Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T18:26:23.870Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ground Sloth Extinction and Human Occupation at Gruta Del Indio, Argentina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Austin Long ,
Paul S. Martin  and
Humberto A. Lagiglia
Austin Long
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0077
Paul S. Martin
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0077
Humberto A. Lagiglia
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0077
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

A new set of radiocarbon dates from a rockshelter in Mendoza, Argentina addresses the question of the temporal overlap between the presence of an unidentified extinct ground sloth (cf., Mylodontidae) and evidence of human activity. Dung balls on the cave floor, evidently deposited by sloth, are overlain by charcoal, apparently of cultural origin. 14C dates, mostly on charcoal and dung from this shelter, calibrated using recently published curves, as well as the stratigraphy of the deposits from which the samples were collected, suggest that any co-occurrence of humans and ground sloths in this region was brief. In contrast, the single date on mylodon dermal ossicles from this shelter suggests significant time overlap. Replication of this date as well as obtaining new high-precision 14C analyses from this site will be the next priority.

Type
Part 2: Applications
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 40 , Issue 2: 16th International Radiocarbon Conference June 16-20, 1997 Part 2: Applications, Conference Editors: Willem G. Mook Johannes van der Plicht , 1997 , pp. 693 - 700
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

References

Bard, E., Arnold, M., Fairbanks, R. G. and Hamelin, B. 1993 230Th-234U and 14C ages obtained by mass spectrometry on corals. In Stuiver, M., Long, A. and Kra, R. S., eds., Calibration 1993. Radiocarbon 35(1): 191–199.Google Scholar
Burr, G. S., Beck, J. W., Taylor, F. W., Recy, J., Edwards, R. L., Cabioch, G., Corrège, T., Donahue, D. J. and O'Malley, J. M. 1998 A high-resolution radiocarbon calibration between 11.7 and 12.4 ka bp derived from 230Th ages of corls from Espiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu. In Stuiver, M., ed., Calibration 1998. Radiocarbon , in press.Google Scholar
D'Antoni, H. 1983 Pollen Analysis of Gruta del Indio. In Rabassa, G., ed., Quaternary of South America and Antarctic Peninsula. Rotterdam, A. A. Balkema: 83–105.Google Scholar
Hughen, K. A., Overpeck, J. T., Lehman, S. J., Kashgarian, M., Southon, J., Peterson, L. C., Alley, R. and Sigman, D. M. 1998 Deglacial changes in ocean circulation from an extended radiocarbon calibration. Nature 391: 65–68.Google Scholar
Kromer, B. and Becker, B. 1993 German oak and pine 14C calibration, 7200–9439 bc. In Stuiver, M., Long, A. and Kra, R. S., eds., Calibration 1993. Radiocarbon 35(1): 125–135.Google Scholar
Kromer, B., Spurk, M., Remmele, S., Barbetti, M. and Toniello, V. 1998 Segments of atmospheric 14C change as derived from Late Glacial and Early Holocene floating tree-ring series. Radiocarbon , this issue.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lagiglia, H. A. 1968 Nuevos aportes a los fechados de radiocarbono de la Argentina. Journal de la Société des Américanistes 57:161–168.Google Scholar
Long, A. and Martin, P. S. 1973 Death of American ground sloths. Science 186: 638–640.Google Scholar
Martin, P. S. 1984 Prehistoric overkill: The global model. In Martin, P. S. and Klein, R. G., eds., Quaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution. Tucson, University of Arizona Press: 354–403.Google Scholar
Martin, P. S. 1990 40,000 years of extinctions on the ‘planet of doom’. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology (Global and Planetary Change Section) 82: 187–201.Google Scholar
Semper, J. and Lagiglia, H. 1968 Excavaciones arqueológicas en el Rincón del Atuel (Gruta del Indio), Depto. de San Rafael, (Mendoza, Agr.). Nota preliminar. Revista Científica de Investigaciones (Mendoza) 1(4): 87 ff. Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. and Reimer, P. J. 1993 Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. In Stuiver, M., Long, A. and Kra, R. S., eds., Calibration 1993. Radiocarbon 35(1): 215–230.Google Scholar
Vogel, J. C. and Lerman, J. C. 1969 Groningen radiocarbon dates VIII. Radiocarbon 11(2): 351–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar