Cueva del Medio: A Paleoindian Site and Its Environmental Setting in Southern South America

Hugo G Nami,Calvin J Heusser

doi:10.4236/ad.2015.32007

Abstract

This article reports the results of the palynological analysis obtained from one of the archaeological profiles exposed at Cueva del Medio, a Paleoindian site located at the southern tip of South America (Ultima Esperanza, Chile). The earliest occupation is located over a sand layer which follows the natural slope of the sedimentological matrix of the cave. The findings of this level are significant, as they demonstrate a clear Paleoindian context, linking humans with extinct fauna. Based on the palynological analysis and previous results obtained in the region, the environmental setting of Cueva del Medio is described. Paleoindian occupations of the cave, estimated to date from approximately 11 - 10 kya, may have taken place at about the time of initial, albeit ephemeral, Nothofagus expansion. Climate becoming more mesic was evidently transitory, and possibly favored some development of arboreal communities. Summer drought for a time afterward, in turn, was less favorable to the spread of trees, as inferred by the successive prevalence of steppe.

Highlights

During the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, at the time of glacier recession, the paleoecology in southern South America was characterized by fluctuating climates
In the province of Ultima Esperanza (Magallanes, Chile), studies of archeology remain in a number of caves, and rock shelters have yielded excellent data
The findings demonstrate a clear Paleoindian context, linking humans with extinct fauna

Summary

Introduction

During the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, at the time of glacier recession, the paleoecology in southern South America was characterized by fluctuating climates. In the province of Ultima Esperanza (Magallanes, Chile), studies of archeology remain in a number of caves, and rock shelters have yielded excellent data Among these sites, mention needs to be made of Cueva del Lago Sofía, Alero Dos Herraduras, Alero Pedro Cárdenas, and Cueva del Medio. Between 1930s and 1950s, Dr Junius Bird of the American Museum of Natural History (New York) reported discoveries at Fell and Pali Aike caves in southern Chile, approximately 150 km to the east of Ultima Esperanza. From these sites came the first reliable evidence of coexistence between Pleistocene fauna and human beings (Bird, 1938, 1946, 1988).

The Sampling Site

Dating Methods and Chronology

Results

Final Remarks