Geophysics in the Hyperarid Atacama: Assessing Features among Fossil Channels, Paleosols, and Lithic Dispersions at Quebrada Mani, Chile

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, dozens of Terminal Pleistocene archaeological sites have been identified in an area that previously held seasonal surface water channels and a riparian landscape. These sites shed light on the early peopling of western South America because the sites have had little disturbance or conflation with later Holocene components due to the ensuing extreme aridity at the onset of the early Holocene. We present results from geophysical research carried out in 2018 at the area of Quebrada Mani where archaeological features distributed along east-west fossil stream channels that transported Andean water and sediments west toward pluvial basins have been dated to between 12.5 and 11.2k cal BP. The hyperaridity has also led to extraordinary preservation of a riparian corridor where horse, ground sloth, camelid and rodent remains are present along with extensive botanical remains and concentrations of lithics. In this poster we assess some of the challenges in interpreting the past landscape using geophysical (GPR and gradiometer) and geomorphic methods to assess site and landscape dynamics including the potential preservation of certain cultural features.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37386.0