Processes of Paleoindian site and desert pavement formation in the Atacama Desert, Chile

A distinct feature of many of the earliest archaeological sites (13,000-11,200 cal yr BP) at the core of the Atacama Desert is that they lie at or just below the surface, often encased in desert pavements. In this study, we compare these sites and undisturbed desert pavements to understand archaeolo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Quaternary research 2020-11, Vol.98, p.58-80
Main Authors: Ugalde, Paula C., Quade, Jay, Santoro, Calogero M., Holliday, Vance T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeological sites
Deserts
Earthquakes
Geology
Historic buildings & sites
Holocene
Research Article
Sediments
Seismic activity
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Summary:A distinct feature of many of the earliest archaeological sites (13,000-11,200 cal yr BP) at the core of the Atacama Desert is that they lie at or just below the surface, often encased in desert pavements. In this study, we compare these sites and undisturbed desert pavements to understand archaeological site formation and pavement development and recovery. Our results indicate these pavements and their soils are poorly developed regardless of their age. We propose that this is because of sustained lack of rain and extreme physical breakdown of clasts by salt expansion. Thus, the core of the Atacama provides an example of the lower limits of rainfall (
ISSN:0033-5894
1096-0287
DOI:10.1017/qua.2020.39