Description

Anthony J. Ranere
Temple University, Philadelphia - USA
ranere@temple.edu

Carlos E. López
Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira,
Pereira - Colombia
cel@utp.edu.co

Abstract: Hunter-gatherer populations lived in wildly different geographic settings in the Americas and, not surprisingly, developed a wide range of subsistence, settlement and organizational patterns over time. This variability is evident even looking only at a restricted geographic area - Northwest South America and lower Central America. Distinctive cultural trajectories are already documented at the end of the Pleistocene in some localities, while others remain unexplored at this early period. This article summarizes these regional differences and attempts to account for them in terms of the environmental settings, changing climatic conditions, arrival of new populations and landscape domestication. © 2007 Archaeodiversity Research Group & Syllaba Press. All rights reserved