Pleistocene-Holocene Transition Research Articles

Higher abundance of disturbance‐favoured trees and shrubs in European temperate woodlands prior to the late‐quaternary extinction of megafauna

Abstract Large herbivorous mammals strongly influence vegetation structure by creating and maintaining open areas and causing disturbance within closed woody habitats. The herbivores alive today in Europe are only a small remnant of the large species that existed in high diversity and abundance before modern humans. The extinction of so many large herbivores during the last 50,000 years, and the loss of megaherbivores (body weight ≥1000 kg) from most of the continent before the Pleistocene–Holocene transition, is likely to have had cascading effects on vegetation structure and composition. To evaluate these effects within the European temperate forest biome, we examine the abundance change of three important European woody taxa (deciduous oaks, Quercus spp.; hazel, Corylus [mainly C. avellana]; and yew, Taxus baccata) before and after the late‐Quaternary downgrading of the region''s large herbivore fauna. These taxa are disturbance‐favoured, depend on canopy openings for regeneration, and tend to decline in closed dense forests. Quercus and Corylus may thrive in systems affected by megafauna herbivory or fire, whilst Taxus is fire‐sensitive but can thrive in grazed systems. Using pollen‐based reconstructions (REVEALS), we investigated the proportional cover of these three focal taxa in the Last Interglacial (129,000–116,000 before present [BP]) and early–mid‐Holocene (8700–5700 BP). We found that woodlands in the Last Interglacial exhibited higher cover of Corylus and Taxus relative to the Holocene, with the former reaching very high percentage cover; meanwhile, Quercus had a consistent, moderately high percentage cover in both periods. Furthermore, we found that the cover of Corylus and Taxus appeared to be influenced more by unmeasured, non‐climatic factors than Quercus. Synthesis: The abundance of Taxus suggests a limited role of fire; whilst the observed levels of Taxus, Corylus and Quercus align with the potential influence of megafauna herbivory; however, a direct quantitative link remains to be established. Our results suggest that vegetation was structurally and compositionally affected by differences in disturbance regimes between the Last Interglacial and early–mid‐Holocene, with the loss of diverse disturbance regimes likely contributing to the divergence of Holocene vegetation from long‐term ecological baselines.

The effects of climate and population on human land use patterns in Europe from 22ka to 9ka ago

Between 22ka and 9ka ago, after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and during the transition to the Holocene, mobile hunter-gatherer populations, differentiated by their stone tool assemblages, periodically dispersed and contracted across Europe. It is well understood that climate played an important role in human distributions and population sizes during the post-LGM Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene, but the question remains as to whether increasing population sizes drove early human dispersal. Here, using a spatiotemporal species distribution model to infer the fundamental and potential human climatic niche space of Late Upper Paleolithic, Final Paleolithic and Early Mesolithic Europe, and hypotheses derived from the Ideal Distribution Model, we test i) how changes in climate affected the size and extent of the projected potential human niche space, ii) for effects of changes in size of projected potential niche on regional human population sizes, iii) whether increasing human population sizes drove human dispersal into less climatically suitable habitats, and iv) whether populations associated with different high-order material culture groupings (macro-level technocomplexes) occupied different climatic spaces. We find that changes in climate correlate strongly with the size and extent of the projected potential human niche space, that increases in the projected human niche space correlate with increases in human population, that human population size is just beginning to become large enough to influence land use and dispersal patterns at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, and that archaeological technocultural entities overlap in their fundamental climatic niche space. This overlap implies that changing tools forms cannot readily been seen as reflecting adaptations to changing climates.

Historical vegetation shifts in southeastern Amazonia: Unraveling ecotone dynamics in the Carajás region over the last ∼14000 cal yr BP

This study investigates the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in Serra Leste, a highly endangered southeastern Amazonian ecotone, with a focus on the lake-filling process, climate changes, and potential consequences to forest and savanna dynamics. The lake's development began at approximately 14000 cal yr BP, resulting from the collapse of the fractured lateritic crust. Sedimentation patterns and geochemical, palynological and micro-charcoal proxies reveal shifts in detrital input and redox conditions, forest/savanna areas, and local and regional fire events, indicating a highly dynamic environmental history. The evolution of the lake is characterized by initial deltaic lobe deposition and forest dominance, followed in the Middle Holocene by sedimentary gaps or reduced detrital input; woody vegetation dominance, with a notable shift toward a more open landscape; and savanna and semideciduous dry forest, accompanied by a decrease in ombrophilous forests. A resurgence in arboreal elements recorded in the Late Holocene indicates an expansion of ombrophilous forests under wetter climate conditions and the establishment of a more continuous forest matrix, with the presence of likely “hyperdominant” taxa. Frequent local fire events and the occurrence of temporarily correlated archeological sites in the Serra Leste region suggest the influence of ancient indigenous communities on vegetation changes during the Late Holocene.

Large herbivore δ18O as a proxy for aridity in the South African winter and year-round rainfall zone

Abstract This study explores patterning in δ18O values of tooth enamel in contemporary African herbivores from mainly C3-dominated ecosystems. Evapotranspiration causes plants to lose H216O to a greater extent than H218O, leaving leaves enriched in 18O. In eastern Africa, ES species (evaporation-sensitive species: those obtaining water from food) tend to have more positive δ18Oenamel values than EI species (evaporation-insensitive species: those heavily dependent on drinking water); the magnitude of the difference increases with increasing aridity. We find the same pattern applies in the winter and year-round rainfall region of southern Africa, allowing us to use δ18Oenamel in fossil animals to examine paleo-aridity. We apply this approach to infer aridity at Quaternary fossil assemblages from present-day winter and year-round rainfall zones, including Elandsfontein (ca. 1–0.6 Ma), Hoedjiespunt (ca. 300–130 ka), and Nelson Bay Cave (23.5–3 ka). This analysis suggests that (1) at various times during the Pleistocene, Elandsfontein and Hoedjiespunt environments were wetter than last glacial maximum (LGM) to Holocene environments at Nelson Bay Cave (year-round rainfall zone); and (2) considered alongside other evidence from the year-round rainfall zone, wetter conditions across the Pleistocene–Holocene transition at Nelson Bay Cave suggests that climate changes at near-coastal sites may be out of phase with the adjacent interior.

Paleosol charcoal: 12,700 years of high-altitude mediterranean vegetation history in relation to forest fires in the southwestern baetic cordillera (Spain)

Mountain forests are sensitive ecosystems. This is why in recent years the dynamics of these forest ecotones have been researched from several different approaches. One of these has been the paleoecological perspective, which is particularly interesting in the mountainous areas of the Mediterranean region, where interactions between climate, vegetation and anthropic activities have been documented for millennia. This is the case of the Sierra de las Nieves Natural Park (southwestern Baetic Cordillera), a mountainous area that constitutes an important refuge for flora in southern Iberian Peninsula. At present, endemic trees such as Abies pinsapo and Quercus faginea subs. alpestris are found. However, its strategic geographical location may also have served in the past as a refuge for other tree taxa. In order to reconstruct the vegetation history in this protected natural area, this research aims to use pedoanthracological analysis in an unexplored area of this mountainous system. The results obtained have allowed to identify a new paleopopulation of Abies, a finding that provides new keys on the paleobiogeography of this species. This is the oldest evidence of this genus and at the highest altitude of those found to date in the southwestern Baetic Cordillera, which would confirm that this fir tree was present in high elevations of the Sierra de las Nieves during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Likewise, the first anthracological evidence of Pinus nigra/sylvestris type in the southwestern end of the Baetic Cordillera has been obtained. Forest fires could have been one of the main factors which would be determined the shaping and evolution of the vegetation landscape, as suggested by the fire events identified from the soil analysis. This information can be useful for the conservation and adaptive management of the most threatened forests and their habitats in the face of global change.

Climatic variation of the last 29.000 years BP in the northern Santos basin (Rio de Janeiro Shelf) inferred by an alternation of cysts Tuberculodinium vancampoae and Operculodiniumcentrocarpum

During the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene, significant changes occurred on the Brazilian continental shelf. In this study, we investigated the environmental changes that occurred during this period through the quantification and classification of cosmopolitan dinoflagellate cysts. We used three cores collected in the northern part of the Santos Basin and analyzed a total of 42 samples. The results showed a predominance of cysts of O. centrocarpum, L. machaerophorum and T. vancampoae, whose occurrence was influenced by sea-level fluctuations during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition and by changes in ocean currents due to temperature variations. Oligotrophic species were established during the Late Pleistocene, followed by mixotrophic species from the Holocene. Analysis of the dinocysts showed the presence of colder waters due to upwelling and the entry of waters with lower salinity due to the formation of transitional estuarine systems. These environmental changes have contributed to the configuration of the current Brazilian coastal scenario.

A quantitative analysis of Final Palaeolithic/earliest Mesolithic cultural taxonomy and evolution in Europe.

Archaeological systematics, together with spatial and chronological information, are commonly used to infer cultural evolutionary dynamics in the past. For the study of the Palaeolithic, and particularly the European Final Palaeolithic and earliest Mesolithic, proposed changes in material culture are often interpreted as reflecting historical processes, migration, or cultural adaptation to climate change and resource availability. Yet, cultural taxonomic practice is known to be variable across research history and academic traditions, and few large-scale replicable analyses across such traditions have been undertaken. Drawing on recent developments in computational archaeology, we here present a data-driven assessment of the existing Final Palaeolithic/earliest Mesolithic cultural taxonomy in Europe. Our dataset consists of a large expert-sourced compendium of key sites, lithic toolkit composition, blade and bladelet production technology, as well as lithic armatures. The dataset comprises 16 regions and 86 individually named archaeological taxa ('cultures'), covering the period between ca. 15,000 and 11,000 years ago (cal BP). Using these data, we use geometric morphometric and multivariate statistical techniques to explore to what extent the dynamics observed in different lithic data domains (toolkits, technologies, armature shapes) correspond to each other and to the culture-historical relations of taxonomic units implied by traditional naming practice. Our analyses support the widespread conception that some dimensions of material culture became more diverse towards the end of the Pleistocene and the very beginning of the Holocene. At the same time, cultural taxonomic unit coherence and efficacy appear variable, leading us to explore potential biases introduced by regional research traditions, inter-analyst variation, and the role of disjunct macroevolutionary processes. In discussing the implications of these findings for narratives of cultural change and diversification across the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, we emphasize the increasing need for cooperative research and systematic archaeological analyses that reach across research traditions.

Waterfowl Eggshell Refines Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction and Supports Multi-species Niche Construction at the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in the Levant

Utilising multiple lines of evidence for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction improves our understanding of the past landscapes in which human populations interacted with other species. Illuminating such processes is key for a nuanced understanding of fundamental transitions in human history, such as the shift from hunting and gathering to farming, and allows us to move beyond simple deterministic interpretations of climate-driven innovation. Avifaunal remains provide detailed indications of complex multi-species interactions at the local scale. They allow us to infer relationships between human and non-human animals, but also to reconstruct their niche, because many bird species are sensitive to specific ecological conditions and will often relocate and change their breeding patterns. In this paper, we illustrate how novel evidence that waterfowl reproduced at Levantine wetlands, which we obtained through biomolecular archaeology, together with modern ornithological data reveals conditions of wetlands that are conducive for breeding waterfowl. By understanding the interplay between wetland productivity cycles and waterfowl ecology, we argue that human modifications to the environment could have promoted wetland productivity inviting waterfowl to remain year-round. Within this landscape of “mutual ecologies”, the feedback resulting from the agency of all species is involved in the construction of the human niche.

Projecting community trophic structures for the last 120 000 years

Studying past community dynamics can provide valuable insights for anticipating future changes in the world's biota. However, the existing fossil record is too sparse to enable continuous temporal reconstructions of wholesale community dynamics. In this study, we utilise machine learning to reconstruct Late Quaternary community structure, leveraging the climate–trophic structure relationship. We followed a four‐stage approach: 1) identify and map trophic structure units (TSUs) at the global scale based on the guild richness and composition of terrestrial mammal species weighing over 3 kg; 2) train a random forest classifier to predict the observed distribution of TSUs based on contemporary climatic conditions; 3) hindcast the global distribution of TSUs using climatic conditions as reconstructed over the past 120 000 years; and 4) compare TSU hindcasts against elements of community structure as estimated with the fossil record. Models project significant shifts in the geographical distribution of community trophic structures, with more pronounced changes occurring during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. These shifts exhibit regional variations, particularly in Eurasia and North America, where the models project reductions in the distribution of less‐complex trophic structures over the last 24 000 years. Hindcasts partially identified the alterations in community structure seen in the fossil record, demonstrating a match between the observed and predicted times of change in mammal community structure (between 24 and 8 ka BP). However, projections of trophic guilds diverged from fossil records during the Holocene. While the fossil record indicated a decrease in the number of grazers and carnivores, our models projected an increase in these numbers. Characterising community‐wide responses to climatic changes is essential to address key questions about past and future impacts of such changes. Although further research is needed to refine the models, our approach offers a perspective for addressing the complex interactions among climate and trophic structures and model their distributions over time.

Where did the water come from? Wetlands and shallow lakes in semi‐arid dunefields from South America during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition

ABSTRACTStabilized and active dunes and sand sheet deposits abound in a small lake‐dotted semi‐arid region of the Western Pampean Dunefield, Argentina. Here, a multi‐scale and multi‐proxy study of three sites, across a hydrologic gradient from lakes to a dryland with groundwater levels at more than 25 m depth, analyzes calcareous and ferruginous rhizoliths, calcareous crusts, hypocoatings, pedogenic carbonate and amorphous Mn‐oxide precipitates within blowout dunes. These palustrine‐related features indicate significantly wetter conditions that allowed the development of shallow lakes and expanding wetlands during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition, limited by associated optically stimulated luminescence ages between ca. 14.7 and 11.6 ka. These wetter conditions, also identified in other nearby proxy records, may be associated with a strengthened South American Monsoon System, potentially during the Younger Dryas Chronozone, though other geological, ecological and climatic forcings cannot be ruled out with available data. Such a scenario lacks a modern analogue, since current hydrologic excess, evidenced in the formation of lakes and new rivers, is not observed in the localities which record paleolakes. This study underlines the variable conditions for pronounced hydrologic excess in semi‐arid eolian environments in western Argentina with complex ecological, anthropogenic and climatic linkages.

New Evidences of Early Peopling of Central Patagonia: A Discoidal Stone and the First Fishtail Projectile Point from Chubut Province (Argentina, South America)

ABSTRACT In this paper, two new artifacts, a Fishtail projectile (or Fell 1) point and a discoidal stone from central Patagonia, Argentina, are presented. These pieces, mainly associated with the initial peopling of South America, come from an area in which until now no artifacts of this type had been recovered. Both instruments, which were part of the technological equipment of Paleoamericans, are complete. The projectile point is made of light brown translucent opal, and the discoidal stone is made of rhyolite, an acidic volcanic rock. Three-dimensional models of the instruments are presented with the aim of providing a detailed and precise record of both lithic pieces. These archaeological artifacts give information on the geographical distribution of indicators of initial human presence and the use of space during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in central Patagonia, in the south of South America.

Changes in the Baltic Sea levels during the Late Pleistocene the Late Pleistocene-Holocene transition

The article discusses the Pre-Baltic Sea history during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene periods. Despite a long history of research on this topic, there are still gaps in our knowledge that prevent us from creating an accurate and comprehensive paleo geographic reconstruction of the region during this time period. A table that provides information on the dates of bottom sediment samples from lakes, peat bogs, and archaeological sites that mark the earliest stages of Baltic Sea evolution, is included. The article identifies problems with the limited research on the Baltic Glacial Lake and Ioldium Sea sediments, as well as the maximum extent of the Ancylian transgression. A brief chronology of changes in water levels during the earliest stages of the Baltic is presented.

Millennial processes of population decline, range contraction and near extinction of the European bison.

European bison (Bison bonasus) were widespread throughout Europe during the late Pleistocene. However, the contributions of environmental change and humans to their near extinction have never been resolved. Using process-explicit models, fossils and ancient DNA, we disentangle the combinations of threatening processes that drove population declines and regional extinctions of European bison through space and across time. We show that the population size of European bison declined abruptly at the termination of the Pleistocene in response to rapid environmental change, hunting by humans and their interaction. Human activities prevented populations of European bison from rebounding in the Holocene, despite improved environmental conditions. Hunting caused range loss in the north and east of its distribution, while land use change was responsible for losses in the west and south. Advances in hunting technologies from 1500 CE were needed to simulate low abundances observed in 1870 CE. While our findings show that humans were an important driver of the extinction of the European bison in the wild, vast areas of its range vanished during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition because of post-glacial environmental change. These areas of its former range have been climatically unsuitable for millennia and should not be considered in reintroduction efforts.

Paleobiology of Pleistocene large land mammals from the Brazilian Pampa

The southern Brazilian Pleistocene fauna exhibited a rich diversity of large mammalian herbivores, which are now extinct or locally extinct. In this study, we employed stable isotope analysis to investigate the past ecology of these animals. Specifically, we examined the carbonate fraction of bones and teeth and utilized compiled carbon and oxygen isotopic ratios from previous research publications. The δ13C values indicated that most specimens inhabited grassland environments, which aligns with environmental reconstructions based on pollen records of the “Campos” region. The dominant food resource for these herbivores consisted of C3 photosynthesizers, mainly cool-season grasses. This preference can be attributed to the higher abundance and nutritional quality of cool-season grasses compared with warm-season grasses employing C4 photosynthesis. The variability in δ18O values within and between taxa may suggest a seasonal climate. Based on these findings, we conclude that the environmental changes during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition were detrimental to the survival of these large herbivores.

Permafrost microbial communities follow shifts in vegetation, soils, and megafauna extinctions in Late Pleistocene NW North America

AbstractWe analyzed the microbial constituent of sedimentary ancient DNA sequence data recovered from subarctic loessal permafrost sediments dating between 30,000 and 4000 years ago. These data were originally studied for paleo‐ecological shifts in plants and animals associated with the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Here, we explore whether there were changes in microbial communities paralleling the transition from distinctive cold‐adapted Ice Age megafauna and vegetation communities—the mammoth steppe ecosystem—toward the expansion of woody shrubs, extirpation of grazing megaherbivores, and development of the boreal forest. We observe a clear shift in the relative proportions of prokaryotic taxa after ca. 13,300 years ago associated with the collapse of the mammoth steppe. These data are consistent among study sites and between replicates processed with different methodologies (shotgun sequencing and targeted capture), which highlights that the “off‐target” fraction of metagenomic data used to study macro‐ecosystems can also be used to investigate synchronous changes in microbial communities. Functional analyses were performed with SEED and KEGG databases where we observed a shift in methane metabolism pathways after ~13,100 years ago, which suggests that there was a shift in methanogenesis away from animal gut microflora at the end of the Pleistocene. There does not appear to be a significant shift in the overall diversity of microbial communities despite the observed taxonomic and functional changes.

Rock paintings in an engraved landscape. Reassessing the exceptionality of the pictographs of Croc-Marin (Fontainebleau forest, France)

The rock art assemblage in the Parisian basin is well-known for its extensive number of engraved sites that reflects a long-duration tradition spanning from Upper Paleolithic to modern times. By contrast, only a handful of rock art sites with rock paintings are currently known in the area. In this paper we present the results of the first comprehensive study of one of these rock painting sites, Croc-Marin (Montigny-sur- Loing, Seine-et-Marne) applying state of the art methodologies to reassess their exceptionality in the framework of this prehistoric graphic assemblage. The presence of similar conventions in pictographs and engravings suggest both were part of a common symbolic system. Some of these conventions could be deeply rooted in the last stages of the Upper Palaeolithic that subsequently transformed into the Mesolithic graphic repertoire in the area. This painted rock art site is a key element in understanding the local evolution of the graphic productions since the Pleistocene-Holocene transition and during the Mesolithic, not only in the region, but at an European scale, reflecting the changes and transformation in the rock art traditions and the arousal of local particularities progressively becoming more and more different across Europe.

From “Cycad Hell” to Sacred Landscapes: Tracing the Cultural Significance of Cycads in the Ryukyu Islands and Japan

This article explores the place of Cycas revoluta in Japanese culture, with a specific focus on the Ryukyu archipelago. Although never domesticated, worldwide evidence points to the sustained alimentary, ethnoecological, and symbolic significance of this ancient order of plants since at least the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Their millennial use in the Ryukyu Islands is a key example of this pattern. Despite this fact, the role of cycads in Ryukyuan and wider Japanese and East Asian cultural systems remains understudied; the broader features of this intriguing aspect of regional culture are virtually unknown outside Japan. This article reviews the social and environmental roles of cycads in ancient and modern Ryukyuan and Japanese cultures, with particular emphasis on their position in indigenous agroecological systems and their incorporation in the sacred landscapes of Buddhist and Shintō religious complexes. In doing so, this article highlights a unique biocultural patrimony and set of ancestral traditions that are in danger of being lost, as cycad habitats succumb to development and as the symbolic significance of cycad use fades from social memory. It concludes with a discussion of how the study of cycads may contribute to contemporary interdisciplinary research and wider heritage discourse to enhance the preservation of the practices, histories, and values related to Japanese cycad culture.

A method for estimating paleotemperatures from pollen assemblages applied to the quantification of the Early Holocene warming in Central Brazil

This study presents a method for the quantification of paleotemperatures from pollen records based on the predominant leaf margin trait of the genera represented in the pollen assemblages. The method presented here uses the well-known and widely used relationship between leaf margin and mean annual temperature, which is commonly applied to macrofloras to reconstruct paleotemperatures. Here, genera occurring in the arboreal vegetation of Central Brazil were analyzed respective to the presence or absence of species bearing toothed leaves. Using floristic surveys, a correlation between the proportion of genera without toothed species and the mean annual temperature was investigated. A positive linear correlation between these two variables was found for forest sites, but not for the arboreal savannas. The equation derived from the linear regression between the two variables - proportion of genera without toothed species and mean annual temperature (MAT) - was applied to pollen assemblages collected on forest sites. The equation was used to calculate estimated MATs for surface samples in order to test the validity of its application to pollen assemblages. The equation was then applied to fossil records to estimate paleoMATs for two Brazilian sites located respectively at 15.5° and 28° of latitude, during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (between 13.6 and 10 kyr cal BP). While MAT increases of around 3 °C were found for the higher latitude site, no significant differences between final Pleistocene and early Holocene MATs were found for the near-equatorial site.

North American pollen records provide evidence for macroscale ecological changes in the Anthropocene

Recent global changes associated with anthropogenic activities are impacting ecological systems globally, giving rise to the Anthropocene. Critical reorganization of biological communities and biodiversity loss are expected to accelerate as anthropogenic global change continues. Long-term records offer context for understanding baseline conditions and those trajectories that are beyond the range of normal fluctuation seen over recent millennia: Are we causing changes that are fundamentally different from changes in the past? Using a rich dataset of late Quaternary pollen records, stored in the open-access and community-curated Neotoma database, we analyzed changes in biodiversity and community composition since the end Pleistocene in North America. We measured taxonomic richness, short-term taxonomic loss and gain, first/last appearances (FAD/LAD), and abrupt community change. For all analyses, we incorporated age-model uncertainty and accounted for differences in sample size to generate conservative estimates. The most prominent signals of elevated vegetation change were seen during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition and since 200 calendar years before present (cal YBP). During the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, abrupt changes and FADs were elevated, and from 200 to -50 cal YBP, we found increases in short-term taxonomic loss, FADs, LADs, and abrupt changes. Taxonomic richness declined from ~13,000 cal YBP until about 6,000 cal YBP and then increased until the present, reaching levels seen during the end Pleistocene. Regionally, patterns were highly variable. These results show that recent changes associated with anthropogenic impacts are comparable to the landscape changes that took place as we moved from a glacial to interglacial world.

New Analysis of Unifacially Shaped Technology from the Tropical Lowlands of Colombia

ABSTRACT The Middle Magdalena River Valley in central Colombia provides evidence of early human occupation between 13000 and 12000 cal BP during the global Younger Dryas period, characterized by mixed lithic industries involving both bifacial and unifacial technology. This article describes a unifacially shaped artifact discovered in the locality of Puerto Berrío, Antioquia, Middle Magdalena, central Colombia. Due to its high diagnostic value, a detailed technological analysis of its manufacture is presented to enable comparisons with similar artifacts in South America. Techno-structural analysis reveals a complexly manufactured piece with different tools, suggesting different usages. Various manifestations of this type of highly curated tool have been found in various regions of northern South America during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, indicating that unifacial technology is a characteristic tool type of this stage, beyond projectile points. This article also aims to open a dialogue on what a tropical lithic tool is in its individuality and variability.