versão On-line ISSN 0717-7356 SANTORO, Calogero M et al.
PLEISTOCENE HUMAN OCCUPATION IN THE ATACAMA DESERT: FIRST
RESULTS FROM THE APPLICATION OF AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PREDICTIVE
RESEARCH MODEL. Chungará (Arica) [online]. 2011, vol.43,
n.especial, pp. 353-366. ISSN 0717-7356.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0717-73562011000300003. In South
America, evidence of human occupation dates back to 14,600
calibrated years BP (14.6 ka). Yet, important areas such as the
Atacama Desert, between latitude 17° to 21° S (northern
Atacama), lack occupations older than 11,5 ka. Current hyperarid
conditions in the Atacama have dissuaded many researchers from
considering this region as a possible territory for Pleistocene-
Holocene peoples. Paleoecological data, however, have suggested
increased availability of water along the western slope of the
Andes from 17.5-9.5 ka. Thus, we systematically searched for
rodent middens and paleowetlands in the large canyons of the
Andean Precordillera as well as the interfluves (1,000-3,000
masl).