The late Pleistocene cultures of South America

Important to an understanding of the first peopling of any continent is an understanding of human dispersion and adaptation and their archeological signatures. Until recently, the earliest archeological record of South America was viewed uncritically as a uniform and unilinear development involving the intrusion of North American people who brought a founding cultural heritage, the fluted Clovis stone tool technology, and a big-game hunting tradition to the southern hemisphere between 11,000 and 10,000 years ago.1–3 Biases in the history of research and the agendas pursued in the archeology of the first Americans have played a major part in forming this perspective.4–6 Despite enthusiastic acceptance of the Clovis model by a vast majority of archeologists, several South American specialists have rejected it.6–11 They contend that the presence of archeological sites in Tierra del Fuego and other regions by at least 11,000 to 10,500 years ago was simply insufficient time for even the fastest migration of North Americans to reach within only a few hundred years. Despite this concern, and despite the discovery of several pre-Clovis sites in South America,6,10–12 some specialists2,3 keep the Clovis model alive. Proponents of the model claim that the pre-Clovis sites are unreliable due to questionable radiocarbon dates, artifacts, and stratigraphy. Solid evidence at the Monte Verde site in Chile14–16 and other localities6,8,10–12 now indicates that South America was discovered by humans at least 12,500 years ago. How much earlier than 12,500 years ago is still a matter of conjecture.6,10,12,15 Some proponents prefer a long chronology of 20,000 to 45,000 years ago,8 while others advocate a short chronology of 15,000 to 20,000 years ago10–12 or only 11,000 years ago.1–3.