Early Human Dynamics in Arid and Mountain Environments of the Americas

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Early Human Dynamics in Arid and Mountain Environments of the Americas" at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene, people expanded into diverse ecosystems across the Americas, including places often characterized as marginal, harsh, or extreme. Recent and ongoing interdisciplinary and international investigations have demonstrated the historical underestimation of human relationships with these landscapes. This session builds upon this new understanding and responds to recent calls to expand intercontinental dialogues on peopling and settlement processes in the Americas by focusing on the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in arid and mountain environments. By featuring ecologically parallel but latitudinally disparate regions, we seek to establish the present state of research, discuss methodological advancements, and identify promising future directions and collaborations. Papers will focus on social and material adaptations, including organic and inorganic technologies, chronology and climate, exploration and settlement processes, foodways, social theories, and new methods.