Expanding the Edge: The Use of Caves and Rockshelters during the Late-Pleistocene Human Dispersal into the Central Atacama Highlands

ABSTRACT Several archaeological sites located in caves and rockshelters in the highlands of the Central Atacama Desert reflect the late-Pleistocene peopling of the area (13,000–11,500 cal yr BP). Based on study of the lithic technology and other complementary data, we suggest that they were used as hunting stations and transient camps, mostly intended for specialized tasks as part of long-distance mobility. The gradual extension of the logistical radii of hunter-gatherer groups already adapted to high-altitude environments appears to be the most likely explanation for the early peopling of the area.

• Publication year

  2019

• Venue

  PaleoAmerica

• Publication date

  2019-10-02

• Fields of study

  Geography, Environmental Science, History

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1080/20555563.2019.1697919
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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