12,000-Year-Old Secrets of Chilean Hunter-Gatherers Exposed?
Early hunter-gatherers frequently returned to Tagua Tagua Lake in Chile to hunt ancient elephants and utilize other local resources, according to a study published on May 22 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Rafael Labarca of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and colleagues.
Tagua Tagua Lake in central Chile is home to multiple archaeological sites, representing some of the earliest known human settlements in the Americas. In this study, Labarca and colleagues report the discovery of a new site called Taguatagua 3, an ancient hunter-gatherer camp dating to the Late Pleistocene, approximately 12,440–12,550 years old.
This site features the fossil remains of a gomphothere, an extinct relative of elephants. Butchery marks on the bones, along with stone tools and other evidence, indicate that Taguatagua 3 was a temporary camp established for processing the large carcass.
Other activities carried out at the camp included processing other foods, as indicated by charred remains of plants and small animals such as frogs and birds. Fossil cactus seeds and bird eggshells suggest that the camp was occupied during the dry season.
Numerous similar-aged sites in the region imply that Tagua Tagua Lake was a recurring hunting and scavenging ground for people during the Late Pleistocene due to abundant and predictable local resources. The authors suggest that this area was a key location along the routes taken by mobile communities of the time, with temporary camps possibly hosting regular meetings between these groups. Further investigation of this rich archaeological region will continue to provide insights into the mobility and subsistence strategies of early humans in South America.
The authors add, “Taguatagua 3 helps us to understand better how early humans adapted to fast-changing environments in central Chile during the Late Pleistocene.”
Source: 12,000-Year-Old Secrets of Chilean Hunter-Gatherers Exposed?
Study finds paleolithic people settled in Cyprus thousands of years earlier than previously thought
Study finds paleolithic people settled in Cyprus thousands of years earlier than previously thought
The patterns of dispersal of early humans across continents and islands are hotly debated, but according to a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Pleistocene hunter-gatherers settled in Cyprus thousands of years earlier than previously thought.