Evolutionary Adaptations and Population History of the Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert, despite its extreme aridity, scarce water sources, and hostile climate, has been inhabited by humans since the terminal Pleistocene. Encompassing a range of ecological zones from southern Peru and northern Chile, and extending into the altiplano region of Chile, Bolivia and Argentina, human and cultural remains from the Atacama Desert provide critical data that enrich our understanding of the initial peopling of South America and events that occurred thereafter. Because of Atacama’s unique ecology, humans who occupied this region faced challenges that differ from other areas of South America. Thus, this symposium encompasses archaeological and biological research focused on evolutionary adaptations and population movement over 10,000 years of human prehistory in the Atacama Desert and the areas surrounding it. The papers in this symposium present new methodological approaches and theoretical interpretations, including analyses of ancient DNA, dental calculus, isotopes, and 3D morphometrics. Our symposium features a team of international and interdisciplinary researchers whose collaborative goal is directed toward new interpretations on biocultural evolution, foodways, health/disease, and social complexity among prehistoric human lifeways in the Atacama Desert and adjacent regions of South America.