Rapid radiation of humans in South America after the last glacial maximum: A radiocarbon-based study.
The early peopling of the Americas has been one of the most hotly contested topics in American anthropology and a research issue that draws archaeologists into a multidisciplinary debate. In South America, although the background data on this issue has increased exponentially in recent decades, the...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:3261b7cb3627419a9dc40acc83115b61 2023-05-15T14:03:24+02:00 Rapid radiation of humans in South America after the last glacial maximum: A radiocarbon-based study. Luciano Prates Gustavo G Politis S Ivan Perez 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236023 https://doaj.org/article/3261b7cb3627419a9dc40acc83115b61 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236023 https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0236023 https://doaj.org/article/3261b7cb3627419a9dc40acc83115b61 PLoS ONE, Vol 15, Iss 7, p e0236023 (2020) Medicine R Science Q article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236023 2022-12-31T06:57:59Z The early peopling of the Americas has been one of the most hotly contested topics in American anthropology and a research issue that draws archaeologists into a multidisciplinary debate. In South America, although the background data on this issue has increased exponentially in recent decades, the core questions related to the temporal and spatial patterns of the colonization process remain open. In this paper we tackle these questions in the light of the quantitative analysis of a screened radiocarbon database of more than 1600 early dates. We explore the frequency of radiocarbon dates as proxies for assessing population growth; and define a reliable and statistically well supported lower chronological bound (not to the exact date) for the earliest human arrival. Our results suggest that the earliest chronological threshold for the peopling of South America should be between 16,600 and 15,100, with a mean estimated date ~ 15,500 cal BP (post Last Glacial Maximum). Population would have grown until the end of Antarctic Cold Reversal stadial ~12,500 cal BP at the time of the main extinctions of megafauna-, when the increase rate slows, probably as a result of the changes that occurred in the trophic niche of humans. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic PLOS ONE 15 7 e0236023 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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English |
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Medicine R Science Q |
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Medicine R Science Q Luciano Prates Gustavo G Politis S Ivan Perez Rapid radiation of humans in South America after the last glacial maximum: A radiocarbon-based study. |
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Medicine R Science Q |
description |
The early peopling of the Americas has been one of the most hotly contested topics in American anthropology and a research issue that draws archaeologists into a multidisciplinary debate. In South America, although the background data on this issue has increased exponentially in recent decades, the core questions related to the temporal and spatial patterns of the colonization process remain open. In this paper we tackle these questions in the light of the quantitative analysis of a screened radiocarbon database of more than 1600 early dates. We explore the frequency of radiocarbon dates as proxies for assessing population growth; and define a reliable and statistically well supported lower chronological bound (not to the exact date) for the earliest human arrival. Our results suggest that the earliest chronological threshold for the peopling of South America should be between 16,600 and 15,100, with a mean estimated date ~ 15,500 cal BP (post Last Glacial Maximum). Population would have grown until the end of Antarctic Cold Reversal stadial ~12,500 cal BP at the time of the main extinctions of megafauna-, when the increase rate slows, probably as a result of the changes that occurred in the trophic niche of humans. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Luciano Prates Gustavo G Politis S Ivan Perez |
author_facet |
Luciano Prates Gustavo G Politis S Ivan Perez |
author_sort |
Luciano Prates |
title |
Rapid radiation of humans in South America after the last glacial maximum: A radiocarbon-based study. |
title_short |
Rapid radiation of humans in South America after the last glacial maximum: A radiocarbon-based study. |
title_full |
Rapid radiation of humans in South America after the last glacial maximum: A radiocarbon-based study. |
title_fullStr |
Rapid radiation of humans in South America after the last glacial maximum: A radiocarbon-based study. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Rapid radiation of humans in South America after the last glacial maximum: A radiocarbon-based study. |
title_sort |
rapid radiation of humans in south america after the last glacial maximum: a radiocarbon-based study. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236023 https://doaj.org/article/3261b7cb3627419a9dc40acc83115b61 |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 15, Iss 7, p e0236023 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236023 https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0236023 https://doaj.org/article/3261b7cb3627419a9dc40acc83115b61 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236023 |
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PLOS ONE |
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15 |
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e0236023 |
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