Evidence for cultivar adoption and emerging complexity during the mid-Holocene in the La Plata basin

José Iriarte (), Irene Holst, Oscar Marozzi, Claudia Listopad, Eduardo Alonso, Andrés Rinderknecht and Juan Montaña
Additional contact information
José Iriarte: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Irene Holst: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Oscar Marozzi: Departamento de Antropología, Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación
Claudia Listopad: Florida Institute of Technology, Department of Biological Sciences
Eduardo Alonso: Universidad de la República
Andrés Rinderknecht: Museos Nacionales de Historia Natural y Antropología
Juan Montaña: Universidad de la República

Nature, 2004, vol. 432, issue 7017, 614-617

Abstract: Abstract Multidisciplinary investigations at the Los Ajos archaeological mound complex in the wetlands of southeastern Uruguay challenge the traditional view that the La Plata basin was inhabited by simple groups of hunters and gatherers for much of the pre-Hispanic era1,2,3,4. Here we report new archaeological, palaeoecological and botanical data indicating that during an increasingly drier mid-Holocene, at around 4,190 radiocarbon (14C) years before present (bp), Los Ajos became a permanent circular plaza village, and its inhabitants adopted the earliest cultivars known in southern South America. The architectural plan of Los Ajos during the following Ceramic Mound Period (around 3,000–500 14C yr bp) is similar to, but earlier than, settlement patterns demonstrated in Amazonia5,6,7,8,9,10, revealing a new and independent architectural tradition for South America.

Date: 2004
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DOI: 10.1038/nature02983

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