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Holocene Dryness and Human Occupation in Brazil During the “Archaic Gap”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Astolfo G.M. Araujo ,
Walter A. Neves ,
Luís B. Piló  and
João Paulo V. Atui
Astolfo G.M. Araujo
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Estudos Evolutivos Humanos, Instituto de Biociências da Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão 277, São Paulo 05508-090, SP, Brazil Departamento do Patrimônio Histórico, Prefeitura do Município de São Paulo, Brazil
Walter A. Neves
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Estudos Evolutivos Humanos, Instituto de Biociências da Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão 277, São Paulo 05508-090, SP, Brazil
Luís B. Piló
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Estudos Evolutivos Humanos, Instituto de Biociências da Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão 277, São Paulo 05508-090, SP, Brazil
João Paulo V. Atui
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Estudos Evolutivos Humanos, Instituto de Biociências da Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão 277, São Paulo 05508-090, SP, Brazil
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Abstract

An overview of the archaeological data produced over the last decades for Brazil, coupled with a background of recent paleoenvironmental studies, suggests that during the mid-Holocene vast areas of Central Brazil ceased to be occupied by human groups. Independent data from dated human skeletons, rock-shelter stratigraphy, and chronology of open-air sites converge to support the inference that these areas were depopulated or altogether abandoned. Paleoenvironmental data suggest that dryness events constitute the major cause behind the observed trends. This phenomenon expands the already perceived notion that climatic stresses had a major role in the shaping of human settlement patterns in marginal environments, such as deserts and high-altitude settings.

Keywords

ArchaeologyPaleoenvironmentHoloceneBrazilSouth America
Type
Special issue articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , November 2005 , pp. 298 - 307
Copyright
University of Washington

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