The Peopling of Southeastern South America: Cultural Diversity, Paleoenvironmental Conditions, and Lithic Technological Organization During the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene

Abstract

Research in the low plains of Uruguay suggests that during the early settlement of this area of South America, there was an interesting cultural diversity. Recent radiocarbon ages from archaeological sites suggest that at least 1000 years before the emergence of Fishtail groups, the Uruguayan plains were populated by humans between 14,000 and 13,200 cal BP. Fishtail point technology (ca. 12,900–12,200 cal BP) represents one of the initial and more successful human exploration-adaptation processes in the Southern Cone. Archaeological excavations carried out in Uruguay in the last 17 years have enabled the definition of two Paleo-American point types: Tigre (ca. 12,000–11,100 cal BP) and Pay Paso (ca. 11,100–10,200 cal BP). Around 12,200 to 12,000 cal BP, in the middle Uruguay River area, a technological reorganization occurred with several innovations such as the Tigre points and the technology associated with them. Modifications in the style and design of the projectile points (Fishtail, Tigre, and Pay Paso) during about three millennia (ca. 12,900–10,100 cal BP) in periods of 700–900 years probably are cultural responses to the abrupt climatic, faunal, and paleoenvironmental changes occurring during the Late Pleistocene, Pleistocene-Holocene transition, and early Holocene.