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An Early Holocene task camp (~8.5 ka cal BP) on the coast of the semi-arid north of Chile

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2012

Benjamín Ballester ,
Donald Jackson ,
Matthiu Carré ,
Antonio Maldonado ,
César Méndez  and
Roxana Seguel
Benjamín Ballester
Affiliation:
1Departamento de Antropología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Chile, Ignacio Carrera Pinto1045, Santiago, Chile (Email: benjamin.ballester@gmail.com; djackson@uchile.cl; cmendezm@uchile.cl)
Donald Jackson
Affiliation:
1Departamento de Antropología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Chile, Ignacio Carrera Pinto1045, Santiago, Chile (Email: benjamin.ballester@gmail.com; djackson@uchile.cl; cmendezm@uchile.cl)
Matthiu Carré
Affiliation:
2Université Montpellier 2-CNRS-IRD, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France (Email: matthieu.carre@univ-montp2.fr)
Antonio Maldonado
Affiliation:
3Centro de Estudios Avanzado en Zonas Áridas, Raùl Bitran s/n, La Serena, Chile (Email: amaldonado@ceaza.cl)
César Méndez
Affiliation:
1Departamento de Antropología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Chile, Ignacio Carrera Pinto1045, Santiago, Chile (Email: benjamin.ballester@gmail.com; djackson@uchile.cl; cmendezm@uchile.cl)
Roxana Seguel
Affiliation:
4Centro Nacional de Conservación y Restauración, Tabare 654, Recoleta, Santiago, Chile (Email: rseguel@cncr.cl)
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Extract

According to current thinking, the peopling of South America involved a coastal as well as an inland exploitation. Here the authors describe a camp that may denote a transition between the two. As indicated by bifacial tools, the investigation shows that people began to move inland and hunt mammals around 8500 cal BP, perhaps in association with a change in the climate.

Keywords

Chilepeopling of South Americacoastalinlandshell middenbifacies
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 86 , Issue 331 , March 2012 , pp. 88 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2012

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