TAGUATAGUA BASIN IN CHILE - THE LATE PLEI STOCENE ENVIRONMENTS AND THE HUMAN OCCUPATIONS

Chronostratigraphic multidisciplinary excavations at the Taguatagua ba sin identified two sites, dated at 10, 120+/-130 and 9.900+/-100 years B.P., with remnants of twelve mastodonts (Stegomastodon humboldti) as sociated to Fell or ''fish-tail''-type projectile points. The reconstr uction of natural and cultural events at the Pleistocene - Holocene bo undary suggests that the palaeoindian occupations are closely related with the specialized hunting for mega-mammals living in lacustrine pal aeoenvironments subjected to aridity stress. The resource crisis and h uman predation would be correlated with lake dessication events which would have affected the midlatitudes of North and South America.