 years ago. How much earlier than 12,500 years ago is still a matter of greater technological diversification, conjecture.6,10,12,15 Some proponents prefer a long chronology of 20,000 to 45,000 and the appearance of ritual prac- years ago,8 while others advocate a short chronology of 15,000 to 20,000 years tices.6,9,11,18,19 From a global perspec- ago10–12 or only 11,000 years ago.1–3 tive, what makes South America inter- esting is that cultural complexity developed early, possibly within only a All these views can be accomodated tudes of the Central and the high few millenia after the initial arrival of by emphasizing different archeologi- latitudes of southern Patagonia may not humans. Being the last continent occu- cal records in different geographical have occurred until 11,000 to 10,000 pied by humans but one of the earliest areas. That is, prior to the outset of years ago, after deglaciation. Whatever where occurred, South deglaciation between 15,000 and the entry date may be, late Pleistocene America offers an important study of 13,000 years ago, the first South Ameri- cultural developments in South rapid cultural change and regional cans may have been confined to pro- America show a steady shift away adaptation. This change accelerated ductive, open terrain or patchy forests from broad uniformity and toward the quickly between 11,000 and 10,000 in lowland environments where they establishment of distinct regional tra- years ago, as indicated by the in- may have moved quickly and adapted ditions.6,8,9–11,13,17 It is clear that sev- creased number of diagnostic tool readily. Movement into the high alti- eral regions were moving toward differ- types, site types, and exploited re- ent social and economic patterns by sources associated with the movement terminal Pleistocene times: Most of humans into the interior river corri- groups moved rapidly from simple to dors and coastal fringes of the conti- complex proto-Archaic systems. This Tom D. Dillehay is Professor of Anthropol- nent. The triggering mechanisms of ogy at the University of Kentucky, Lexing- is indicated by widely diverse technolo- these changes are not under- ton, Kentucky. He combines archeological gies, loose territoriality, generalized stood, but may be related to climatic and ethnological factors in his research. His main interest is in South America, and foraging economies, and demographic shifts, internal developments within he has done investigations in North change. Some groups ultimately ma- regional populations, the imitation of America. nipulated plants and animals in favor- neighbors, the arrival of new people able environments and developed the on the scene, and the procurement of Key words: Pleistocene culture; extinction of beginnings of social differentia- food and other resources in highly animals; early ; migration tion.10,11,17 productive environments, as well as ARTICLES Evolutionary Anthropology 207 the growing cultural experience and movement of human populations and America was confined to patchy high- constantly changing lifestyle of Homo broad-scale climatic change. I am re- altitude or high-latitude areas of the sapiens sapiens resulting from having ferring to studies that envision the Andes and had less effect on human traversed the entire span of the West- long-distance movements and settle- populations after 13,000 years ago, ern Hemisphere. ments of populations20–24 and the later when deglaciation had already oc- Early cultural diversity may most diffusion of ideas and circulation of curred in most regions. In North readily be traced in the archeological items across extant populations. Most America, the extensive ice sheets cover- record by the study of stone-tool typol- models have it that Clovis and later ing high latitudes limited the initial ogy. But it is also important, wherever Paleoindian big-game hunters, after movement of people. On the other possible, to examine the internal char- successfully passing through the high- hand, in lower Central America and acteristics of sites and local-level sub- latitude glaciers or along the Pacific the eastern and western flanks and sistence practices. The current record coastline of North America, adapted lowlands of the Andes, as well as the is geographically uneven due to sam- to a plentiful, dense, but seasonally southeastern , less glacia- pling bias, with most attention having and geographically unpredictable re- tion provided an environment of ma- been given to the central Andes, south- source base, the gregarious mega- ture forests and savanna grasslands. ern , southern Chile, and fauna of the late Pleistocene.21,22 Hunt- This mixed forest environment, espe- central (Fig. 1). As a result, ing these large animals probably cially in parts of , the land- some cultural differences may appear required high mobility in some areas, bridge gateway into South America, greater now than they will when more opportunistic camping, and periodic and in eastern Brazil, possibly pro- archeological information has come movement over long distances. These vided a more predictable, dense, and to hand. Nonetheless, where the rec- patterns are reflected in the artifact uniform resource structure that of- ord is best understood, it shows obvi- fered a wide variety of economic oppor- ous and consistent cultural differ- tunities. Current archeological evi- ences in technologies and . . . where the record is dence suggests that these areas subsistence practices between one mil- probably witnessed the early rise of lenium and the next and between best understood, it shows generalized foraging economies, a North America and South America. obvious and consistent greater reliance on local lithic raw Because the South American record materials, and more microregional dif- historically has been perceived as a cultural differences in ferentiation of material culture be- cultural outgrowth or clone of early tween 11,000 and 10,000 years ago. 1–3 stone tool technologies North American culture, I will dis- These patterns probably reflect de- cuss the major differences between and subsistence creased movement, increased popula- the two continents. I also will stress practices between one tion density, and the appearance of the broad technological and economic millenium and the next loose territoriality, if not colonization developments in South America. The (settling into a particular habitat) near general course of these developments and between North the outset of human entry into some has been outlined in recent reviews by areas. Within this scheme, the classic 8 11 America and South Bryan, Dillehay and colleagues, Ar- Paleoindian strategy of specialized big- 10 3,17 dila and Politis, and Lynch, and America. game hunting was simply one of many will be summarized briefly here. Be- different subsistence practices. More cause the archeological evidence of a common are sites reflecting a diet human entry to South America before typical of the early Archaic period. about 15,000 years ago is weak and assemblages at North American sites, The finds at Monte Verde in southern only presumed at this time, I will focus which often are comprised of exotic Chile,6 several highland sites in on the paleoclimatic and archeologi- raw materials carried from long dis- the central Andes,10,11,18,19,25,26 the cal evidence from the period between tances.23,24 The uniformity of stone Grande Abrigo de Santana do Riacho,27 approximately 13,000 and 10,000 years tool types over large areas like the Lapa do Boquete,28 Lapa dos Bichos,29 ago. Given the presence of humans in eastern two-thirds of North America is and other sites13,29,30 in central Brazil South America at least a few centuries important. It suggests expansive, over- have yielded seeds and other plant before 12,000 years ago, we must pre- lapping territories and, along with ex- foods along with game animals, some sume an entry date at least 15,000 to otic raw material patterns, and gener- extinct. Also entering into the equa- 14,000 years ago. ally standardized information and tion is plant manipulation, which material culture. might have begun in some areas by APPLES AND ORANGES: NORTH The late Pleistocene period of South 11,000 years ago, given the presence of America stands in contrast to that in domesticates possibly as early as AMERICA AND SOUTH AMERICA North America.6,8–11,13 The first differ- 10,000 to 8,000 years ago.25,31–33 To date, the most persistent explana- ence is the absence of a continent- Another difference between North tory models of the peopling of both wide stone tool style like Clovis and and South America is in projectile North and South America are those the long-distance movement of exotic point developments, unifacial stone that attribute the growth, spread, and raw lithic material. Another distinc- tools, and bola stones, which are modi- change of the earliest cultures to the tion is that the glacial effect in South fied spheres probably used as sling 208 Evolutionary Anthropology ARTICLES

tion and there is considerable debate about its origin. Some archeologists8 believe that the flute was invented in South America and diffused to the north. Others see the flute as nothing more than a longitudinal thinning flake removed by a different technique than that used to make the classic channel flakes of Clovis and Folsom.11,34 In South America, on the other hand, there are few, if any, linking traits to indicate technological evolution, even where diagnostic stone tools (primari- ly projectile points) are in strati- graphic order. When these tools occur in the archeological record, they gener- ally are regionalized types and appear with low frequency. Widespread unifa- cial stone tool assemblages such as those at and Tibito in Colombia, Monte Verde, and Itaparica Phase sites in eastern Brazil (Fig. 1) appear by the 11th and 12th millennia. This unifacial makes South America inherently different from the Northern Hemisphere. It should be noted that the bifacial and unifacial industries in South America are not considered to be competing or oppos- ing technologies but complementary ones, most likely derived from the same technological source. Depending on regional environmental and cul- tural circumstances, they may co-exist in different frequencies at sites or be entirely absent in some areas during some periods. Another distinguishing trait is the bola stone, which appears in South America about 12,500 years ago at Monte Verde and between 11,500 years ago at others sites in eastern Brazil and the southern half of the continent. Taken together, the dis- tribution of points, , and bola Figure 1. Map showing major early archeological sites in South America: 1. Taima-Taima; 2. Rio Pedregal, Cucuruchu; 3. , Tequendama, Tibito; 4. Popayan; 5. El Inga; 6. Las Vegas; 7. stones suggests complicated mosaics Siches, Amotope, Talara; 8. Paijan; 9. ; 10. Lauricocha; 11. Telarmachay, of technological and subsistence prac- Pachamachay, Uchumachay, Panalauca; 12. ; 13. Ring Site, Quebrada Las Con- tices in which bifacial or unifacial chas and Quebrada Jaguay; 14. Intihuasi Cave; 15. Gruta del Indio; 16. Agua de la Cueva; 17. types occur regionally and indepen- Inca Cueva IV; 18. Huachichoana III; 19. Quebrada Seca; 20. Toca do Sitio do Meio, Toca do dently, and are often intermixed with Boqueirao da Pedra Furada; 21. various site in Minas Gerais state; 22. Lapa Vermelha IV; 23. hybrid local types (Fig. 2).8,9,11,13,17 As I various Goias sites; 24. Itaborai sites; 25. Alice Boer; 26. Catalaense and Tangurupa complexes; indicated earlier, these diverse types 27. Cerro la , Cerro El Sombrero, La Moderna, Arroyo Seco 2; 28. Los Toldos; 29. Fells Cave, Palli Aike, Cerro Sota; 30. Mylodon Cave, Cueva del Medio; 31. Tres Arroyos; 32, 33. various sites seem to represent greater time depth in northern Chile; 34. Quereo; 35. Tagua-Tagua; 36. Monte Verde; 37. El Ceibo; 38. Chobshi and rapid in situ cultural change, prob- Cave; 39. Cubilan; 40. Asana; 41. Ubicui and Uruguai Phase sites. (Modified from Dillehay6) ably resulting from rapid colonization after initial entry, as well as highly effective local adaptations. stones or hand missles. If we know Clovis, Folsom, Plainview, Dalton, The almost ubiquitous unifacial anything about early Cumberland). Elongated projectile technologies in South America were types in North America, it is that stylis- points with flutes and stemmed points truly innovative. They have been docu- tic and technological continuity can often appear in stratigraphic se- mented in many different environ- generally be traced on a regional level quence.5,12,22 The most widely pub- ments and at many sites throughout at the beginning of the Paleoindian lished cultural trait linking North and the continent. This industry involved period, from one type to another (e.g., South America is the fluted point tradi- far more economical use of raw mate- ARTICLES Evolutionary Anthropology 209 rial and the ability to repair or modify tocene period. That is not to say that were undoubtedly important to the tools without totally replacing them. simple environmental determinism initial dispersion of humans and their This technology is best and conven- and isolationism directed human cul- exploitation of predictable resources. tionally seen as a development from tural and biological diversity; it is sim- If humans first traveled along the Pa- pebble tool industries in which tech- ply to assert that changing climate and cific44 or Atlantic coastlines, they could niques for making all-purpose tools resource structures must have influ- have moved quickly into the southern were frequently practiced. Examples enced patterns of human distribution portions of the continent, occasionally of this industry are the Amotope, and subsistence practices across the migrating laterally into the interior. Siches, Honda, and Nanchoc tradi- continent. A wide range of studies Various wetland habitats in deltas and tions on the north coast of ,11 the have been carried out to reconstruct along major coastal rivers may have Itaparica and Paranaiba industries in the late Pleistocene environments, with served as primary areas of initial adap- central Brazil,29,35 and the Tequenda- varying degrees of success, accuracy, tation and movement into the inte- miense and Abriense industries in Co- and geographical and temporal cover- rior.6,45 Whether they initially moved lombia.10,11 It has been argued that age. In general, at about 30,000 years along the coasts or immediately into several of these industries were used ago, the climate was warmer and higher river valleys (e.g., Magdalena) for plant processing and woodwork- moister than it is today.36–39 Between of the Andean mountains and adjacent ing, and that the development of these 28,000 and 18,000 years ago, the cli- plains of Colombia between 15,000 industries was a response to a wetter mate was drier and cooler.36–40 From and 12,000 years ago, any human climate and the resulting spread of 18,000 to 14,000 years ago, it was drier population was probably thinly spread, vegetation. Although plausible, that and colder.36,38,41–43 Closer to the pri- with the majority living closer to ma- argument rests on slender founda- mary time period under study here, jor waterways. After 13,000 years ago, tions, for we have little direct evidence there is evidence of a significant tem- when more arid conditions existed, it about the uses to which these indi- is likely that human settlement was vidual artifacts were put.6 Further- focused in wetland habitats and espe- more, archeologists are still far from Although the Clovis cially the major river valleys. The fur- being able to explain why the parallel ther development of rivers in terminal developments of bifacial and unifacial model possibly accounts Pleistocene times, when they were technologies took place in South for the presence of one more stabilized after deglaciation, was America. Simple diffusion from a com- probably central to the early cultural mon source, particularly one in North trait, fluting, in some history of South America, especially in America, is unlikely. The co-existence areas of South America, the Amazon Basin and surrounding of early unifacial and bifacial technolo- regions, because they favored human gies in South America is more remines- it fails to account fully for population concentration, growth, and cent of late Pleistocene adaptive technolo- the diversity of contact, and reduced foraging ranges. gies in and parts of Asia than of contemporaneous Extensive wetland and lake systems North America. were also present in many areas, but In summary, there is a sufficient material cultures and probably not to the degree seen in the amount of South American data to economies that existed early Holocene. warrant rejection of the received North There is a rash of early sites all over American intrusive- by 11,000 years ago. the continent that are associated with model and even the notion of a homo- wetland, riverine, and other enviroments. geneous dispersing population. Al- These include, for example, Monte Verde, though the Clovis model possibly ac- Taima-Taima, Tequendama, Tı´bito counts for the presence of one trait, perature rise between 15,000 and (Fig. 3), Pedra Furada II, Itaparica fluting, in some areas of South 14,000 years ago.36,38,41–43 As a result, Phase sites, Grande Abrigo de Santana America, it fails to account fully for continental ice sheets started melting do Riacho, Monte Alegre, Papa do the diversity of contemporaneous ma- and the sea level began to rise. In Boquete, and Lapa dos Bichos. As a terial cultures and economies that ex- southern South America, the effects of whole, these sites present a highly isted by 11,000 years ago. To better this rise, which occurred between heterogenous archeological record that understand the context of this diver- 13,000 and 10,000 years ago, were negates many of our previous assump- sity, we need to view the archeological particularly dramatic: The Atlantic tions about entry dates, human disper- evidence from the perspective of differ- shelf and many areas in present-day sion, and early technologies and econo- ent regional populations culturally Tierra del Fuego were flooded as were mies. Although some of these sites are adapting to different environments. any sites dating to this period or ear- beset with problems such as dubious lier. After 12,000 years ago, there was a human artifacts, questionable radio- REGIONAL DIVERSITY moister and cooler climate until 11,000 carbon dates, or unreliable geological to 10,000, when it became warmer and contexts,3–6 several cannot be dis- IN SOUTH AMERICA drier again. The early Holocene re- missed. Most questionable are the A primary cause of cultural diversity flects a return to a cool, moist climate. deeper layers of the Monte Verde I site must be sought in the environmental Coastlines, deltas and wetlands, and in Chile3,6 and of the Pedra Furada site transitions at the end of the Pleis- major rivers leading into the interior in Brazil,46,47 where modified stones 210 Evolutionary Anthropology ARTICLES

vague on a continental level, they are important, reflecting different pat- terns of subsistence in different envi- ronments, including big-game hunt- ing and generalized foraging, between at least 12,500 and 10,000 years ago. One example of a generalized forag- ing life-way is seen at the site of Monte Verde II,6 dated to about 12,500 years ago and located on a tributary of a major river midway between the Pa- cific coast and the Andean highlands of southern Chile (Figs. 4 and 5). The site contains a wide array of well- preserved perishable materials such as wood, plant, and bone and unifa- cial, bifacial, and bola stone technolo- gies. Included in the recovered mate- rial inventory are the wood and hide remains of a long tent-like structure and a nearby isolated . Individual living spaces inside the tent were asso-

If humans first traveled along the Pacific or Atlantic coastlines, they could have moved quickly into the southern portions of the continent, occasionally migrating laterally into the interior.

Figure 2. Sample of the variety of bifacial and unifacial stone tools typical of Late Pleistocene sites in South America: A. El Jobo projectile point from Venezuela; B. Monte Verde projectile point from Chile; C. unifacial tools from Monte Verde; D,E. edge-trimmed flakes of the ciated with small clay-lined firepits, Tequendamiense and Abriense complexes in highland Colombia; F–I. Various unifacial stone tools from Itaparica sites in Brazil; J,K. fishtail projectile points from Fell’s Cave in southern Chile; food stains, plant remains, stone tools, L. Paijan projectile point from coastal Peru; M–Q. various stemmed and unstemmed projectile and other debris. Outside the tent were points from cave and rockshelter sites in highland Peru. two large pits, several wooden mortars and grinding stones, numer- ous modified stones and pieces of and features hint at a possible human Itaparica Phase of Brazil35 for the pe- wood, and other miscellaneous fea- presence earlier than 20,000 years ago. riod from 11,800 to 10,500 years ago. tures indicative of multiple domestic Much more reliable is the Monte Verde In addition, there are the stemmed tasks. Recovered from inside the iso- II site, which has been securely dated fishtail points of various areas, the lated hut were the remains of plants to about 12,500 years ago. There are a Paijan points of Ecuador and Peru, that possibly were medicinal. Scat- handful of other sites that contain and a myriad of projectile point types tered around the outside of the hut evidence of reliable cultural materials from the central Andean high- were wooden artifacts, stone tools, from before 11,000 years ago. These lands,10,11,25,26 all of which appeared and bones of seven mastodons, sug- are Taima-Taima in Venezuela48 and a between 11,000 and 10,000 years ago. gesting the area may have been used few and rockshelters in Bra- Other less known or less diagnostic to process animal hides and meat, zil27–30,35,49,50 and Tierra del Fuego.51 unifacial and bifacial assemblages dat- manufacture tools, and, perhaps, tend There also are the various unifacial ing between approximately 11,500 and the sick. The wide range of organic and bifacial lithic complexes in the 10,000 years ago have also been recog- and inorganic remains in the site were forested areas of Colombia, Venezu- nized throughout the continent. Al- brought from several distant highland ela, Brazil, and Chile. These include though the discontinuites and continu- and coastal habitats within the river the Tequendamiense and Abriense ities between many of these sites and basin, indicating maximum exploita- complexes of Colombia10 and the their tool technologies are presently tion of resources and a highly effective ARTICLES Evolutionary Anthropology 211

faunal resources and environments. They may have occupied a large terri- tory and moved little within it. Such groups include the inhabitants of sev- eral sites of the Itaparica and Para- naiba phases, dated between at least 11,500 and 10,000 years ago. Early sites in Uruguay and Argentina are associated primarily with projectile point assemblages, including the fish- tail point, and with both specialized big-game hunting and generalized for- aging. The same pattern exists at sev- eral localities farther south in the cold, moist Patagonian grasslands of Chile and Argentina. These sites include, for example, Fell’s Cave, Mylodon Cave, Palli Aike, and Cueva del Medio. Figure 3. View of concentrations of flakes and burned bones of mastodon and native horse at As a whole, vagueness surrounds the T´bito ı site in the savanna plains north of Bogota´ , Colombia, dated to approximately 11,740 the wide variety of bifacial and unifa- years ago. cial industries spread across the conti- nent because so much of our informa- tion is based on a few well-dated sites foraging economy, especially in the A wide variety of regional projectile wetlands. The excellent preservation point types primarily associated with of organic material at Monte Verde the hunting of guanaco, a wild cam- also reminds us of what may be miss- elid, or other game appear between The excellent ing in poorly preserved sites and how 11,000 to 10,000 years ago. These types preservation of organic narrow our interpretations of the past also occur in low frequencies and are may be when they are based almost sometimes associated with different material at Monte Verde exclusively on patterns observed in unifacial tool types.11,25,26 The clearest also reminds us of what stone tool and, occasionally, bone as- record occurs at numerous rockshel- may be missing in poorly semblages. ters and caves in the highlands of Unlike the people at Monte Verde, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, and preserved sites and how who were probably territorial and re- occasionally Ecuador. These sites, dat- narrow our sided in the river basin for most of the ing to 10,500 years ago and later, are year, some later groups were highly typified by subtriangular, triangular, interpretations of the mobile, using a classic bifacial projec- and stemmed points akin to, but gener- past may be when they tile point technology in various open ally cruder than those of the subse- environments characterized by extinct are based almost quent early Holocene period. Many of big-game animals such as mastodon the groups possessing these points exclusively on patterns and giant ground sloths. The primary hunted game and gathered other re- examples are populations associated observed in stone tool sources in specific habitats, such as with El Jobo points (Venezuela), fish- high-altitude deserts and grasslands and, occasionally, bone tail or Magallanes points (various parts (puna), and probably practiced a loose of the continent, but mainly the south- assemblages. form of territoriality within those habi- ern half), and Paijan points (Peru and 57 Ecuador) at sites in grasslands, sa- tats. The descendants of these high- vanna plains, and patchy for- altitude groups eventually domesti- ests.8,11,13,25,26,52–56 Although not well- cated the Andean camelids. and many poorly dated collections documented, the diversity of faunal We know more about the abundant, from disturbed contexts or surface and, when preserved, floral resources widely distributed rockshelter and cave exposures. Further, no sequence has at these sites seems to be generally sites that have been investigated in yet been established that shows the low, comprising mainly large, no- the high Andes than we do about source industry of these varied types. madic prey. The stone tool technology regions further to the east in Brazil, Nevertheless, it is obvious from the includes a very low proportion of bifa- Uruguay, and Argentina. Sites in the relative diversity of projectile point cial tools. With the exception of the savanna and forested areas of central types and unifacial industries that be- Taima-Taima locality in Venezuela, and eastern Brazil primarily contain tween 11,000 and 10,500 years ago a dated to between 13,000 and 11,000 generalized or all-purpose unifacial generally heterogenous culture was years ago, these sites usually range in stone tools; bifacial technologies are distributed over vast areas, and that, age between approximately 11,000 and rare.9–11,30,35 Groups in this area were probably within a few hundred years, 10,000 years ago. adapted to a wide variety of floral and it began to develop into small regional 212 Evolutionary Anthropology ARTICLES

estuarine fish fauna, varying quanti- ties of sea mammal and terrestrial mammal remains, and a few plant species. The artifact assemblages tend to lack diversity, primarily consisting of simple flake and core tools and, in terminal Pleistocene and early Ho- locene times, subtriangular, triangu- lar, and leaf-shaped bifaces and har- poon points. Ornaments of shell, bone, or stone are rare. There is little archeo- logical evidence of specialized big- game hunting along the coast. Rather, the coastal populations are interpreted as having been generalized hunter- gatherers who harvested the resources of coastal habitats, interior pluvial lakes, where present, and riparian fauna and flora. These same coastal populations eventually laid the founda- Figure 4. View of wishbone-shaped foundation of hut at Monte Verde, Chile, dated to approximately 12,500 years ago. The sand and gravel making up the foundation was imported tions for the rise of early Andean civili- from a nearby stream bed. In and around the hut were found numerous fragments of animal zation along the coastal plain of Peru skins, bones of mastodon and paleo-, quids of various imported plant species (today and northern Chile sometime in the consumed by local native people for medicinal purposes), and stone tools. Vertical stubs of early to middle Holocene period.57,63 burned and cut wood were embedded in the two arms of the foundation, suggesting the remains of a pole frame. Coastal sequences of the same order of antiquity as sites located within the interior of the continent are less forth- coming, although a few earlier sites are beginning to appear. The most detailed archeological evidence comes from the site of Huentelafquen on the north-central Chilean coastline60,64 and the Ring Site in southern Peru,63 where relict Pleistocene land surfaces have been discovered proximal to the sea. These sites have been radiocarbons dated to between 10,800 and 9,700 BP. Figure 5. Two fragments (top and center) of the bipointed and rhomboidal points made of andesite and basalt found at Monte Verde. The top fragment was recovered near the hut; the Marine fauna and unifacial lithic in- middle fragment was associated with the nearby remains of a long tent-like structure. The dustries are present in the earliest bottom specimen is slate imported from the coast about 60 km east of Monte Verde. The piece deposits. There also is good evidence has been pecked and ground into a perforating-type tool. of the exchange or direct procurement of cultural items and food resources from the interior portions of the coast. cultures. The majority of these indus- with functional variants, but probably Recent work at two other Peruvian tries are made of local raw material. with the presence of distinct and par- south coastal sites, provides further Around or slightly before 11,000 years tially isolated populations. support for a human presence there by ago, a period of widespread move- No discussion of the continent is at least 10,200 years ago.65,66 Some ment of populations or diffusion of complete without consideration of hu- ideas in parts of South America is man occupation of the coastlines. Al- investigators believe that these sites suggested by the widespread distribu- though the Atlantic coast is generally represent the first migration of hu- tion of the fishtail point and its vari- devoid of early well-dated cultural de- mans into the continent along the 65 ants in the southern cone. As men- posits,30,35,58 possibly because such Pacific coastline. These sites, how- tioned earlier, this point type is the sites may be under water, the Pacific ever, are not the earliest on the conti- only one with nearly continent-wide coastlines of Peru and Chile contain nent and thus represent only a late distribution currently known in the evidence of occupations that may date Pleistocene human exploitation of se- late Quaternary archeological record. to as early as 10,500 years ago.57,59,60–66 lected littoral and adjacent interior This style and the other bifacial or Most of the coastal sites are shell environments. Because of the unusu- unifacial industries co-existing at the comprised of estuarine or ally steep declination of the continen- same time, and often close together, rocky intertidal mollusk species, or tal shelf and high cliffs in southern suggest that we are dealing not merely both, as well as some intertidal and Peru and northern Chile, rising sea ARTICLES Evolutionary Anthropology 213 levels in late Pleistocene times did not forests, parklands, and large forming the South American record falls into submerge sites. More early coastal sites deltas. an evolutionary line of development will surely be found in this region in Although the preceeding configura- similar to that throughout the rest of the future. tions present environmental, subsis- the world, whereby complexity oc- Between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, tence, and technological speculation curred many thousands of years after human diets along the Pacific coastal about the varied early archeological the initial arrival of Homo sapiens plain and in many other parts of South record of South America, that record sapiens. I believe that when a more America changed dramatically.31–33,57 is still too vague and too spotty to complete archeological record is avail- Wild plant and animal foods previ- depict underlying units and rates of able, the latter scenario will prevail. ously available but not much exploited culture change. At this time it is pos- suddenly became important and some- sible to identify a sequential process that can accomodate and specify the times dominant elements of local di- GENERAL TRENDS IN HUMAN different subsistence and technologi- ets. Other changes in human behavior OSTEOLOGY AND GENETICS also occurred, marked by the appear- cal patterns that were present by at ance of new technologies such as seed- least 11,500 to 10,500 years ago, each The trends I have described in the of which is probably associated with grinding stones, composite fishhooks, archeological record have obvious im- different dispersing or colonizing points, more formal bifaces, plications for patterns of gene flow populations. Moreover, not a single and basketry. There were larger and and the type of biological Homo sapi- more stable settlements and higher ens sapiens that colonized South 67–70 regional population densities, espe- America. Direct evidence regard- cially in the major river valleys de- Around or slightly before ing the physical and genetic make-up scending the Andean mountains to the of the first people entering the conti- 11,000 years ago, a 67 east and west; increased reliance on nent is missing. In fact, not a single food storage; the appearance of broad period of widespread reliable human skeleton from the late exchange networks; the emergence of movement of Pleistocene age (i.e., before 10,000 years ago) has been excavated, making complex social differentiation, indi- populations or diffusion cated by mortuary patterns and house South America the only continent on structures; and, in some areas, the of ideas in parts of South the planet where we know of an early development of horticulture.31,32,57 Per- America is suggested by human presence almost exclusively haps, in some closely circumscribed through traces of artifacts and not and highly productive habitats such as the widespread skeletal remains. The earliest known those on the Peruvian and Chilean skeletal evidence is from the sites of distribution of the fishtail 61 coastal plains, in some river basins in Las Vegas in southwest Ecuador, Lau- the Andean highlands, and in the tropi- point and its variants in ricocha and Paijan in northern 10,11,53 cal lowlands east of the Andes, the the southern cone. Peru, La Moderna in Argen- pressure of human numbers was al- tina,10,11,34 Lapa Vermelha IV in Bra- ready stimulating changes in this direc- zil,68 and a handful of other localities, tion between 11,000 and 9,000 years all dating to between approximately ago as part of the competition for site in South America suggests a clear 10,000 and 8,500 years ago. There are control of, or access to, these favored chronological trend between these en- claims of earlier skeletal remains, but habitats. The late Pleistocene period vironmental, technological, and subsis- the their stratigraphic contexts or ra- was probably characterized by very tence changes. The present evidence diocarbon dates are highly suspect. low population densities in most habi- does suggest, however, that since at In studying the cranial morphology tats. However, when groups encoun- least 11,000 years ago, these changes of skeletons from these and other lo- tered favored habitats they may have have not been unidirectional in South calities dating to the early and middle opted to stay in close contact rather America. Furthermore, the time lag Archaic period (10,000–6,000 years than to migrate long distance, not only between the appearance of people and ago), some physical anthropologists for the purpose of accessing key re- the later beginnings of social and cul- believe that two distinct human popu- sources but for biological reproduc- tural complexity in parts of South lations, one Mongoloid and the other tion. In this regard, I suspect that America was probably on the order of possibly non-Mongoloid, existed in late mating and loose territorial fisson- 4,000 to 7,000 years in some areas, if Pleistocene times,68–71 and that the fusion were as important as raw stone we presume the presence of people no latter arrived first.68 They attribute material and certain food types. This earlier than 15,000 to 18,000 years this difference to at least two different same process may have stimulated ago. From the perspective of cultural waves of human migration rather than social aggregation on a local level and evolution, this makes South America to the entry of a single population that reinforced group differentiation, iden- unique, given that other continents split into two different directions and tity, and possibly even occasional ri- were occupied by humans many mille- adapted to distinct habitats and di- valry. This situation was probably in- nia prior to the earliest development etary customs. At present, the sample tensified in the early and middle of social and cultural complexity. On of human skeletal material is too incom- Holocene period, especially in more the other hand, if people were in South plete to determine whether these differ- productive environments such as open America before 20,000 years ago, then ences are related to sampling biases, 214 Evolutionary Anthropology ARTICLES methodological biases, migrations, local distinct human populations in late new strategies for dealing with sea- adaptations, or gene-flow barriers.72 Pleistocene times and has suggested sonal and unpredictable environmen- So far, the genetic evidence has not different models of human dispersion. tal variations, and probably circum- been very helpful in shedding new scribed territories would also help to light on this and other problems, CONCLUSION explain the widespread diversity of though it has provided new insights stone tool technologies and other cul- into the genetic diversity of contempo- Given the current archeological re- tural traits in South America. rary indigenous South Americans.73–83 cord, I believe that the peopling of The most plausible scenario to ex- Unlike physical anthropologists study- South America was in some ways cul- plain the current archeological evi- ing cranial morphology and other skel- turally and socially different from that dence, regardless of an early or late etal traits, geneticists vary in their in North America. Although early entry date, is a founding migration of opinions of the meaning of genetic populations in both continents were people moving rapidly from North diversity. For instance, some studies surely derived from the same Asian America to South America along the favor an entry before 15,000 years biological stock, the first people enter- Pacific coastline sometime shortly be- ago.75–77,81 These studies are not at ing South America were somewhat fore (ca. 14,000–12,000 b.p.) the inven- odds with the archeological evidence different behaviorally and culturally tion and spread of the Clovis culture. due to previous multiple generations supporting an entry date before 11,000 Once the pre-Clovis population reached of technological and organizational years ago. Others admit to consider- South America, it probably dispersed adaptations in North America and Cen- able diversity in the genetic evidence quickly into several widely spaced and tral America. In this regard, I see the but accomodate their findings to the isolated regional groups. Each regional early cultural diversity and complexity Clovis model of late entry.70 It is not group was initially highly mobile within in South America as being related not known whether diversity occurred rap- certain broad environmental zones (e.g., just to regional isolationism but to the idly in intermixed populations, slowly savanna plains, patchy woodlands) and degree and history of transgenera- in longstanding small populations, or was large enough in size to biologically slowly in other populations that were sustain itself. Although it is probable that undergoing changes in size but that a second wave of immigrants bearing a had not had enough time together to . . . several physical Clovis-like culture reached the conti- recreate diversity through mutations. anthropologists and nent sometime around or after 11,000 It is also possible that small, isolated b.p., South America apparently did populations lost some genetic diver- geneticists have not experience the continuous flow of sity, further complicating our under- advocated an early immigrants presumed for North standing of these records. Lastly, to America. This pattern would explain accomodate the biological diversity entry date as far back as the early cultural and biological diver- identified in both the skeletal and ge- 20,000 to 40,000 years sity identified across South America, netic records, several physical anthro- as well as the presence of a few North pologists and geneticists have advo- ago. Some linguists also American technological traits. Human cated an early entry date as far back as have proposed great dispersion across South America was 20,000 to 40,000 years ago. Some lin- time depth to explain probably greatly facilitated by the nu- guists also have proposed great time merous east to west oriented rivers on depth to explain language diversity.84 language diversity. both flanks of the Andes, especially Calibration of these records must de- between 14,000 and 12,500 b.p., when pend, however, on archeological dates deglaciation had occurred in most ar- taken from reliable contexts. eas and when many river valleys had In summary, I believe that the cur- tional contacts between different popu- become stabilized. These valleys would rent sample size of human skeletal lations and various local types of tech- have provided an adundant and di- material in South America is too small nological, economic, and social practices. verse resource base and an ease of and that the patterning observed in In order to account for the early techno- movement between the coast and high- the remains of the Archaic period is logical continuity such as that of Clovis lands and into the eastern lowlands, too late in time to extrapolate back to and subsequent Clovis derivatives such especially in areas such as southern the late Pleistocene period. Until we as Folsom, Dalton, and Cumberland, Ecuador (present-day Guayaquil River understand the mortuary practices of which has been documented in the basin) and northern Peru, where the the first Americans and recover a larger North American archeological record, Andean mountains are relatively low sample of earlier human skeletons, I I believe that in North America there and narrow. From an Atlantic or Carib- am reluctant to believe that the cur- was more initial contact across broad perspective, the Orinoco River rent biological evidence reliably re- regions and less local-level adaptation system was important as an avenue into flects historic events in the late Pleis- than there was in South America. Such the heartland of the Amazonian basin. tocene. This is not to say that this contact would partially explain the To extend the contrast between the evidence has not helped our under- rapid, widespread dispersion of the two continents even further, the cul- standing of the peopling of the Ameri- Clovis tradition, probably across an tural diversity and broad-spectrum cas. On the contrary, this information extant population, in North America. economies documented across South has established the probability of two Early local adaptations, less mobility, America by 11,000 BP did not take ARTICLES Evolutionary Anthropology 215 place in North America until approxi- rate, and timing of late Pleistocene 1996. Paleoindian cave dwellers in the Amazon: The mately 10,000 BP, or roughly a thou- environmental change and related cul- peopling of the Americas. Science 272:373–384. 14 Meltzer D, Grayson D, Ardila G, Barker A, sand years later. 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