The initial human settlement of Northwest South America during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition: Synthesis and perspectives

The northwestern corner of South America, represented by the current territory of Colombia, is a key region to asses some relevant issues linked with the initial human peopling of the area, including population dispersals, cultural diversity, and early adaptations to the changing environmental condi...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Aceituno, Francisco J., Loaiza, Nicolás, Delgado Burbano, Miguel Eduardo, Barrientos, Gustavo
Tipo de documento: artigo
Estado:Versão publicada
Data de publicação:2012
País:Argentina
Recursos:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositório:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglês
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/196459
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/196459
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:NORTHWEST SOUTH AMERICA
EARLY PEOPLING
HUNTER-GATHERERS
PLEISTOCENE/HOLOCENE TRANSITION
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.1
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6
Descrição
Resumo:The northwestern corner of South America, represented by the current territory of Colombia, is a key region to asses some relevant issues linked with the initial human peopling of the area, including population dispersals, cultural diversity, and early adaptations to the changing environmental conditions experienced by lowland and highland north-Andean Neotropical ecosystems at the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. The aim of this paper is to present a synthesis of the archaeological research about early peopling carried out in Northwest South America during the last four decades. Specifically, it will focus on the adaptive strategies and the cultural diversity patterns exhibited by the early hunter-gatherer groups that entered the region since late Pleistocene times. The classic ideas about the time of arrival of the first settlers, the dispersal routes, the incidence of the climate change in on the rate of dispersal and colonization of different habitats, and the role of the megafauna in the subsistence will be reviewed, prior to the formulation of new hypotheses about the meaning of the apparent intraregional diversity of the archaeological record and the evolution of economic strategies over time.