Considerations About The First Settlements In Northwestern South America: Approaches From The Inter-Andean Magdalena River Valley, Colombia

Abstract

This article presents key data and discussion about the initial peopling of northwestern South America, highlighting its strategic significance in the continental context, cultural variability and landscape change over time. In Colombia there is very little relevant information regarding occupations prior to 12,000 BP; in contrast, the information is abundant relative to a number ofearly contexts during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. The variability among unifacial and bifacial lithic assemblages reported in different physiographic regions indicates alternative models on early settlement to regional level. Considering the importanceof the inter-Andean valley of the Magdalena River, this article emphasizes the archaeological contexts and paleoenvironmental information, highlighting environmental impacts associated not only to global climate change, but in particular of the effects ofvolcanism. The article stresses the findings and chronologies of bifacial lithic assemblages of the Magdalena Valley in relation to the early archaeology of northwestern South America.