New radiocarbon dates confirm late Pleistocene human occupation in the Pampas of Argentina at c. 12,170 14C yrs BP: evidence from extinct horse at the Arroyo Seco 2 site

Author(s): Thomas Stafford; Daniel Rafuse; Gustavo Politis; Maria Gutierrez

Year: 2015

Summary

The Arroyo Seco 2 site (AS2) is a multi-component open air hunter-gatherer site located in the Pampean Region of Argentina. A recently published monograph summarized the current interpretations of the site, which contains bone remains of 11extinct Pleistocene mammals, including Eutatus seguini, Glossotherium robustum, Megatherium americanum, Paleolama cf. wedelli, Toxodon platensis, Equus (Amerhippus) sp., Glyptodon sp., Hemiauchenia sp., Hippidion sp., Macrauchenia sp., and Mylodontinae. While there is a concentration of selected anatomical parts of Pleistocene species and a spatial and stratigraphic association between them and lithic artifacts, the evidence of anthropic processing marks on the Pleistocene fauna bone surface remained scarce. Taphonomic analysis identified a proximal ulna bone fragment of Equus (Amerhippus) sp. with conclusive processing marks (two impact points with their respective negative flake scars on opposite sides of the shaft as well as notches produced by impact failures). A new AMS 14C analysis of this specimen yielded a date of 12,170 + 45 14C yrs BP; which is consistent with a previously-obtained determination on Megatherium remains averaged to 12,172 + 42 14C yrs BP (4 averaged dates). This date confirms the validity of the late Pleistocene human occupation chronology at the Pampas of Argentina.

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Cite this Record

New radiocarbon dates confirm late Pleistocene human occupation in the Pampas of Argentina at c. 12,170 14C yrs BP: evidence from extinct horse at the Arroyo Seco 2 site. Thomas Stafford, Daniel Rafuse, Gustavo Politis, Maria Gutierrez. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 397699) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8668FJR

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Keywords

General
Early hunter-gatherers • Human-megamammal interactions • Pleistocene Human Occupation

Geographic Keywords
South America

Spatial Coverage

min long: -65.039; min lat: -41.245 ; max long: -55.898; max lat: -33.578 ;

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Gutierrez.etalSAA2015---A4.pdf 1.25mb Sep 24, 2015 5:48:34 AM Public