The Chiquihuite Cave, a Real Novelty? Observations about the Still-ignored South American Prehistory

ABSTRACT

The recently reported discovery of cultural evidence at Chiquihuite Cave (Zacatecas, Mexico), produced by humans of at least 26,500 calendar years ago, is a major advance in research into early human occupations in the Americas. Thirteen of the 239 lithic artifacts recovered from the SC-C stratigraphic component, dated during and before the Last Glacial Maximum, are illustrated in Ardelean et al. (2020. “Evidence of Human Occupation in Mexico around the Last Glacial Maximum.” Nature 584: 87–92). Although waiting for more detailed technological studies, these types of artifacts have been reported in other sites, primarily in South America. The field evidence from sites predating the Last Glacial Maximum must now be included in all interpretations of the initial settlement of the Americas.

KEYWORDS:

• Chiquihuite Cave
• lithic technology
• early peopling of the Americas
• South American prehistory
• Paleoamerican
• anthropology of techniques

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Dr. Eric Boëda is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at Paris Nanterre University (France). He is a member of the AnTET team, Anthropologie des Techniques, des Espaces et des Territoires au Pliocène et au Pléistocène, of the laboratory ARSCAN (UMR 7041) at Paris Nanterre University (France). He is a prehistorian and an archaeologist. His research interests include the evolution of techniques and the prehistory of the Americas.

Dr. Ruth Gruhn is presently Professor Emerita at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Her research focuses upon the initial settlement of the Americas. She and her late husband Alan Bryan have excavated early archaeological sites in western Canada, the western United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Brazil.

Dr. Agueda Vilhena Vialou is presently honorary member at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, in the Homme et Environnement department. She is a member of the UMR 7194 - Histoire Naturelle de l'Homme Préhistorique. She is a prehistorian. Her research interests include the prehistoric technical and symbolic behaviors, mainly in South America and western Europe.

Lic. Carlos Aschero is presently Professor Emerita at the Universidad Nacional de Tucumán in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina. He is a principal investigator at the Instituto Superior de Estudios Sociales (ISES-CONICET) and member of Instituto de Arqueología y Museo (FCN, IML-UNT). He is an archaeologist who specializes in rock art, lithic technology and hunter-gatherer settlement systems in the Argentinean Puna and Patagonia.

Dr. Denis Vialou is presently Professor Emerita at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, in the Homme et Environnement department. He is a member of the UMR 7194 - Histoire Naturelle de l'Homme Préhistorique. He is a prehistorian. His research interests include the prehistoric technical and symbolic behaviors, mainly in South America and western Europe.

Dr. Mario Pino is a Full Professor at the Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra and the Trandisciplinary Center for Quaternary Studies (TAQUACH), Austral University of Chile. He is a quaternary geologist. His research interests include early human settlements in Southern Chile.

Dr. Maria Gluchy is presently Professor at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande in Rio Grande, Brazil. She is an archaeologist. Her research interests include the Pleistocene and Holocene lithic assemblages of Brazil.

Antonio Pérez is an archaeologist and PhD student in the AnTET team, Anthropologie des Techniques, des Espaces et des Territoires au Pliocène et au Pléistocène, of the laboratory ARSCAN (UMR 7041) at Paris Nanterre University (France). His dissertation research is focused on the techno-functional description and interpretation of the earliest Pleistocene lithic industries of South America.

Marcos Paulo Ramos is an archaeologist and PhD student at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, PPGArq-Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His dissertation research is focused on the techno-functional description and interpretation of the earliest Pleistocene lithic industries of Brazil.

Notes

1 LGM sensu stricto definition is based on mean (atmospheric and sea surface) temperature at the global (earth) scale and it corresponds, at the shortest, to the 19,000–23,000 cal yr BP interval (Mix, Bard, and Schneider 2001). Impact at regional scale might be shifted in time and magnitude. Ardelean et al. (2020) take into account the 19,000–26,500 cal yr BP interval (Clark et al. 2009).