Browsing by Author "Gonzalez-Guarda, Erwin"

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    Taguatagua 3: A new late Pleistocene settlement in a highly suitable lacustrine habitat in central Chile (34°S)
    (2024) Labarca, Rafael; Frugone-Alvarez, Matias; Vilches, Liz; Blanco, Jose Francisco; Penaloza, Angela; Godoy-Aguirre, Carolina; Lizama-Catalan, Alvaro; Oyarzo, Cristobal; Tornero, Carlos; Gonzalez-Guarda, Erwin; Delgado, Ayelen; Sepulveda, Marcela; Soto-Huenchuman, Paula
    We present the results of the excavations and analyses of the diverse and exceptional archaeological assemblage of Taguatagua 3, a new late Pleistocene site located in the ancient Tagua Tagua lake in Central Chile (34 degrees S). The anthropogenic context is constrained in a coherently dated stratigraphic deposit which adds new information about the mobility, subsistence strategies, and settlement of the early hunter-gatherers of southern South America. The age model constructed, as well as radiocarbon dates obtained directly from a combustion structure, indicate that the human occupation occurred over a brief time span around 12,440-12,550 cal yr BP. Considering taphonomic, geoarchaeological, lithic, archaeobotanical, and zooarchaeological evidence, as well as the spatial distribution combined with ethnographic data, we interpret Taguatagua 3 as a logistic and temporary camp associated mainly with gomphothere hunting and butchering. Nevertheless, several other activities were carried out here as well, such as hide and/or bone preparation, small vertebrate and plant processing and consumption, and red ochre grinding. Botanical and eggshell remains suggest that the anthropic occupation occurred during the dry season. Considering the contemporaneous sites recorded in the basin, we conclude that the ancient Tagua Tagua lake was a key location along the region's early hunter-gatherer mobility circuits. In this context, it acted as a recurrent hunting/scavenging place during the Late Pleistocene due to its abundant, diverse, and predictable resources.
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    The extinct Notiomastodon platensis (proboscidea, Gomphoteriidae) inhabited mediterranean ecosystems during the Late Pleistocene in north-central Chile (31°S-36°S)
    (2024) Gonzalez-Guarda, Erwin; Segovia, Ricardo A.; Valenzuela, Matias; Asevedo, Lidiane; Villavicencio, Natalia; Tornero, Carlos; Ramirez-Pedraza, Ivan; Ortega, Sebastian; Capriles, Jose; Labarca, Rafael; Latorre, Claudio
    Limited pollen and limnogeological evidence show that central Chile (31 degrees S-36 degrees S) had a more temperate climate during the Late Pleistocene. Questions remain, however, regarding the extent of the mediterranean sclerophyllous forest currently found in this region and its postglacial dynamics. The extinct Notiomastodon platensis was the only proboscidean species that inhabited central Chile and ranged across a broad latitudinal range (31 degrees S-42 degrees S) during the Pleistocene. Although this species was a mixed-feeder, we reconstructed past ecosystems when these animals were alive using stable isotope evidence from dental root collagen (delta C-13 and delta N-15) of N. platensis specimens collected from present-day semi-arid and mediterranean ecosystems in central Chile (31 degrees S-36 degrees S). Compared to modern vegetation isotope baselines, we expected the isotopic value of the Estimated Consumed Diet (ECD) (the probable diet of N. platensis) to be similar to the isotopic signal (low values) from vegetation adapted to temperate rainforests. However, elevated delta N-15(ECD) values indicate a paleo-vegetation more similar to a xerophyte scrub influenced by a semi-arid paleoclimate. delta C-13(ECD) values reflect a wooded/forested environment but adapted to more arid conditions. Although high delta N-15 values could be influenced by other non-climatic factors (e.g., grazing effect), our combined evidence suggests that these gomphotheres roamed through ecosystem very similar to those found today in central Chile. Our results show the need for multiproxy reconstructions of past environmental change in Mediterranean regions where the abundance of entomophilous species can lead to biased pollen reconstructions.