North and South: Hunter-Gatherer Communities in the Andes Mountains in Central Chile

AbstractOne of the most serious limitations in studies of prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies based on the archaeological record has been the difficulty of establishing distinctions among groups that inhabited a given area at the same time. This article suggests that, at least during a period ranging from 3000 B.C. to A.D. 1000, the Central Chilean Andes, specifically the Maipo River Valley, was occupied by two groups of hunter-gatherers that were distinct enough for us to propose that they were actually two different social units.

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Quaternary Glaciations in the Andes of North-Central Chile

Journal of Glaciology ◽

10.3189/s0022143000013472 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 14 (70) ◽

pp. 155-170 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Cesar N. Caviedes ◽

Roland Paskoff

Keyword(s):

Polar Front ◽

Southern Andes ◽

North Central ◽

Central Chile ◽

The Andes ◽

Semi Arid ◽

Quaternary Glaciations ◽

Chilean Andes

The extension of the Quaternary glaciations has been studied in the semi-arid Andes of north-central Chile, where the glacial modelling is striking. In the Elqui valley (lat. 30°S.), two glacial advances were identified reaching down to 3 100 m (Laguna glaciation) and 2 500 m (Tapado glaciation). In the Aconcagua valley (lat. 33°S.), moraines from three major glacial advances were found, at 2 800 m (Portillo glaciation), 1 600 m (Guardia Vieja glaciation) and 1 300 m (Salto del Soldado glaciation).The Quaternary glaciations were linked with a decrease of temperature, but more significantly with a marked increase of precipitation probably related to an equatorward shift of 5–6 degrees of the austral polar front. The results obtained in the semi-arid Chilean Andes are correlated with those recently reported from other sectors of the southern Andes.

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Studies of the Shrinkage After a Sudden Advance, Blue Bands and Wave Ogives on Glaciar Universidad (Central Chilean Andes)

Journal of Glaciology ◽

10.3189/s002214300002390x ◽

1958 ◽

Vol 3 (24) ◽

pp. 261-270 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Louis Lliboutry

Keyword(s):

Ice Crystals ◽

Aerial Photographs ◽

Baffin Island ◽

Central Chile ◽

Surface Features ◽

The Andes ◽

Shear Planes ◽

Chilean Andes

AbstractThe recently discovered Glaciar Universidad is the second largest glacier in central Chile. Aerial photographs taken in 1945 show that just before that date it had undergone a “glacier flood” or sudden advance, similar to those suffered by four other great glaciers of central Chile between 1927 and 1947. The cause of these floods is sought. Surface features (firn line, absence of penitentes but presence of “pocket-penitents”, glacier mills, dirt cones, water-filled holes with submerged ice crystals in them) prove that Glaciar Universidad is the most northerly glacier in the Andes of an Alpine type. The disposition of blue bands, crevasses, closed crevasses and shear planes is reported. Wave ogives are studied and an explanation is given of why dark Forbes’ bands form subsequently on these waves. A kind of unstratified esker of a form similar to a deposit observed by Mr. W. H. Ward in Baffin Island, has been studied, as also has the shearing of the frontal cliff along dirt strata; a theory of both phenomena according to which shear transfers material from the bed to the surface is questioned.

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Studies of the Shrinkage After a Sudden Advance, Blue Bands and Wave Ogives on Glaciar Universidad (Central Chilean Andes)

Journal of Glaciology ◽

10.1017/s002214300002390x ◽

1958 ◽

Vol 3 (24) ◽

pp. 261-270 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Louis Lliboutry

Keyword(s):

Ice Crystals ◽

Aerial Photographs ◽

Baffin Island ◽

Central Chile ◽

Surface Features ◽

The Andes ◽

Shear Planes ◽

Chilean Andes

AbstractThe recently discovered Glaciar Universidad is the second largest glacier in central Chile. Aerial photographs taken in 1945 show that just before that date it had undergone a “glacier flood” or sudden advance, similar to those suffered by four other great glaciers of central Chile between 1927 and 1947. The cause of these floods is sought. Surface features (firn line, absence ofpenitentesbut presence of “pocket-penitents”, glacier mills, dirt cones, water-filled holes with submerged ice crystals in them) prove that Glaciar Universidad is the most northerly glacier in the Andes of an Alpine type. The disposition of blue bands, crevasses, closed crevasses and shear planes is reported. Wave ogives are studied and an explanation is given of why dark Forbes’ bands form subsequently on these waves. A kind of unstratified esker of a form similar to a deposit observed by Mr. W. H. Ward in Baffin Island, has been studied, as also has the shearing of the frontal cliff along dirt strata; a theory of both phenomena according to which shear transfers material from the bed to the surface is questioned.

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Quaternary Glaciations in the Andes of North-Central Chile

Journal of Glaciology ◽

10.1017/s0022143000013472 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 14 (70) ◽

pp. 155-170 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Cesar N. Caviedes ◽

Roland Paskoff

Keyword(s):

Polar Front ◽

Southern Andes ◽

North Central ◽

Central Chile ◽

The Andes ◽

Semi Arid ◽

Quaternary Glaciations ◽

Chilean Andes

The extension of the Quaternary glaciations has been studied in the semi-arid Andes of north-central Chile, where the glacial modelling is striking. In the Elqui valley (lat. 30°S.), two glacial advances were identified reaching down to 3 100 m (Laguna glaciation) and 2500 m (Tapado glaciation). In the Aconcagua valley (lat. 33°S.), moraines from three major glacial advances were found, at 2800 m (Portillo glaciation), 1600 m (Guardia Vieja glaciation) and 1300 m (Salto del Soldado glaciation). The Quaternary glaciations were linked with a decrease of temperature, but more significantly with a marked increase of precipitation probably related to an equatorward shift of 5–6 degrees of the austral polar front. The results obtained in the semi-arid Chilean Andes are correlated with those recently reported from other sectors of the southern Andes.

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New chronostratigraphic records of the early-to-middle Holocene in the north-central region of Chile indicate Andean foothills housed hunter-gatherers during pulses of extreme aridity

The Holocene ◽

10.1177/09596836211011653 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 095968362110116

Author(s):

Sebastián Grasset ◽

Amalia Nuevo-Delaunay ◽

José Álvarez ◽

Antonio Maldonado ◽

César Méndez

Keyword(s):

Hunter Gatherers ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

North Central ◽

Central Chile ◽

Middle Holocene ◽

Mobile Populations ◽

The North ◽

The Andes ◽

Adverse Environmental Conditions

The scarcity of middle Holocene radiocarbon dates in different regions of the Andes has been interpreted as an indicator of discontinuity in human occupations in response to adverse environmental conditions due to marked aridity. In the subtropical Andes of north-central Chile and adjacent areas, this paucity has been detected in radiocarbon ages between 8000 and 6000 cal BP. A systematic programme of cave excavations with detailed chronologies in the Combarbalá area in the Andean western foothills at 31°S allows questioning the role these spaces and ecosystems played for hunter-gatherers throughout the Holocene. The elusive record of dateable material has been addressed by excavating deposits under rock-shelters which tend to trap sedimentary material. This dataset has been compared with the available climate records and shows a collation between the onset of various site chronologies during the early-to-middle Holocene and periods of extreme aridity. The organization of mobility and the role of Andean foothills for hunter-gatherer settlements is reviewed. Resource availability in the area, namely fresh water supply, good-quality toolstones, faunal resources, and shelters, attracted mobile populations to these environments as indicated by our records as well as others in the broader region.

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