Mid-Holocene littoral adaptation at the southern end of South America

One of the most noticeable, intense and long-lasting human adaptive explorations that occurred in the mid-Holocene was the specialisation in the exploitation of coastal resources that happened in the South of Chile and Argentina. There, the continental border is abrupt and jagged, rainy and covered by woods. In the mid-Holocene, and apparently quite suddenly, an intensification of the human use of littoral resources was developed, which differed considerably from what happened in the rest of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. This paper examines in particular the role of the peculiar environment of the area: its importance as a selective factor is evident, but it is not possible to identify within it the factor which determined the starting of the adaptation process. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.