High-altitude adaptation and late Pleistocene foraging in the Bolivian Andes

Capriles, José M.; Albarracin-Jordan, Juan; Lombardo, Umberto; Osorio, Daniela; Maley, Blaine; Goldstein, Steven T.; Herrera, Katherine; Glascock, Michael D.; Domic, Alejandra I.; Veit, Heinz; Santoro, Calógero M.

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.03.006

Cited by 32 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Contextual evidence suggests that it was a temporary and, most probably, logistical foraging camp (Capriles et al . ). The Archaic occupation (5500–3500 cal bp ) corresponds to the return of hunter–gatherers during the onset of the Late Holocene, following a long occupational hiatus, which involved the use of the rock shelter for sporadic residence.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…We recently reported the stratigraphic, chronological and contextual associations of the site's earliest occupation, including radiocarbon dating and artefact analyses (Capriles et al . ). Based on the presence of small hearths and relatively small faunal and lithic assemblages, we argued that the rock shelter was initially used as a temporary camp by highly mobile human foragers.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…To this effect, we assess evidence from Cueva Bautista, a high‐elevation, short‐term occupation camp recently excavated in south‐western Bolivia that contains a stone tool assemblage dated between 12 700 and 12 100 cal bp (Capriles et al . ). In addition, we describe the geological setting and geochemical composition of Cerro Kaskio, a newly discovered obsidian source situated 15 km from Cueva Bautista.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Late Pleistocene Lithic Procurement and Geochemical Characterization of the Cerro Kaskio Obsidian Source in South‐western Bolivia

et al. 2018

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Primary questions regarding the foraging behaviour of the first hunter–gatherers who colonized the New World are how they found, procured and utilized high‐quality raw materials for manufacturing stone tools. In this paper, we present evidence from the late Pleistocene site of Cueva Bautista in the highlands of south‐western Bolivia, which demonstrates that a substantial portion of the recovered stone tool assemblage originated in Cerro Kaskio, a recently discovered obsidian source located 15 km south‐west of the site. In addition to describing the geological and geochronological setting, we provide the first geochemical characterization of the Cerro Kaskio source by means of instrumental neutron activation analysis and energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence. Supported on the technological analysis and archaeometric sourcing of the obsidian lithics found in Cueva Bautista, we discuss the nature of the procurement strategies practised by the earliest mobile hunter–gatherers who explored and colonized the Andean highlands. We conclude that opportunistic lithic resource procurement was probably an important component of the first foraging societies that explored the highland Andes.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Late Pleistocene Lithic Procurement and Geochemical Characterization of the Cerro Kaskio Obsidian Source in South‐western Bolivia

et al. 2018

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“…The Sora River valley, located in the Lípez highlands of southwestern Bolivia, is a narrow basin outlined by two parallel ignimbrite outcrops running from north to south. Several rock shelters found along these geological formations preserve evidence of human occupation that extends into the late Pleistocene (26,27). One of these rock shelters, locally known as Cueva del Chileno (situated at 3,890 m above sea level), was excavated in 2008 and 2010 ( Fig.…”

Section: The Ritual Bundle From the Cueva Del Chilenomentioning

confidence: 98%

Chemical evidence for the use of multiple psychotropic plants in a 1,000-year-old ritual bundle from South America

Miller

Albarracin-Jordan

Moore

et al. 2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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107

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“…kyr BP; Rademaker et al, 2014) and of Bolivia (Cueva Bautista, at 3900 masl, dated between 12.9 and 12.6 cal. kyr BP; Capriles and Albarracín-Jordan, 2013;Capriles et al, 2016) have challenged this perception of the earliest settlement of the high Andes. Given this new evidence, models of how the highlands were peopled are also being r-evaluated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dry Puna as an ecological megapatch and the peopling of South America: Technology, mobility, and the development of a late Pleistocene/early Holocene Andean hunter-gatherer tradition in northern Chile

Osorio

Steele

Sepúlveda

et al. 2017

Quaternary International

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A B S T R A C T. Current scientific evidence shows that humans colonized South America at least 15,000 years ago, but there are still many unknown aspects of this process, including the major and minor migratory routes involved, and the pattern of successive occupation of a diverse continental mosaic of ecosystems. In this context, the role of the Andean highlands (_3400 meters above sea level) has been neglected, because of the supposedly harsh conditions for humans including hypoxia and cold climate. Nevertheless, the environmental and cultural resources available in the high Andes constitutes an important "megapatch" that should be assessed in terms of human settlement patterns. We review the evidence for late Pleistocene/ early Holocene hunter-gatherer occupation of one part of this megapatch, the northern Chilean Dry Puna, in its palaeoecological context. We focus on lithic technology, faunal remains, radiocarbon dates, and other archaeological materials related to different social activities, which allow us to suggest that groups of hunter-gatherers organized and adapted their way of life to highland ecosystems through logistical mobility, and curatorial strategies for lithic tool kits that included projectile points and other formalized tools. The morphology and technological processes involved are recognized over vast territories along the high Andes. We identify this material expression as the high south central Andean Archaic hunter-gatherer tradition, which also featured long distance mobile settlement systems and communication processes over this broad and distinct megapatch. More speculatively, we outline the hypothesis that these highland ecosystems constituted a suitable migratory route that may have been key for the early peopling of the continent, and contrast it with the alternative hypothesis of the initially secondary and seasonally intermittent exploitation of this habitat by hunter-gatherers dispersing along the Pacific coastal corridor.

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High-altitude adaptation and late Pleistocene foraging in the Bolivian Andes

Cited by 32 publications

References 65 publications

Late Pleistocene Lithic Procurement and Geochemical Characterization of the Cerro Kaskio Obsidian Source in South‐western Bolivia

Late Pleistocene Lithic Procurement and Geochemical Characterization of the Cerro Kaskio Obsidian Source in South‐western Bolivia

Chemical evidence for the use of multiple psychotropic plants in a 1,000-year-old ritual bundle from South America

The Dry Puna as an ecological megapatch and the peopling of South America: Technology, mobility, and the development of a late Pleistocene/early Holocene Andean hunter-gatherer tradition in northern Chile

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