This meeting was held in the city of San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca, Northwest Argentina, from July 3 to 7, 2007. It was organized by the Doctorate in Human Sciences (Faculty of Humanities, Catamarca National University) and sponsored by the World Archaeological Congress (WAC), as well as by other national and international organizations. It was the fourth meeting of this nature held in South America after the fruitful ones organized at Vitória (Brazil, in 1998), Olavarría (Argentina, in 2000), and Bogotá (Colombia in 2002). As a result of these three meetings, a number of volumes were published and the first continental journal named Journal of South American Archaeology was launched as a joint publication of the National University of Catamarca (Argentina) and the University of the Cauca (Colombia).