Between 12,500 and 10,000 BP, two different stone tool assemblages or broad cultural traditions occupied portions of South America: one group designated the unifacial Edge-Trimmed Tradition (Bryan and Gruhn 2002) and the other group generally called the Bifacial Tradition. Identification of the two groups is based primarily on the stylistic and technological characteristics of their stone-tool industries—that part of the material culture that is most often preserved—but also on variables such as chronology, site size, distributions of occupation, and patterns of mobility. The Edge-Trimmed assemblage probably emerged out of an earlier as yet unknown bifacial and unifacial tradition. Bifacial assemblages are primarily found at caves and rock shelters and at small sites in the open terrain of the Andean mountains from Colombia to southern Chile and in the Pampa and Patagonian grasslands of the southern cone, but they also have been infrequently observed in forested and savanna areas of eastern Brazil and northern South America (Figure 2.3). The Bifacial Tradition is best represented by El Jobo and Monte Verde, Fishtail, Paijan, and several regional lanceolate and stemmed projectile point styles (Figures 2.4, 2.5). Sites of the Edge-Trimmed period are similar to bifacial occupations in chronology, size and distribution, but occur primarily in forested and parkland areas in northern and central South America (Figure 2.6). Edge-trimmed tools are perhaps most characteristic of the Itaparica Tradition and the Paranaiba, Ibicui, and Uruguai phases of eastern and southern Brazil (Figure 2.2: 20-26, 41), although they also occur in various regions of the Andes (Figure 2.7).
The early settlements of the Edge-Trimmed and Bifacial traditions are usually found close to water sources, such as perennial springs, the interfluves of drainage systems, and small, sometimes seasonal, marshes and lakes. Most sites were small and ephemeral, such as the Fishtail deposits in the Tandilia Hills, Cerro La China, and Cerro El Sombrero sites in the Pampa and Fell’s Cave, Tres Arroyos, Los Toldos and others in central Chile and in southern Patagonia (Figure 2.2: 5, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 35, 37), although there were some larger and longer occupations. What seem to be more extensive open-air Fishtail and Paijan settlements in areas like the north coast of Peru, for example, often consist of successive
Figure 2.3. General view of rockshelter site in the Andean mountains of southern Patagonia in Argentina where Fishtail points and early hunter-gatherer cultural deposits are typically recovered. (Tom D. Dillehay)
Figure 2.4. Bifacial projectile points from various sites dating between 11,000 and 10,000 years ago in southern Chile: a-b. lanceolate bifaces with concave bases; b. elongated lanceolate with straight base, slightly elongated lanceloate with shallow concave base; c. late Fishtail point with contracting stem and straight base. (Tom D. Dillehay)
Figure 2.5. Paijan projectile points radiocarbon dated between 10,700 and 9,000 years ago on the north coast of Peru. (Tom D. Dillehay)
Figure 2.6. Tequendama rockshelter site in the central highlands of Colombia. (Tom D. Dillehay)
Figure 2.7. Edge-Trimmed stone tools typical of sites dating between 11,000 and 8,000 years ago on the north coast of Peru. (Tom D. Dillehay)
Ephemeral occupations over long periods of time rather than a single large site. Generally speaking, most bifacial assemblages seem to be associated with specialized economies, such as hunting. Edge-Trimmed assemblages have more expedient tools and tend to reflect generalized or broad-spectrum economies (e. g., Figure 2.2: 2, 3, 6, 7, 20-24, 26, 41).
There is a wide variety of evidence across the continent that points toward various combinations of specialized hunting and collecting “residential” strategies and broad spectrum “logistical” behavior (sensu Binford 1980). In residential mobility, the entire group moves from one camp to another according to the abundance of seasonal resources. With logistical mobility, individuals or small groups pursue specific tasks at small sites while moving to and from a base camp that may or may not be permanently used. Both strategies required planning, foresight, evaluation of risk and uncertainty, and a consensus among group members. Specialized residential hunting strategies were applied throughout the open terrain of the Pampa and Patagonia and the high altitude puna and altiplano areas of Peru, Bolivia, north Chile, and northwest Argentina (Figure 2.2: 10-12, 32-33). The most informative sites in the latter region are Pachamachay, Telarmachay, Uchumachay, San Lorenzo, Tiliviche, and many others.
A few sites seem to have been more than a simple occupation where a small group of hunters stopped for days or even weeks, butchered their kills and gathered plants or manufactured their tools. Instead, they give evidence of more extensive habitation and prolonged use, perhaps over a period of months or even a year or more. Studies of camelid bone remains from several early cave and rock shelter sites in Peru, Chile, and Argentina (Figure 2.2) may suggest logistical hunting systems of base camps and hunting stations that were located to intercept migration routes. It is probable that the human and camelid interactions established by both residential and logistical hunting strategies eventually led to animal husbandry and domestication in some areas. The animal bone remains also indicate few changes in the procurement and variety of prey through time, except for the extinction of megafauna, and reflect the mix of species available locally, which were usually dominated by deer and paleolama. Whenever the opportunity arose, people also hunted a variety of moderate to small sized game such as rabbit, fox, and water fowl in the Andes and in the southern grasslands. They also caught river fish and collected freshwater mollusks.
Specialized maritime residential settlements along the coast of south Peru and north Chile had access to a wide array of marine and, to a lesser extent, terrestrial species (Figure 2.2: 13, 43). These Pacific communities lived in an environment where littoral, arid plains, and hilly habitats were within easy reach of any given site. Not only were there rich marine resources, but the rugged Andean topography provided a vertical heterogeneity in terrestrial resources. As a result, a sustained maritime foraging tradition persisted throughout the late Pleistocene and Holocene as evidenced by sites such as Quebrada de los Burros, Jaguay and Tacahuay in Peru and Quebrada de las Conchas and Huentelaquen in northern Chile.
A generalized forager lifeway, on the other hand, has been demonstrated at several localities, including the north coast of Peru where the arid coastal plains and the Andean mountains offer several highly compacted ecological zones ranging from desert to tropical montane forest (Figure 2.2: 8). This is an advantageous niche for early residential and logistical foragers, offering an array of essential resources including an ample supply of water in the form of alluvial springs and shallow marshes, rich hunting grounds and fishing localities, and sources of raw lithic material suitable for tool production. There is a series of cultural enclaves at favorable wetland locations across the high and low resource zones, linked to each other through a broad network of seasonal foraging and exchange routes. Closely investigated by archaeologists over the past few decades (e. g., Chauchat 1992), the region has yielded hundreds of sites of the early and late Paijan phases, respectively dated between 11,000 to 10,000 and 10,000 to 8,500 years ago (Dillehay et al. 2003). All were open-air occupations. Both Paijan phases shared a lithic technology and tool kit predominantly based on the production of long needle nose-like projectile points (Figure 2.5), unifacial scrapers and cutting tools, with an important component of limaces in the shape of slugs. They also produced bone and shell tools.
Most early Paijan sites represent generalized hunters and gatherers and small, single-phase residential occupations with discrete scatters of worked lithics. Late Paijan sites seem to represent places selected for longer periods of time, implying that a semi-sedentary to sedentary logistical life had begun by 10,000 to 9,000 BP (Dillehay et al. 2003). A possible reason for this is the increasing abundance of wild resources made available by the amelioration of the climate, with the result that people no longer needed to range over large territories to meet subsistence requirements. Settlements with circular architectural structures (Figure 2.8), multiple-phase occupations, and higher artifact densities became increasingly common. Similar structures also have been found on the north coast of Chile at places such as Acha-2. While Paijan people remained food collectors and hunters, they intensified their endeavors and perhaps even controlled wild species of plants to some extent. Although there is no clear proof for plant cultivation, people were not necessarily ignorant of the possibility.
Both the considerable investment in architecture and the depth and diversity of cultural deposits at late Paijan and Acha sites are suggestive of long-lasting occupation in circumscribed environments. While it is not completely certain that these sites were occupied
Figure 2.8. Circular stone architectural foundation of the late Paijan period that is radiocarbon dated to uncalibrated 9,980 + 80 BP (Beta 154099). (Tom D. Dillehay) year-round, evidence of thicker floor deposits, greater abundance of trash, and the commitment to permanent architecture have been taken as evidence of longevity and the establishment of “protohouseholds” (sensu Boguchi 1999; Dillehay et al. 2003) at these sites, as has the variety of local food plants, especially charred carob or algarrobo beans. Similarly, as mentioned above, evidence for the multi-seasonal hunting of camelids at several highland sites in the central and south-central Andes also may reflect continuous occupation and circumscribed territoriality.
Plant foods also constituted a significant part of the generalized forager diet in some environments, especially wetlands and woodlands, though evidence is still meager owing to matters of preservation and recovery techniques. Exceptions are the site of Monte Verde in south-central Chile (ca. 12,500 BP) and the Las Vegas sites in coastal Ecuador (ca. 9,500-8,000 BP), which are best known for their wide variety of preserved cultural evidence and for their internal organization of subsistence and maintenance activities. Hearths and concentrations of debris from the manufacture of tools and the preparation of food formed the foci of human activity at these localities. At Monte Verde, a cultural layer over 12,000 years old yielded the remains of hut structures and some seventy species of plants with edible seeds, fruits, and parts (Figure 2.2: 36). While unifacial and bifacial chipped stone was present, the predominant technology was wood and cordage.
On botanical grounds, it has been established that the inhabitants of Las Vegas sites cultivated and domesticated squash ca. 10,000 BP (Figure 2.2: 6) (Stothert et al. 2003; Pip-erno and Stothert 2003), so they were among the first people anywhere in South America to domesticate plants. However, this and other early attempts at cultivation seem to have had a restricted impact, since a complete dependency on cultivated staples is not observable in the Andes and eastern tropical lowlands for another 4,000 to 5,000 years. Important, too, are the preliminary finds at Lapa do Boquete and Paranaiba Phase sites in eastern Brazil (Figure 2.2), where palm nuts and other edible seed and fruit species along with non-food plants were identified in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene levels dated between 11,300 and 10,000 BP. People at these sites and other sites (Figure 2.2: 42, 44) apparently enjoyed a nutritious and diverse diet. The plants were collected from the wild, rather than tended or grown deliberately, and were used as food and probably as flavorings, medicines, or dyes.
In sum, given the wide range of landscape and diverse resource distribution, patterns of settlement and subsistence varied considerably among the diverse regions of South America during the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene periods. The apparent shift to increased territoriality and semi-sedentism along the central Pacific coast, possibly in the puna and altiplano of the Andes, and possibly in lowland tropical areas such as the Guayaquil basin in Ecuador, the lower Magdalena River basin in Colombia, and the Orinoco River in Venezuela, is pivotal to this period. In particular, the late Paijan data suggest that when people first settled in permanent localities, they still relied on a subsistence economy based primarily on gathering wild plants and hunting animals. But plant and animal domestication was soon to come, and we may conclude that a semi-sedentary lifestyle, coupled with logistical hunting and gathering, was a prelude to the appearance of the earliest gardening and pastoral communities of the ninth and eight millennia in the Andes. A new world was in the making at the end of the Pleistocene.
World History
