Dissertation Research: La Elvira: A Paleoindian Site in Southwestern Columbia

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Under the guidance of Dr. David Browman, Mr. Cristobal Gnecco, a graduate student at Washington University will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. In 1985, an extensive archaeological site was discovered in the course of road and sewer construction in the Popayan Valley in southwestern Colombia. Preliminary analysis indicates that the stone tools are attributable to paleoindian hunters and gatherers and may date to approximately 11,000 years ago. With NSF support, Mr. Gnecco will return to the La Elvira site and conduct careful stratigraphic excavation. He will strip a large horizontal expanse both to recover additional cultural materials and to set the site into a clearer geological context. Distributional data thus collected will hopefully shed light on the spatial organization of activities. Both organic and obsidian materials will be dated by radiocarbon and hydration techniques respectively. Finally, Mr. Gnecco and his collaborators will attempt a paleoclimatic reconstruction of the site. A core will be obtained and pollen and plant macrofossils analyzed. Regional vegetation will be collected to provide a comparative base. Although archaeologists agree that the first people to enter the New World crossed from Asia via the Bering Land bridge into Alaska, it has been surprising to learn that some of the earliest known archaeological sites are located in South America. Just how and when the first peoples entered this part of the world is unknown. It is also surprising that while in North America these "paleoindian" peoples are associated with big game hunting in relatively open environments, in South America such appears not to be the case. The question of paleoindian prehistory in South America is complicated by the relative dearth of archaeological data. In this context, information recovered from the La Elvira site is extremely important. It is also interesting that this rich archaeological occurrence is located in a forested valley. This research is important for several reasons. It will help to fill a glaring archaeological gap and the data will be of great interest to a large number of prehistorians. The research should shed new light on the adaptations of early New World peoples and will help in the training of an extremely promising young scientist.