Mobility Strategies between the Atacama Desert and the Lípez Highlands during the Late Pleistocene

Summary

One of the main constraints limiting understanding late Pleistocene archaeology in South America is the lack of compatible and standardized datasets from scholars working in neighboring countries. Here, we present interdisciplinary collaborative work for discussing the nature of human mobility between the Pacific Coast, the Atacama Desert and the Lípez Highlands of Chile and Bolivia at 21° S. In an attempt to identify mobility strategies by human populations occupying these drastically different environments, we describe settlement and stone tool utilization patterns. Our results suggest that during the late Pleistocene, a broad logistical pattern of mobility supported by a curated technological strategy was in place, consisting of sizeable occupations near wetlands in lower elevations and temporary and logistical visits to the highlands. Therefore, we propose the existence of a very early circuit that linked the coast with the then largely forested aquifers of the Atacama and in turn, to the Andean highlands. Specific environmental conditions made this circuit possible and its eventual disappearence during the early Holocene, motivating new kinds of mobility strategies. Finally, the establishment of this circuit is consistent with previous inferences about the progressive nature of human adaptation of high-elevations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Mobility and Use of Space in Late Pleistocene South America: Is it Possible to Discuss Early Human Regional Ranking?

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