Fig 16 - uploaded by Sonia Archila
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Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) long bone fragments showing longitudinal fractures on green bone produced by human activities (1-7, 9,11-14); deer scapula with anthropic modification (8); graver made out of deer ulna (10); polished gravers made out of deer long bones (15, 16, 17).
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The archaeological site of Checua is located on an isolated hill in the Checua river valley in the Sabana de Bogotá, Northern South America. Archaeological data obtained at the site two decades ago, suggested that it was occupied by groups of hunters and gatherers since Early Holocene. Good preservation of cultural materials allowed researchers to...
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In the Western Mediterranean Basin, the last hunter-gatherer societies fall within a chronological range between the 9th and 5th millennia cal. BCE, that is, between the cold oscillation of the Younger Dryas and the Holocene climatic optimum, before disappearing under the expansion of the first Neolithic societies. The variability in cultural expre...
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... ka cal. BP)(Archila et al. 2021). De los instrumentos líticos se extrajeron almidones de plantas como maíz, cubio (Tropaeolum tuberosum), ibia (Oxalis tuberosa), fríjol (Phaseolus sp.) y olluco (Ullucus tuberosus). ...
... De los instrumentos líticos se extrajeron almidones de plantas como maíz, cubio (Tropaeolum tuberosum), ibia (Oxalis tuberosa), fríjol (Phaseolus sp.) y olluco (Ullucus tuberosus). De una de las azadas se recuperaron almidones de maíz y cubio(Archila et al. 2021). ...
Como en otras regiones americanas, en Colombia la tecnología lítica ha ocupado un lugar central a la hora de documentar y caracterizar las ocupaciones humanas antes de la aparición de la alfarería. El objetivo del presente artículo es hacer una revisión de dos temas de la arqueología temprana colombiana mirados desde la tecnología lítica. El primero, el poblamiento pleistoceno de Colombia. En este apartado se analiza la relación de la tecnología lítica con las estrategias de subsistencia, y con potenciales movimientos démicos en el Noroccidente de Suramérica durante el Tardiglacial. El segundo, los cambios adaptativos relacionados con la llegada del Holoceno. En esta segunda parte, se analizan cambios en las estrategias de subsistencia, a partir del análisis de las azadas, uno de los artefactos más representativos de la geografía colombiana, vinculado al uso temprano de plantas y a los orígenes de su cultivo.
... This is consistent with surveys of whitetailed deer bone remains dated back to 2320 ± 50 14 C age BP (Becerra, 1995). The recovery of megafauna during human occupation could relate to a change from hunter-gatherer societies to sedentism (Triana-Vega et al., 2019;Archila et al., 2021). In the Late Holocene, Poaceae and Asteraceae were dominant, suggesting an increase in open vegetation at Monquentiva. ...
Examining the ecological consequences of the late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions within biodiversity hotspots is crucial for our understanding of the potential consequences of contemporary extinctions. We present the first multi-species record of spores of coprophilous fungi (SCF) from Monquentiva and the high-Andean forests of Colombia to reconstruct Late Pleistocene and Holocene megafaunal abundance. Fossilised pollen and charcoal are used to examine the consequences of megafaunal declines on the surrounding vegetation and fire activity. Our SCF record indicates the presence of Pleistocene megafauna at least since 30,290 BP, with two waves of megafaunal decline at ca. 22,900 BP and 10,990 BP. At Monquentiva, megafaunal decline in the Early Holocene resulted in transitional non-analogue vegetation, loss of some herbivore-dispersed plant taxa, an encroachment of palatable and woody flora, and a rise in fire activity. Differences with other published South-American records suggest that ecological consequences of megafaunal declines were habitat-specific. Overall, we show that ecosystems in the eastern Colombian Cordillera were highly sensitive to the decline of megafaunal populations. Under the current biodiversity crisis, management and conservation efforts must account for the effects of local herbivore declines on plant dispersal, on fire activity, and the potential loss of ecosystem services.
... 28,000 plant species, highlighting their importance as a biodiversity hotspot (Bernal et al., 2015;Rangel-Ch, 2015). Since pre-Hispanic times, human groups have drawn on Andean natural resources, promoting the development of diverse societies (Aceituno et al., 2013;Archila et al., 2021;Cano et al., 2021). Despite the relevance of Colombian Andean ecosystems, expansion of human activities jeopardizes their continuity in the coming decades. ...
... Mid-Holocene human presence was likely restricted as adverse climatic conditions caused demographic contractions and population displacements of hunter-gatherer groups (Delgado, 2012). However, as permanent residents have been recorded in the CCO from ca. 7.5 kyr BP (Archila et al., 2021), it is probable that if humans were using fire, this was at a limited scale in the surrounding areas of Monquentiva during the Mid-Holocene. This is consistent with the decoupling of local and regional charcoal signals ca. 6.5 kyr BP suggesting Mid-Holocene low-scale anthropogenic fires around Monquentiva. ...
... Biomass burning is therefore likely to have been a major driver of ecological change in Monquentiva at a time when humans become a likely source of ignition. The timing of increased sedentism of early human groups in the CCO at 7.5 kyr BP (Archila et al., 2021) also supports our interpretation. Climatically, increased ENSO frequency from 7.0 kyr BP (Moy et al., 2002) also facilitated the ignition of the fires that had such a large impact on the Monquentiva vegetation. ...
Rapid climate changes and the increasing presence of humans define the Holocene Epoch (11.6 calibrated kiloyears before present – hereafter kyr BP), when biological systems have faced the most recent and abrupt environmental changes. Understanding how biodiversity responds to extrinsic factors requires determining the effects of varying climatic conditions, changes in disturbance regimes, and increasing anthropogenic impacts. Despite being one center for biodiversity, the potential synergies of long-term anthropogenic and climate changes in shaping areas of high Andean biodiversity have yet to be explored fully. Here we present new pollen and charcoal records from the Pantano de Monquentiva (hereafter Monquentiva) on the highlands of the eastern flank of the Colombian Cordillera Oriental (CCO) to document relationships between climate, vegetation, and fire through the Holocene. We found compositional transitions at 8.7, 6.1, and 4.1 kyr BP at Monquentiva resulting from the interaction of climate, fire, and human occupation. Reduced moisture and temperature caused a compositional shift in Páramo vegetation from ca. 8.7 kyr BP. Fire activity was recorded throughout the Holocene and increased slightly during the Mid-Holocene when regional and local fire decoupling suggested human activities as the source of ignition. Mid-Holocene fires had a large effect on the vegetation composition at Monquentiva which recorded a rapid shift at ca. 6.8 kyr BP. Fire activity increased sharply from 4.1 kyr BP, promoting the reorganization of plant communities at 3.8 kyr BP. This shift in fire activity was likely related to more severe ENSO events and subsequently intensified by human activities after 3.8 kyr BP. Although high climatic sensitivity explains most Holocene vegetation changes in the eastern flank of the CCO, our study highlights the relevance of fire activity, uneven distribution of climatic variables, and human intervention to the composition of the vegetation we see today.
... La mayoría de estas plantas están asociadas a un rango cronológico entre ±6200 y ±4800 AP, indicando que el cultivo estaba establecido en la sabana de Bogotá en el Holoceno medio. También reportan en Checua maíz, cubio y ibia en muestras datadas entre ±8200 y ±7800 AP que son materia de discusión, dado que para el maíz es un rango cronológico muy temprano (Archila et al., 2020). En otros sitios de la sabana, las evidencias de cultivo de plantas son más tardías; en Aguazuque se recuperaron restos de Oxalis tuberosa (cubios) y Cucurbita pepo (calabaza) asociados a una fecha de 3860 ± 35 AP (Correal, 1990: 260). ...
... Los datos publicados recientemente en Checua han puesto en el tablero de los orígenes del cultivo de plantas en Colombia a las tierras altas de la sabana de Bogotá, donde hasta hace poco, los datos indicaban la implementación tardía del cultivo, hacia finales del Holoceno medio. Los almidones de cubio, ibia y ulluco indican el cultivo de rizomas de tierras frías desde el Holoceno temprano como un desarrollo local (Archila et al., 2020); por lo tanto, no se puede descartar que fueran domesticadas a lo largo del Holoceno. ...
... An example, is Aguazuque (5,025 ± 40 BP [5895-5660 cal BP] to 2,725 ± 35 BP [2880-2760 cal BP]) where is observed at a ca 3000-year occupation and sustained consumption of deer along occupation time Martínez-Polanco, 2018). Also at Checua where a human occupation begins at 9470-8969 cal BP (2σ), and ended at 5190-5052 cal BP (2σ) (Groot, 1992;Archila et al., 2020). ...
This research seeks to understand the hunting of the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and dwarf deer (Mazama sp.) as a subsistence strategy in Pre Columbian Panama. From pre-ceramic groups to complex politicized societies located in the area of Parita Bay (Cerro Mangote [7800-4600 cal yr BP], Sitio Sierra [2200 -500 cal yr. BP] and Cerro Juan Díaz [300 BCE - 1600 CE]) and Pearl Island archipelago (Playa don Bernardo [6200-5600 cal yr BP]). In order to better understand human and deer relation across time and space, it was proposed a multiproxy study of deer samples, that includes zooarchaeology, taphonomy, mesowear, microwear, isotopes analysis and geometric morphometrics. The white-tailed deer was dietarily and culturally by far the most important mammal at Late Preceramic Cerro Mangote. By studying, the deer sample from Sitio Sierra it can be concluded that ritual activities mediated the feasts where deer meat was the principal course. The refuse feature in Operation 1/1B at Cerro Juan Díaz clearly represents the waste of a deer bone and antler workshop. In the case of Playa don Bernardo, human intervention produced heavy impacts on terrestrial mammals including insular extirpation of the dwarf deer between 5700 and 2300 cal yr BP. The white-tailed deer was an animal with restricted access because of its polysemic ritual significance at Parita Bay in particular within Greater Coclé semiotic system. The zooarchaeological record of Parita Bay evidences that human groups did not rely upon white-tailed deer, they had a broad-spectrum diet. The study of white-tailed deer in the archaeological record of this area did not evidence an intensification in deer hunting, the presence of deer is constant along the human occupation sequence and even modern times.
... The Sabana de Bogotá (SB) in the eastern highlands of Colombia, Northern South America, is a well-known archaeological region that played an important role in the initial human expansion into South America (Correal, 1986;Ardila, 1991;Dillehay, 2000;Aceituno et al., 2013;Delgado et al., 2015). In this region, archaeological investigations have recovered abundant lithic, paleobotanical and zooarchaeological evidences in addition to hundreds of burials with well-preserved human skeletal remains dating from c.12,000-300 cal BP Correal, 1979Correal, , 1990Ardila, 1984;Botiva, 1989;Correal, 1987;Boada, 1987;Enciso, 1990Enciso, -1991Groot, 1992;Orrantia, 1997;Archila and Langebaek, 2015;Triana, 2019Archila et al., 2020Ospina and Archila, 2020). In addition, detailed reconstructions of the predominant environmental conditions during the last 18,000 years have been performed on the basis of palynological, glaciomorphological, isotopic and diatom evidences (van der Hammen, 1974;van der Hammen and Hooghiemstra, 1995;Marchant et al., 2002;Vélez et al., 2006;Gómez et al., 2007). ...
... In addition, these authors misinterpreted the original radiocarbon chronology of the site (Groot, 1992) and assumed that all individuals belong to the earliest occupational events. Direct dating of some of these skeletons confirmed their mostly middle Holocene age (Carvajal et al., 2014;Rodríguez Cuenca in Días-Matallana, 2015;Archila et al., 2020). Therefore, such studies cannot be considered as supportive of long-standing population continuity in the SB region over the Holocene but a more restricted one from early to middle Holocene at best ( ~9000-6000 cal BP). ...
On the basis of distinct lines of evidence, detailed reconstructions of the Holocene population history of the Sabana de Bogotá (SB) region, Northern South America, have been performed. Currently, there exist two competing models that support temporal continuity or, alternatively, divergence. Despite recent bioarchaeological and isotopic research that lends support to the population discontinuity model, several discrepancies remain, calling for other kinds of evidences to be explored for a more detailed picture of Holocene biocultural evolution. In this study, 15 new complete mitochondrial genomes obtained from 30 individuals recovered from several archaeological sites spanning from the late Pleistocene (11,950–11,262 cal BP) until the initial late Holocene (2941–2752 cal BP) along with published data (n = 20) from the region dating ∼9000–540 cal BP were used to investigate diachronic genetic change. Genetic diversity and distance indices were calculated, and demographic models tested in an approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) framework to evaluate whether patterns of genetic affinities of the SB prehispanic populations support genetic continuity or discontinuity. The results show that mitochondrial genomes of the complete dataset fall within the Native American haplogroups A2, B2, C1b, D1 and D4h3a. Haplotype and nucleotide diversity declined over time with further evidence of genetic drift and remarkable reduction of genetic diversity during the final late Holocene. Inter-population distances and the exact test of population differentiation, as well as demographic simulations show no population differentiation and population continuity over time. Consequently, based on the analyzed data, we cannot reject the genetic continuity in the SB region as a plausible population history scenario. However, the restriction of the analyses to the Hyper Variable Region 1 of the mitochondrial genome, and the very low sample size both constitute significant limitations to infer evolutionary history.
... The Sabana de Bogotá (SB) in the eastern highlands of Colombia, Northern South America, is a well-known archaeological region that played an important role in the initial human expansion into South America (Correal, 1986;Ardila, 1991;Dillehay, 2000;Aceituno et al., 2013;Delgado et al., 2015ab;Delgado, 2017). In this region, archaeological investigations have recovered abundant lithic, paleobotanical and zooarchaeological evidences in addition to hundreds of burials with well-preserved human skeletal remains dating from 12,164 to 300 cal BP (Correal and van der Hammen, 1977;Correal, 1979Correal, , 1990Ardila, 1984;Botiva, 1989;Correal., 1987;Boada, 1987;Enciso, 1990Enciso, -1991Groot, 1992;Orrantia, 1997;Archila and Langebaek, 2015;Triana, 2019Archila et al., 2020Ospina and Archila, 2020). In addition, detailed reconstructions of the predominant environmental conditions during the last 18,000 years have been performed on the basis of palynological, glaciomorphological, isotopic and diatom evidences (van der Hammen, 1974;van der Hammen and Hooghiemstra, 1995;Marchant et al., 2002;Vélez et al., 2006;Gómez et al., 2007). ...
... In addition, these authors misinterpreted the original radiocarbon chronology of the site (Groot, 1992) and assumed that all individuals belong to the earliest occupational events. Direct dating of some of these skeletons confirmed their mostly middle Holocene age (Carvajal et al., 2014;Rodríguez Cuenca in Díaz-Matllana, 2015;Archila et al., 2020). Therefore, such studies cannot be considered as supportive of long-standing population continuity in the SB region . ...
On the basis of distinct lines of evidence, detailed reconstructions of the Holocene population history of the Sabana de Bogota (SB) region, Northern South America, have been performed. Currently, there exist two competing models that support temporal continuity or, alternatively, divergence. Despite recent research that lends support to the population discontinuity model, several discrepancies remain, calling for other kinds of evidences to be explored for a more detailed picture of Holocene biocultural evolution. In this study, we analyze the mitochondrial genetic diversity of 30 individuals (including 15 newly reported complete mitochondrial genomes) recovered from several archaeological sites spanning from the late Pleistocene (12,164 cal BP) until the final late Holocene (2,751 cal BP) along with published data from the region dating ~9,000-550 cal BP in order to investigate diachronic genetic change. Genetic diversity and distance indices were calculated, and demographic models tested in an approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) framework to evaluate whether patterns of genetic affinities of the SB prehispanic populations support genetic continuity or discontinuity. The results show that mitochondrial genomes of the complete dataset fall within the Native American haplogroups A2, B2, C1b, D1 and D4h3a. Haplotype and nucleotide diversity declined over time with further evidence of genetic drift and remarkable reduction of genetic diversity during the final late Holocene. Inter-population distances and the exact test of population differentiation, as well as demographic simulations show no population differentiation and population continuity over time. Consequently, based on the analyzed data, we cannot reject the genetic continuity in the SB region as a plausible population history scenario. However, the restriction of the analyses to the Hyper Variable Region 1 of the mitochondrial genome, and the very low sample size both constitute significant limitations to infer evolutionary history.
The study of the suitability of prehistoric human settlements (SPHE) can help us reproduce the process and characteristics of prehistoric human settlements, and is an important entry point for exploring the relationship between prehistoric humans and land. In this study, we discuss the definition, compositional structure, evolutionary mechanism, and spatiotemporal representation of the suitability of prehistoric human settlements, and propose its main research lines and possible research contents. We believe that the suitability of prehistoric human settlement environments refers to the ability and process of natural and social environmental conditions to meet the needs of human survival within a certain spatial range centered on the settlement of prehistoric humans. Additionally, with the temporal and spatial evolution of humans, society, and nature, it shows local consistency and global gradual and continuous change characteristics, and the human settlement environment has a suitability hierarchy of natural original, livelihood, and living spaces nested step by step. We believe that we can adopt the main research line of prehistoric human settlement suitability system construction to conduct extensive experiments and demonstrations on the theoretical construction, the evolution of the environment and living process, the relationship and evaluation of prehistoric human needs, the transformation of the living environment, living adaptation theories and models, and value and limitation verification. Thus, a complete research system can be formed to explore the evolution of the prehistoric human–land relationship.
En este trabajo se plantea una breve síntesis histórica- no exhaustiva- de los trabajos de análisis funcional de instrumentos líticos de base microscópica realizados en Sudamérica. Partiendo desde tres enfoques proponemos discutir el estado de la cuestión en torno a este tema considerando: 1) Trayectorias: Sobre la base de una serie de entrevistas personales bosquejar una interpretación sobre perspectiva de las trayectorias personales de las y los investigadores que las llevan a cabo tratando de entender su formación, las miradas, intereses y enfoques de sus trabajos; 2) Metodologías: Discutir las similitudes y diferencias en sus enfoques metodológicos llevados adelante sobre contextos arqueológicos sudamericanos por investigadores sudamericanos formados inicialmente en Europa y EEUU, y más tarde en sus países de origen. En general se han vinculado principalmente a dos líneas de investigación: por un lado, estudios teórico metodológicos, asociados al desarrollo de programas experimentales, y por otro la aplicación de dichos desarrollos para responder preguntas de carácter más bien específico en el marco de trabajos de arqueología regional. Se cuantificarán los resultados de estos y/o otros enfoques a través del análisis de las publicaciones; 3) Perspectivas a futuro de este tipo de análisis: una vez valorados los dos tópicos anteriores se propone una recapitulación y propuesta de cuáles serían las líneas en desarrollo y sus matices.
This chapter discusses the processes of creation and transformation of landscapes, following Ingold’s dwelling perspective and his concept of lifeworld, as well as an integrated approach based on contemporary anthropological and archaeological theory. Research focuses on past human interactions with biota (plant and animals) and mineral resources (salt and clays) in the Checua river valley, located at the municipality of Nemocón in Colombia. We discuss how hunter-gatherers (ca. 9500–5000 BP), farmers and salt producers (ca. 2000 BP–1950 AD) have interacted with the environment for over nine millennia, creating landscapes as lifeworlds as they are re-signified and dwelled. To accomplish this purpose and to problematize the social relations of human individuals and groups with other actants in the landscape, we discuss the results of a systematic regional survey and data recorded during the excavation of two archaeological sites in the valley.
