Browsing by Author "Flores-Aqueveque, Valentina"

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    Chronological sequence (early and late Holocene) and cultural trajectories in Quebrada Pedernales, southern Puna, Chile (26°S-3,456-3,730 masl)
    (2023) Mendoza, Patricio Lopez; Carrasco, Carlos; Loyola, Rodrigo; Mendez, Victor; Varas, Daniel; Diaz, Pablo; Santana-Sagredo, Francisca; Quiroz, Luciana; Soto, Angelica; Flores-Aqueveque, Valentina; Maldonado, Antonio; Vera, Francisca; Bravo, Alvaro; Hernandez, Daniel; Alamos, Ignacio; Orrego, Vanessa
    This article presents the results of the interdisciplinary investigation in Quebrada Pedernales (26 degrees S-69 degrees W, Chile 3456 masl), in the highlands of northern Chile. The excavations and surveys carried out revealed a great diversity of pre-Hispanic evidence in an area of the Andes that has been little investigated. This evidence allowed us to reconstruct a sequence of continuous occupation between 11,201-11,612 and 539-634 cal. BP. Zooarchaeological, radiocarbon, technological, geochemical, and carpological analyses suggest wide mobility circuits between the coast and the puna on both slopes of the Andes at the start of the Holocene, coinciding with improved environmental conditions in this area and greater aridity on the coast. A severe lack of human occupation is observed during the mid-Holocene, a phenomenon associated with extreme arid environmental conditions. These trends indicate that the southern limit of influence of this environmental event, which has been recorded in a large part of the south-central Andes, extended into the study area, with a direct impact on the settlement and mobility of human groups. Towards ca. 3000 cal. BP, environmental conditions similar to those of today are associated with the reappearance of archaeological evidence and greater complexity in the formation of settlements, especially in terms of hunting activities.
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    Evolution of Glacial Lake Cochrane During the Last Glacial Termination, Central Chilean Patagonia (∼47°S)
    (2022) Vásquez, Alicia; Flores-Aqueveque, Valentina; Sagredo T., Esteban; Hevia, Rodrigo; Villa-Martínez, Rodrigo; Moreno, Patricio; Antinao, José L.Vásquez, Alicia; Flores-Aqueveque, Valentina; Sagredo T., Esteban; Hevia, Rodrigo; Villa-Martínez, Rodrigo; Moreno, Patricio; Antinao, José L.
    Large ice-dammed lakes developed along the eastern margin of the Patagonian Ice Sheet (PIS) during the Last Glacial Termination (T1). Their spatial/temporal evolution, however, remains poorly constrained despite their importance for deciphering fluctuations of the shrinking PIS, isostatic adjustments, and climate forcing. Here we examine the distribution and age of shoreline features deposited or sculpted by Glacial Lake Cochrane (GLC) in the Lago Cochrane/Pueyrredón (LCP) basin, Central Patagonia, following recession of the LCP glacier lobe from its final Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) moraines. GLC drained initially toward the Atlantic Ocean and continuing ice shrinking opened new drainage routes allowing the discharge toward the Pacific Ocean. We identify five clusters of lake terraces, shorelines, and deltas between elevations ∼600–500 (N5), ∼470–400 (N4), ∼360–300 (N3), ∼230–220 (N2), and ∼180–170 masl (N1) throughout the LCP basin. The distribution of these clusters and associated glaciolacustrine deposits provide constraints for the evolving position of the damming glacier bodies. Elevation gradients within the landform clusters reveal glacio-isostatic adjustments that enable us to quantify the magnitude of deglacial rebound and construct isostatically corrected surfaces for the different phases in the evolution of GLC. Our chronology, based principally on radiocarbon dates from lake sediment cores and new OSL dating, suggests that these phases developed between ∼20.7–19.3 ka (N5), ∼19.3–14.8 ka (N4), ∼14.8–11.3 ka (N3), and shortly thereafter (N2 and N1). The N3 landforms are the most ubiquitous, well-preserved, and voluminous, attributes that resulted from a ∼3,500-year long period of glacial stability, enhanced sediment supply by peak precipitation regime, and profuse snow and ice melting during the most recent half of T1. This scenario differs from the cold and dry conditions that prevailed during the brief N5 phase and the moderate amount of precipitation during the N4 phase. We interpret the limited development of the N2 and N1 landforms as ephemeral stabilization events following the final and irreversible disappearance of GLC after N3. This event commenced shortly after the onset of an early Holocene westerly minimum at pan-Patagonian scale at ∼11.7 ka, contemporaneous with peak atmospheric and oceanic temperatures in the middle and high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere.
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    Huentelauquén coastal groups in the Andean highlands? An assessment of human occupations of the Early Holocene in Salar de Pedernales, Chile (26°S, 3356 masl)
    (2022) López, Patricio; Carrasco, Carlos; Loyola, Rodrigo; Flores-Aqueveque, Valentina; Maldonado, Antonio; Santana Sagredo, Francisca; Méndez, Víctor; Díaz, Pablo; Varas, Daniel; Soto, Angélica
    We present new evidence obtained in archaeological surveys in Quebrada Pedernales (3356 masl), in the southern puna of Chile (26°S; 69°W). A series of surface findings such as large lanceolate stemmed projectile points and geometric stones, together with chronostratigraphic and artifactual data recovered in excavations at the Pedernales-38 site, suggest that the coastal Huentelauquén groups explored and inhabited the Andean highlands between 10,151 and 9695 cal yr BP. The archaeological record is discussed as it relates to the known evidence for this cultural complex, recognized principally on the Pacific coast. The archaeological findings allow us to broaden the diversity of environments exploited by coastal populations of the Early Holocene, and provide new data on their mobility and settlement strategies.
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    Late Pleistocene human occupations in the southern puna, Chile (12,4-10,7 ka cal. BP): Primary results from the Salar de Infieles (25°S, 3529 m. a.s.l.)
    (2023) Mendoza, Patricio Lopez; Carrasco, Carlos; Loyola, Rodrigo; Mendez, Victor; Blanco, Elvira Latorre; Diaz-Jarufe, Pablo; Flores-Aqueveque, Valentina; Varas, Daniel; Santana-Sagredo, Francisca; Orrego, Vanessa; Soto, Angelica; Maldonado, Antonio; Maturana-Fernandez, Anahi
    This article presents the results of excavations at the Infieles-1 site, located at 3529 m. a.s.l. in the Salar de Infieles (25 degrees S), highlands of the Chile's southern Puna ecoregion. An initial human occupation was discovered next to an ignimbrite rock-shelter at a depth of 70-80 cm on top of a volcanic ash deposit, dated between 10,798 and 12,440 cal yr BP. The archaeological record consists of lithic wasted-flakes and knapping debris, an ultra-marginal andesite side-scraper, vicuna bone fragments and traces of red mineral pigment. As far as now, this event is the first human occupation recorded in the southern Puna. It is a camp associated with more favourable environmental conditions during the late Central Andean Pluvial Event II (CAPE II). (C) 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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    Provenance and long-term circulation of archaeological obsidian in the Puna de Copiapo (25-27°S), South-Central Andes
    (2023) Loyola, Rodrigo; Lopez-Mendoza, Patricio; Carrasco, Carlos; Glascock, Michael D.; Flores-Aqueveque, Valentina; Mendez, Victor; Varas, Daniel; Orrego, Vanessa
    We present obsidian compositional data obtained by X-ray fluorescence analysis in the Andean highlands (25-27 degrees S/68-69 degrees W) of northern Chile. Seventy-six samples (n = 76) from three lithic sources and six archaeological sites were analyzed, covering a chronological sequence from 10,100 to 500 cal BP. Compositional analyses indicate the exploitation of the Cienaga Redonda and Cerro Manchado local sources as well as Ona-Las Cuevas and Salar del Hombre Muerto located between 200 and 230 km away on the eastern slope of the Andes, in northwestern Argentina. The results obtained show that the Puna de Copiapo has been a key area for circulation between the eastern and western slopes of the Andes since pre-Columbian times.