Fig 4. Taphonomic modification on gomphothere bones.
A-B. Astragalus (TT3-E5-N18-06) with tooth marks in ventral and dorsal view (discontinued line indicates the original extension of the specimen); C. caudal vertebra (TT3-E4-N18/19-02) with a single cutmark; D. caudal vertebra (TT3-E5/F5-N18-53) with several parallel cutmarks.
A-B. Astragalus (TT3-E5-N18-06) with tooth marks in ventral and dorsal view (discontinued line indicates the original extension of the specimen); C. caudal vertebra (TT3-E4-N18/19-02) with a single cutmark; D. caudal vertebra (TT3-E5/F5-N18-53) with several parallel cutmarks.
Between 2,000 and 2,500 years before creationists believe their little god created a small universe consisting of a single, small flat planet with a dome over it, in the Middle East, human beings were hunting a now-extinct elephant on the shores of Tagua Tagua Lake in Chile, South America. By then, humans had migrated out of Africa, spread across Asia to the land bridge between Siberia and Alaska, and from there into North America, down through the Panamanian Isthmus, or by coastal spread, down to South America. Elephants had preceded them probably by several thousand years.
The evidence for this is presented in a paper in PLOS ONE by Rafael Labarca of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and colleagues.
According to information made available by PLOS ahead of publication, and reported in Science Daily:
Thousands of years ago, early hunter-gatherers returned regularly to Tagua Tagua Lake in Chile to hunt ancient elephants and take advantage of other local resources, according to a study published May 22, 2024 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Rafael Labarca of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and colleagues.
Multiple archaeological sites are known from the region of Tagua Tagua Lake in central Chile, representing some of the earliest known human settlements in the Americas.
In this study, Labarca and colleagues report the recent discovery of a new site called Taguatagua 3, an ancient hunter-gatherer camp dating to the Late Pleistocene, between 12,440-12,550 years old.
Notably, this site features the fossil remains of a gomphothere, an extinct relative of elephants.
Signs of butchery on the bones, along with stone tools and other evidence, indicate that Taguatagua 3 represents a temporary camp established around the task of processing the large carcass.
Other activities were also carried out during the camp's brief period of use, including processing of other foods as indicated by additional charred remains of plants and small animals such as frogs and birds.
Fossil cactus seeds and bird eggshell suggest that this camp was occupied specifically during the dry season.
Numerous such sites of similar age are now known from this region, implying that Tagua Tagua Lake was a recurring hunting and scavenging ground for people during the Late Pleistocene due to abundant and predictable local resources.
The authors suggest that this area was a key location along the routes taken by mobile communities of the time and that temporary camps might have hosted regular meetings between these mobile bands.
Further investigation of this rich archaeological region will continue to provide insights into the mobility and subsistence strategies of early humans in South America.
The authors add: "Taguatagua 3 helps us to understand better how the early humans adapted to fast changing environments in central Chile during the late Pleistocene times."
AbstractTo a normal person, the fact that there were humans hunting a species of elephant in south America about 1,200 years before they believe the firt humans were magically created out of dirt, just a few days after the Universe itself was magicked out of nothing, might be cause for them to consider revising the view of history which, on the balance of probabilities, is probably wrong.
We present the results of the excavations and analyses of the diverse and exceptional archaeological assemblage of Taguatagua 3, a new late Pleistocene site located in the ancient Tagua Tagua lake in Central Chile (34°S). The anthropogenic context is constrained in a coherently dated stratigraphic deposit which adds new information about the mobility, subsistence strategies, and settlement of the early hunter-gatherers of southern South America. The age model constructed, as well as radiocarbon dates obtained directly from a combustion structure, indicate that the human occupation occurred over a brief time span around 12,440–12,550 cal yr BP. Considering taphonomic, geoarchaeological, lithic, archaeobotanical, and zooarchaeological evidence, as well as the spatial distribution combined with ethnographic data, we interpret Taguatagua 3 as a logistic and temporary camp associated mainly with gomphothere hunting and butchering. Nevertheless, several other activities were carried out here as well, such as hide and/or bone preparation, small vertebrate and plant processing and consumption, and red ochre grinding. Botanical and eggshell remains suggest that the anthropic occupation occurred during the dry season. Considering the contemporaneous sites recorded in the basin, we conclude that the ancient Tagua Tagua lake was a key location along the region’s early hunter-gatherer mobility circuits. In this context, it acted as a recurrent hunting/scavenging place during the Late Pleistocene due to its abundant, diverse, and predictable resources.
Introduction
In recent decades, we have witnessed an exponential growth of new data on the early peopling of the Americas, resulting from multidisciplinary approaches that typically combine archaeology, geology, paleoecology, paleontology, and genetics ([1–4] and references therein). These new contributions have challenged the old theoretical peopling models, presenting a more complex scenario in which, among other things, failed colonization processes, diverse subsistence strategies and the coexistence of different technologies, are expected to be found in a rapidly changing environment.
Probably, the most controversial issue that has sparked the hottest debates among scholars is the timing of the arrival of early hunter-gatherers to America. Some researchers state there is sufficient evidence to support a very early peopling of the continent (∼130,700 calibrated years before present, cal yr BP) [5,6]. However, most of the very early putative sites fall within the ∼33,000–19,000 cal yr BP time frame [2,7–10]. Although all these proposals have received considerable criticism from those in favor of a more recent peopling process (post Last Glacial Maximum, <18,000 cal yr BP) [11–16], this growing evidence cannot be completely dismissed, especially if we consider the alternative of failed colonization processes. Interestingly, genetic [17–19] and geological data [20–22] suggest that, independently of archaeological radiocarbon dates, humans would have crossed the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets from Alaska sometime between 19,500 and 14,000 cal yr BP.
Leaving this debate aside, there is a general consensus that, around 14,000–13,000 cal yr BP, several areas of the Americas were populated ([4,14,23–26], but see [27]), and it is plausible to speculate about an exploration phase [28] with even earlier dates. [14] propose, based on the Summed Calibrated Probability Density of radiocarbon dates, that humans arrived in South America around 15,500 cal yr BP and that the population did not grow significantly until ∼12,500 cal yr BP, following the Antarctic glaciation (see also [14]). This increase in radiocarbon dating coincides, at least in the southern cone of South America, with the appearance and expansion of Fishtail Projectile Points (FPPs) [26].
Population growth during the Late Pleistocene-Holocene transition required the effective exploitation of the most productive areas, and the exploration and the subsequent colonization of second-order areas [29]. In this regard, the Ancient Tagua Tagua Lake (ATTL), located in central Chile (34° 30’ S1 Fig), offered archaeological data from two early sites: Taguatagua 1 (TT-1, [30,31]) and Taguatagua 2 (TT-2, [32]), with a robust chronological framework, extinct faunal assemblages, and human presence, inserted into this "later" phase of the continent’s initial settlement. TT-1 has recently been re-dated to ca. 12,600 cal yr BP [33] and was interpreted as a small residential camp where megamammal and small vertebrate processing and consumption occurred [33–35]. TT-2, with dates between ∼11,600–11,300 cal yr BP [32], is interpreted as an intensive gomphothere hunting/butchering site [35]. Both sites have high quality raw materials of exotic origin, supporting extensive round-trip mobility [35]. Considering this evidence, the ATTL offers an excellent opportunity to explore and discuss topics other than those relating solely to chronology, such as the intensity of occupation, settlement patterns, mobility, and subsistence, among others, on a local scale. To assess these, we have undertaken new surveys and excavations within the Tagua Tagua basin, furnishing evidence of precise human occupation processes during the late Pleistocene and resulting in the discovery of the Taguatagua 3 (TT-3) archaeological site in 2019.
Here, we offer a comprehensive synthesis of the various archaeological material evidence and natural proxies from TT-3, an archaeological site endowed with exceptional preservation conditions. Considering its open-air lacustrine characterization, we first center our discussion on the formation processes occurring at the site, evaluating the assemblages’ origin and mode of deposition from a taphonomic and geoarchaeological perspective. Secondly, we discuss the function and seasonal occupation of TT-3, and its relationship with other early sites identified within the basin. We also include information on other archaeological sites from the semi-arid region of Chile, to get a broader insight into the mobility and use of space by these early hunter-gatherers.
Geographic location, geological setting and paleoenvironment
The ATTL is located about 5 km southeast of San Vicente de Tagua Tagua city, in a small closed intramontane basin of the Coastal Mountain range. It is an elliptical tectonic depression at about 196 meters above sea level (masl) delimited by a mountainous arch of ∼1000 masl with a small north-east facing opening (Fig 1). Until the mid-19th century, the lake, which covered an area of ∼ 30 km2 and had a depth of about 5 m [36], was artificially drained for agricultural purposes [37], by means of an extensive channel cutting across the hills. Specifically, TT-3 is situated in the north area of the basin, in a “rinconada” or a small, subtriangular lake entrance, adjacent to the drainage channel, and very close to TT-1 and TT-2 (Fig 2).
The Mesozoic basement rocks that underlie the basin form part of the La Lajuela Formation (Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous) to the south, mainly of volcanic origin with some sedimentary intercalations, and the Alhué Plutonic Complex (Upper Cretaceous) to the north, of igneous, intrusive origin [38–41]. The basin is infilled by two semi-consolidated units, which from base to top comprise the Pudahuel Ignimbrite and Laguna de Tagua Tagua Formation (LTTF) [39,42]. Specifically, LTTF is divided into eight members, the first composed of sands and gravels of alluvial origin, while members 2 to 8 correspond to massive and/or laminated greenish to grayish gravelly clays, with some diatomaceous inclusions (Fig 3). While the top of the LTTF remains exposed as the current surface or recent soil [39,43], the age of its base is unknown, but member 3 was dated to around 40,200 cal yr BP [44]. Evidence of previously detected Late Pleistocene human occupation is situated at the erosive discordance between member 5 and 6 [43].
Fig 1.
A. Location of the study area in a regional context and other early sites discussed in the text; B. Digital Elevation Model of the Tagua Tagua basin showing the locations of TT-1, TT-2, TT-3, the Valero-Garcés paleoclimatic column (red star) and the inferred maximum extension of the ATTL (see text).
Fig 2.
A. Detail of the location of early ATTL sites and Varela’s stratigraphic column (red star), considering a lake extension at 196 masl. The discontinuous light blue line indicates the drainage channel. B. Distribution of archaeological units excavated during 2019–2022 campaigns and location of the stratigraphic columns. C. Aerial view of the north side of the basin and the location of TT-3 (red arrow).
Central Chile has a semi-arid and Mediterranean climate influenced by the South Pacific Anticyclone (SPA) and the Southern Westerly Wind Belt (SWW), with strong oceanic control due to equatorward winds that force the upwelling of cold subsurface waters near the coast. Annual mean precipitation has a marked seasonality, largely concentrated in the austral winter (May–September), ranging from 100 mm to 1000 mm depending on altitude, latitude, and topography [41]. During the austral summer, the SPA prevails over the region, blocking the equatorward winds and causing dry conditions with some sporadic summer precipitation [45]. In the austral winter, precipitation is controlled by weakening of the SPA, which allows for frontal rainstorms to enter from the south. The Last Glacial Termination (∼18,000–11,700 cal yr BP) in the ATTL record is characterized by a progressive decrease in moisture, as indicated by increases in Chenopodiaceae, Typha, Gramineae, and Phorbiaceae, while arboreal taxa, such as Nothofagus, Prumnopitys, and Myrtaceae, decreased [46]. Drier conditions are also inferred from the sedimentological data and a δ18O peak suggesting a progressive lowering of the lake level [44]. However, these conditions are interrupted by a cold reversal event dated to between 13,500 and 11,500 cal yr BP [44]. The sedimentary record from Laguna del Maule (36°S, 2160 masl), located in the Andes of central Chile, shows a transition to wetter conditions between ca. 13,000 and 10,500 cal yr BP [47]. Early to mid-Holocene records indicate widespread warming in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere between ∼11,500 and 8,000 cal yr BP, although inland moisture conditions are not entirely clear [44,47–52]. Based on the archaeological record to date, we assume that the environmental context, in which the first hunter-gatherers occupied this area around the ATTL, would have been cooler than today but sufficiently favorable to support a variety of species and resources for human exploitation.
Fig 3. Correlation of the sedimentary chronosequences from north to south at the archaeological TT-3 site based on lithostratigraphic and sedimentological criteria, and the chronological model.
A. Upper segment of the Laguna de Tagua Tagua Formation [43] and sedimentary sequences of TT-3: TT19-3A-1E (excavation unit 1; year 2019); TT20-3B-1E (excavation unit D5; 2020); TT22-3C-1E (excavation unit F6; 2022). B. Bayesian chronological model and accumulation rate (yr/cm) for the TT19-3A-1E sequence based on ten AMS 14C dates.
Labarca R, Frugone-Álvarez M, Vilches L, Blanco JF, Peñaloza Á, Godoy-Aguirre C, et al. (2024)
Taguatagua 3: A new late Pleistocene settlement in a highly suitable lacustrine habitat in central Chile (34°S). PLoS ONE 19(5): e0302465. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302465
Copyright: © 2024 The authors.
Published by PLoS. Open access.
Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)
Not so creationists. To a creationists the evidence means the evidence is wrong because, on the balance of probabilities, if the evidence is right, their mummy and daddy must have been wrong, and that possibility unleashes all sorts of nightmares - they could have been wrong about the right church to go to on Sunday; about the one true faith; the one true god and the possibility of not really dying - so their whole life would have been all for nothing!
And how could it be possible that the Universe is not how they believe it is?
Impossible! That scientific evidence must be wrong.
It stands to reason - creationist reason.
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