Thomas F. Lynch

Glacial-Age Man in South America? A Critical Review

This paper is an attempt to place the dispute about early man in South America in historical context and to review the most convincing and important evidence that has been put forward. Essentially no skeletal remainseither in North or South America have survived recent scrutiny and direct dating by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and small CO2 counters. Only a handful of North American sites still are considered likely to be preClovis, but the concept of an earlier, generalized hunting-and-gathering adaptation remains popular. In South America the pre-Paleoindian sites of the 1960s and 1970s are reevaluated and found to present only weak or negative indications of early occupation. Recently discovered sites in Brazil and Chile are examined critically, and the evidence is questioned. The results of this survey and evaluation suggest that we still lack the absolutely certain case that would be necessary to support the hypothesis of glacial-age occupation. Moreover, the probability of demonstration is seen to decrease, rather than increase, as the Paleoindian horizon increasingly is defined with more certainty while only equivocal cases are marshalled for an Archaic-like pre-Paleoindian stage. In summarizing prehistory, archaeologists should depend more on unambiguous and replicated cases, rather than on regional exceptions. More interpretive caution is needed, especially where there are possibilities of mixture and secondary deposition. Natural processes often mimic cultural patterns, confusing the positive identification of informal hearths and simple artifacts.

Chronology of guitarrero cave, peru.

Dating by accelerator mass spectrometry of wooden artifacts, cord, and charcoal samples from Guitarrero Cave, Peru, supports the antiquity of South Americas earliest textiles and other perishable remains. The new dates are consistent with those obtained from disintegration counters and leave little doubt about the integrity of the lower Preceramic layers and their early cultivars. Re-evaluation of the mode of deposition suggests that most of the remains resulted from short-term use of the cave in the eighth millennium B.C., with a possible brief human visit as early as 12,560 years ago.

Camelid pastoralism and the emergence of Tiwanaku civilization in the South‐Central Andes

Abstract The Andean tablelands and valleys around and south of Lake Titicaca form a coherent cultural area with a history of development that is distinctive in the American context. Early camelid pastoralism and root crop agriculture, probably native to this high region, become the basis of an altitudinally or vertically oriented system of production from complementary environmental zones. From an early pattern of transhumance by hunters and gatherers, through pastoral nomadism and caravan networks, to a stylistically and economically integrated regional civilization, cultural development in the South‐Central Andes has an integrity of tradition that is dependent on camelids and their products.

The antiquity of man in South America

Abstract The initial peopling of South America is reviewed in terms of geochronological and archaeological data. The problem is put in historical perspective and a systematic evaluation is made of the latest typologically oriented arguments for the presence of preprojectile point complexes. Field evidence is very weak for early Biface and Chopper traditions. There is better support for an early Flake tradition, but it is not likely to precede the use of stone projectile points. Radiocarbon dates and “terrace dating” should be used only with great caution and careful attention to the nature of cultural and stratigraphic associations. Uncritical acceptance of determinations on bone and soil samples has led to extremely problematic cultural reconstructions. Emphasis on stratified sites with finished artifacts, faunal assocations, and charcoal dates leads to a reconstruction at odds with those presented in recent textbooks. It is concluded that the bulk of solid evidence favors the entry of man as a big game hunter using stone projectile points and having an adaptation much like that of the Paleo-Indians of North America.

Preceramic Transhumance in the Callejón de Huaylas, Peru

The nature of the connections between coastal and highland Peru is a largely unresolved problem. Seasonal transhumance in the sierra zone, suspected in preceramic times, may bear on the beginnings of Andean agriculture. The preceramic occupation of the upper Santa Valley spans a wide range of environments and types of sites, which probably represent related facies of a single cultural cycle. The sites include high elevation hunting camps, workshops, open air river terrace sites, and a dry cave in which plant remains are well preserved. It is thought that preceramic hunter-gatherers migrated regularly from one elevation and environmental zone to another, and that this should be systematically reflected in the frequencies of various classes of artifacts in the stone tool industries.

Obsidian hydration dating and temperature controls in the Punta Negra region of Northern Chile

Abstract Effective hydration temperature (EHT) is essential for the computation of obsidian hydration dates. In the Atacama Desert, the scarcity of air-temperature records combines with extremes of elevation and local temperature to encourage, or even require, the use of buried thermal cells to record on-site mean annual temperatures. Compositional analysis (sourcing) and hydration rate development in the laboratory are also necessary, especially where other dating methods are unavailable to confirm the hydration rate. Paleoindian or Early Archaic through modern obsidian dates support a human settlement pattern history derived from archaeological/geomorphological studies of climatological and hydrological change.

Terracing and Irrigation in the Peruvian Highlands [and Comments and Reply]

Agricultural terraces in the Colca Valley of southem Peru facilitate the irrigation necessary for agriculture in this semiarid environment. Terrace expansion and contraction, in tum, are closely related to the availability of water. In the short term, households abandon terraces because of constraints in the system of water distribution. In the longer term, periodic droughts trigger water conservation practices which curtail expansion and lead to terrace abandonment. During periods of relative water abundance, constraints are relaxed, allowing new terraces to be constructed and abandoned ones rebuilt. Cyclical pattems of terrace contraction and expansion suggest that repeated observations of land use over time are necessary for an understanding of agricultural intensification and deintensification in the Central Andes.

Cordage, Textiles, and the Late Pleistocene Peopling of the Andes

Harsh high-altitude environments were among the last landscapes to be settled by humans during the Late Pleistocene between ∼15,000 and 11,000 calendar years before present (cal yr BP). Successful colonization required physiological adaptations to hypoxia and cultural adaptations to limited resources and cold temperatures. How and when humans colonized Andean South America has been poorly understood owing to controversial early archaeological sites and questions about the impact of environmental factors, including the presence of glaciers. Here we report the reexamination and direct dating of six finely woven textiles and cords from Guitarrero Cave, Peru, that identify South America’s earliest textiles and show that occupation of the Andes had begun by ∼12,000 cal yr BP. Additional evidence for plant processing and fiber-artifact construction suggests women’s presence among these earliest foraging groups. Previous research suggested use of the highlands by small groups of male foragers between 15,000 and 13,000 cal yr BP with permanent settlement only after 11,000 cal yr BP. Together these data amplify accumulating evidence for Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene technological sophistication and cultural diversity in South America and are consistent with hypotheses that long-term settlement of higher elevations occurred immediately following glacial retreat.

Early Human Cultural and Skeletal Remains from Guitarrero Cave, Northern Peru

An early man site in highland Peru yielded a rich cultural assemblage in stratigraphic association with faunal remains, botanical remains, and campfire remnants that furnished secure radiocarbon dates. A human mandible and teeth, showing interesting patterns of occlusal wear, were found in a stratum dated by a charcoal sample to 10,610 B.C., the oldest such date in South America.

Quishqui puncu: a preceramic site in highland peru.

The complete campsite industry from this early site includes crude chopping tools, microblades, and numerous scraper and projectile point types. A square-based variant of the Ayampit�n point is distinctive of the earliest occupation, but the incidence and distribution of other types indicate that seasonal use persisted into agricultural and ceramic periods.