Landscape evolution and the environmental context of human occupation of the southern pampa del tamarugal, Atacama Desert, Chile

摘要

As with most living organisms, human populations respond to climatic, environmental, and population pressures by transforming their range and subsistence strategies over space and time. An understanding of human ecology can be gained when the archaeological record is placed within the context of dynamic landscape changes and alterations in natural resource availability. We reconstructed the landscape evolution of the Quebrada Mani fan complex, situated along the west-facing slope of the Central Andes in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert, an area that contains an archaeological record that spans almost 13,000 years. Surficial geologic mapping and dating of three 2-12 km(2) study sites, in conjunction with archaeological records and analysis of remotely sensed data for the similar to 400 km(2) fan complex, was conducted to reconstruct the landscape evolution and the way of life of Paleoindian (ca. 12.8-11.5 ka) and early/late Formative (ca 2.5 to 0.7 ka) social groups.