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New excavations at the late Pleistocene site of Chinchihuapi I, Chile

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2019

Tom D. Dillehay ,
Carlos Ocampo ,
Jose Saavedra ,
Mario Pino ,
Linda Scott-Cummings ,
Peter Kovácik ,
Claudia Silva  and
Rodrigo Alvar
Tom D. Dillehay*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37205USA Universidad Austral de Chile, Puerto Montt, Chile
Carlos Ocampo
Affiliation:
Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Tarapacá y Sociedad Chilena de Arqueología
Jose Saavedra
Affiliation:
Ministerio de Obras Publicas, Temuco, Chile
Mario Pino
Affiliation:
Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile
Linda Scott-Cummings
Affiliation:
PaleoResearch Institute, Inc., Golden, Colorado 80303, USA
Peter Kovácik
Affiliation:
PaleoResearch Institute, Inc., Golden, Colorado 80303, USA
Claudia Silva
Affiliation:
Colegio de Arqueologos de Chile, Sociedad Chilena de Socioecologia y Etnoecologia
Rodrigo Alvar
Affiliation:
Departamento de Antropologia, Universidad de Chile, Santiago
*
*Corresponding author at: E-mail address: tom.d.dillehay@vanderbilt.edu (T.D. Dillehay).
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Abstract

This paper presents new excavation data on the Chinchihuapi I (CH-I) locality within the Monte Verde site complex, located along Chinchihuapi Creek in the cool, temperate Valdivian rain forest of south-central Chile. The 2017 and 2018 archaeological excavations carried out in this open-air locality reveal further that CH-I is an intermittently occupied site dating from the Early Holocene (~10,000 cal yr BP) to the late Pleistocene (at least ~14,500 cal yr BP) and probably earlier. A new series of radiocarbon dates refines the chronology of human use of the site during this period. In this paper, we describe the archaeological and stratigraphic contexts of the recent excavations and analyze the recovered artifact assemblages. A fragmented Monte Verde II point type on an exotic quartz newly recovered from excavations at CH-I indicates that this biface design existed in at least two areas of the wider site complex ~14,500 cal yr BP. In addition, associated with the early Holocene component at CH-I are later Paijan-like points recovered with lithic tools and debris and other materials. We discuss the geographic distribution of diagnostic artifacts from the site and their probable relationship to other early sites in South America.

Keywords

Monte VerdeValdivian forestchestnuts
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 92 , Issue 1 , July 2019 , pp. 70 - 80
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2019 

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