A New Late Pleistocene Archaeological Sequence in South America - The Vale Da Pedra Furada

A new late Pleistocene archaeological
sequence in South America: the Vale da

Pedra Furada (Piauı́, Brazil)
Eric Boëda1 , Ignacio Clemente-Conte2 , Michel Fontugne3 ,
Christelle Lahaye4 , Mario Pino5 , Gisele Daltrini Felice6,7 ,
Niède Guidon6 , Sirlei Hoeltz8 , Antoine Lourdeau1,9 , Marina Pagli1 ,
Anne-Marie Pessis6,9 , Sibeli Viana10 , Amélie Da Costa1 &
Eric Douville3
The date of the first settlement of the Americas

0 km 2000
remains a contentious subject. Previous claims
N
for very early occupation at Pedra Furada
in Brazil were not universally accepted (see
Meltzer et al. 1994). New work at the
Vale da Pedra Furada rockshelter of Boqueirão da Pedra Furada and
at the nearby open-air site of Vale da Pedra
Brasilia Furada have however produced new evidence
for human occupation extending back more
than 20 000 years. The argument is supported
by a series of 14 C and OSL dates, and by
technical analysis of the stone tool assemblage.
Debate
The authors conclude that the currently
accepted narrative of human settlement in
South America will have to be re-thought.
The article is followed by a series of comments,
rounded off by a reply from the authors.
Keywords: Pedra Furada, Serra de Capivara, settlement of the Americas, taphonomy, lithic
technology, cobble tools, quartz tools, dating methods
Supplementary material is provided online at http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/boeda341
1
UMR 7041 CNRS ArScAn–AnTET, Université Paris X, Maison de l’Archéologie et de l’Ethnologie, 21 allée de
l’Université, 92023 Nanterre, France
2
Departamento de Arqueologı́a y Antropologı́a, IMF-CSIC, Calle Egipcı́aques 15, Barcelona 08001, Spain
3
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, UMR 8212 CNRS-CEA-UVSQ, Domaine du
CNRS, 91198 Gif sur Yvette, France
4
Université Bordeaux-Montaigne, UMR 5060 IRAMAT-CRP2A, Institut de Recherche sur les Archéomatériaux,
Maison de l’Archéologie, Esplanade des Antilles, 33607 Pessac, France
5
Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Edificio Emilio Pugı́n, Avenida
Eduardo Morales Miranda, Campus Isla Teja, Valdivia, Chile

C Antiquity Publications Ltd.
ANTIQUITY 88 (2014): 927–955 http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/088/ant0880927.htm
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A new late Pleistocene archaeological sequence in South America
6
Fundação Museu do Homem Americano (FUMDHAM), Centro Cultural Sérgio Motta s/n, Bairro Campestre,
São Raimundo Nonato – PI, 64770-000, Brazil
7
Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco (UNIVASF), Campus Serra de Capivara, Rua João Ferreira
dos Santos, s/n, Bairro Campestre, São Raimundo Nonato–PI, 64770-000, Brazil
8
Archaeo: Pesquisas Arqueológicas, Av. Carandaı́ 99, Parque Georgia, Cuiabá – MT, 78085-485, Brazil
9
Departamento de Arqueologia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Av. Prof. Moraes Rego 1235, Cidade
Universitária, Recife – PE, 50670-901, Brazil
10
Instituto Goiano de Pré-História e Antropologia, Pontificia Universidade Católica de Goiás, Av, Universitária
1.440, Setor Universitário, Goiânia – GO, 74605-010, Brazil
Introduction
Late Pleistocene human occupation in South America has been the focus of incessant debate
for more than 20 years. Human presence in South America before 11 000 cal BC is now,
as in North America, widely accepted by most of the scientific community (Miotti 2003;
Bonnichsen et al. 2005; Waters & Stafford 2007, 2013; Goebel et al. 2008; Dillehay 2009;
Collins et al. 2013). In addition to the celebrated Chilean site of Monte Verde (Dillehay
1997), several sites now show the occupation of South America during the Late Pleistocene,
including Taima-Taima in Venezuela (Ochsenius & Gruhn 1979; Ranere & López 2007),
Arroyo Seco 2 in Argentina (Steele & Politis 2009) and Huaca Prieta in Peru (Dillehay et al.
2012).
Acceptance of sites dating to earlier than 14 000 cal BC, however, seems to be much more
difficult (Roosevelt et al. 2002; Dillehay 2008; Goebel et al. 2008). All discoveries made
have been systematically and legitimately discussed, which is justified, but also systematically
and surprisingly rejected, without exception. This has occurred, in particular, for sites in
north-eastern Brazil, in the Serra da Capivara region (Meltzer et al. 1994; Meltzer 2009;
Fariña et al. 2014).
Is there some sort of curse that affects the common sense both of archaeologists making
the discoveries, and their colleagues, at the announcement of an age older than 14 000
cal BC? In hypothetico-deductive reasoning, verifiable hypotheses are constructed on the
basis of a series of assumptions, the confirmation of which would support the postulates or
premises on which the hypotheses are based (Clark 1968). In other words, if one questions
the assumptions, the construction of the hypothesis must also be questioned. Why then,
despite abundant and varied data collected during the last two decades, are the new results
systematically rejected? Is the importance of the hypothesis greater than the validity of the
assumptions? Has the hypothesis become a paradigm with its own structure of thinking?
Another issue concerns the value given to the initial assumptions when it comes to stone
tools. Indeed, it would appear that when tool types familiar from later periods, like spear
or arrow points, are found with Pleistocene ages, a multitude of objections are immediately
raised concerning both the ages obtained and the stratigraphy. In contrast, when artefacts
are outside our modern memory references, it is their human origin that is questioned and
not the stratigraphic context or dating. From a strictly scientific viewpoint, this attitude is
quite unsettling, raising the question that if scientific criteria are valid for the Holocene,
why would they not be equally valid for late Pleistocene periods?
Despite such difficulties, research in the São Raimundo Nonato region (Piauı́, Brazil)
continued after the discovery of the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene sequence at Boqueirão

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Eric Boëda et al.
Figure 1. Location of Vale da Pedra Furada and adjacent sites.
da Pedra Furada in the 1980s (Guidon & Delibrias 1986; Guidon 1989; Parenti et al. 1996;
Parenti 2001) with the discovery of three new sites (see online supplementary material for
Debate
further details): Tira Peia (Lahaye et al. 2013), Sı́tio do Meio (Guidon et al. 1994) and
Vale da Pedra Furada, providing new Pleistocene and Holocene sequences with artefacts
and dates (Figure 1). We present here the study we conducted at Vale da Pedra Furada. The
site is located in the São Raimundo Nonato region on the edge of the Serra da Capivara. It
was discovered in 1998 during a campaign of test excavations on the immediate periphery
of the site of Boqueirão da Pedra Furada (Felice 2000, 2002). At a depth of more than two
metres, a few artefacts were recovered along with wood charcoals that have been dated to c.
20 000 cal BC (see Table S4). A second date on charcoal, from a layer at least one metre
below the surface, provided an age of c. 13 000 cal BC (see Table S4). In 2011, we reopened
this test excavation (Boëda et al. 2013).
Excavations at Vale da Pedra Furada in 2011

Vale da Pedra Furada is an open-air site on the left bank of the Baixão da Pedra Furada
Valley. It is located at the base of a talus of sandstone rockfall resulting from erosion of
a cuesta which here is more than 30m away and survives as a residual ridge (Figure S1).
The rocky talus, with a slope of 10–35◦ , is composed of sandstone blocks ranging in size
from monumental to considerably smaller. These blocks are mixed with sediments formed

929
by quartz and quartzite cobbles, as well as sand resulting from both regressive erosion of
the cuesta and the marine conglomerate overlying the Devonian sandstone (Pellerin 1983).
Erosion of this conglomerate continues on the valley floor, but no longer contributes to the
talus within the area of the site. Only during rainy years do two caldeirões (waterfalls) drain
the plateau surface waters onto the valley floor. The larger of these creates every year an
intermittent creek that changes slope from around 10◦ in this first 10m to become much
flatter well before reaching the valley floor. The site is located on the left bank and at a
distance of 15m from this ephemeral creek (Figure S1).
The excavated surface was located over the earlier 30m2 test excavation, including its south
and east stratigraphic profiles, and continued into the unexcavated lower layers (Figure S2).
All of the lithic artefacts, knapped or not, were recovered. Three-dimensional coordinates
were recorded for knapped artefacts, and the location of non-anthropic objects logged by
quarter-metre in 50mm thick spits. Systematic sieving to 2mm enabled recovery of abundant
small fragments of knapping debris and retouch flakes.
Each charcoal fragment was individually recorded to better discern the sequence of
burning. Within the 2.6m stratigraphy, eight sedimentary layers have been identified,
although the base of the archaeological sequence has not yet been reached. The first layer—
C1—is about 0.2m thick and corresponds to the modern surface. Below this, from bottom to
top there is a succession of coarse and fine deposits that can be grouped into two broad units.
The upper unit, 0.8–1m thick, contains a single layer—C2—dominated by siliciclastic silty
sands, without visible lamination or other internal synsedimentary structures (Figure 2). The
lower unit, currently excavated to a depth of 1.5m, includes six sedimentary layers, from C8
to C3, showing the alternation between episodes of fine, essentially sandy sedimentation
(C8, C6 and C4) and episodes of coarser deposition (C7, C5 and C3) composed of a
mixture of gravel with some cobbles and boulders in a sand-granule matrix.
The three sandy layers are of different colours, evidence of different depositional and
post-depositional processes. Layer C8 (base not yet reached) is powdery, resulting from the
disintegration of large sandstone blocks on the talus against which the site is set. The base of
layer C6 (>0.3m thick) contains, depending on the area excavated, several thousand wood
charcoal fragments (mm and cm in size) concentrated in certain zones and making the
sediment grey in colour. Sandstone blocks of different sizes (50–200mm) are present at the
base of layer C6, lying directly on gravelly layer C7 or separated from it by a sandy ash layer
a few centimetres thick (Figure S3). No quartz or quartzite cobbles, except for artefacts, are
associated with these sandstone blocks. The origin of these blocks, some of which weigh
3–4kg, is problematic. Indeed, their presence cannot be explained exclusively by colluvial
processes because other lithic materials would have been associated with them. Some blocks
show evidence of heating that caused their breakage, which indicates a temporal correlation
with the charcoal. A disc-shaped block some 150mm thick, currently being analysed, shows
traces of use including smoothing/polishing and areas of pecking on the upper surface. Layer
C4 varies in thickness (0.3–0.4m) depending on location and is defined uniquely by redder
sand.
Layer C7, 0.3m thick, differs from the preceding sandy layers by the more varied size of
the cobbles it contains (some more than 0.3m across), and by their more diversified raw
material. Quartzite cobbles, nearly absent in this layer, are found in the upper gravel layers.

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Eric Boëda et al.
Figure 2. Southern zone of Vale da Pedra Furada: section showing the upper unit C1 and C2; and lower unit C3–C8 (C8
is directly below C7; its base has not yet been reached).
Debate
The matrix surrounding these cobbles is of quartz granules and bright yellow sand different
from all other layers. Quartz cobbles, almost exclusively found only in layer C5, are varied
in size but rarely more than 50–60mm long, yet in this layer, which is at most 100mm
thick, we find a few rectangular sandstone blocks 5–8kg in weight. Such difference in mass
(more than 1:100) cannot be explained by the same depositional process, and this supports
the hypothesis that they are manuports. There are no macro-traces to indicate any sort of
modification of their surfaces. Layer C3, 0.8m thick, is composed of an interstratification
of gravels with granular and/or sandy lenses 50–100mm thick. The cobbles are rarely more
than 40–50mm long. It is of interest in this kind of tropical environment to note the
shortage of clay, both in the Pleistocene sediments and in the soils, where sand and silt
dominate. There is no detailed local information about the Pleistocene palaeoclimate, but
the source of the sediments, such as the Devonian sandstone of the cliff and the overlying
marine conglomerate, may provide a viable explanation. There are few local materials with
a mineralogical composition that would produce clays by weathering.
The original colluvial deposits are concealed by the arrangements made for the
archaeological conservation and display of the more recent rock paintings in the lower
part of the cliffs. It is hence not possible to observe the actual and natural processes of
alluvial reworking. At this stage of the research, however, we deduce that the deposition

931
of the sediments was not a continuous process. It coincided rather with sporadic humid
periods, during which enough water was running from the upper sections of the cliffs for
local alluvial deposition that reworked the colluvium near the base of the cliffs. There are
no structures such as lenses with cross-stratification or imbrication of the clasts that would
indicate medium to high energy sedimentation environments. Thus, the energy of ephemeral
streams was not sufficient to move the coarse material, producing lag deposits where the
only remobilised sediment was the sand. This was followed by a long dry period without
deposition, during which humans occupied the site. The large boulders are not genetically
related to the alluvium, and represent either remains of earlier colluvium or human transport.
The alternation between periods of no deposition and those with very low energy colluvium
reworking by ephemeral streams would allow the preservation of the archaeological remains,
including perhaps hearths. It is even possible that intense human activity broke down the
original sedimentary structure of these deposits. Several archaeological layers have been
identified. Artefacts were discovered in both the upper and lower units. The upper unit,
excavated over an area of 5m2 , contains two sparse archaeological horizons (C2a and C2b),
separated by a 0.2m-thick sterile horizon (Figure 3). The two horizons are associated
with extremely abundant charcoal scatters that in themselves do not suggest any human
involvement. The archaeological material consists only of lithics and includes worked quartz
and quartzite cobbles and flakes. The lower unit is much richer. Sedimentary unit C3,
excavated over an area of 2m2 , includes a minimum of four archaeological horizons (C3a
to C3b) separated by sandy lenses. The archaeological material is generally found at the
interfaces, but given the loose sandy context, the clear demarcation between each horizon
and the thickness of the sandy lenses, the deposits are more or less easy to follow. A few
charcoal fragments are also present in the archaeological horizons. Horizon C5a is found
in gravel layer C5. It contains rectangular sandstone blocks weighing several kilograms
(Figure 2) that cannot be explained by natural deposition processes. Unit C7 includes
three distinct horizons (7a, 7b and 7c) of artefacts, separated by sterile horizons. The first
horizon, 7a, excavated over an area of 6m2 , directly overlies gravel layer C7. It is contained
in sandy, charcoal-rich sediment forming the base of C6 in places and reaching a thickness
of 100mm. This horizon has partially overlapping concentrations of charcoal fragments
(several thousand per m2 ). A large number of sandstone blocks and chunks are scattered
across the ground. Some show evidence of exposure to fire. The presence should be noted of
two slabs (0.3×0.3m) with highly altered upper surfaces, unlike the surfaces of other smaller
blocks. The two remaining archaeological horizons (7b and 7c), excavated over an area of
1m2 , are completely different from each other and separated by sterile deposits. Horizon
7c includes an ashy concave elliptical zone (0.4×0.6×0.1m) at its centre with abundant
charcoal and artefacts around its periphery. Unlike horizon 7a, no sandstone blocks or
chunks are present. The ashy and charcoal-rich concentrations of horizons 7a and 7b differ
in intensity of burning and in their structure. Those of horizon 7a do not appear to have
been structured while horizon 7b has a central depression with abundant charcoal. Are all
of the burning zones in layers 6base and 7 due to human activity, as our initial observations
suggested? That cannot yet be definitively determined but we are awaiting the results of
taphonomic and anthracological analyses of the charcoal, as well as sedimentary data from
these zones.

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Eric Boëda et al.
Debate
Figure 3. Archaeological horizons (triangles), dating results (diamonds) and sampling locations (circles).
The lithic assemblage

The artefacts from Vale da Pedra Furada are mainly made on quartz cobbles, more rarely
on quartzite. The raw material comes from the dismantling of the marine layers above

933
the Devonian sandstone that has accumulated at the base of the cliff in the mass of fallen
rocks, dispersed by intermittent run-off fed by the caldeirões. But this proximity of the
raw material does not imply that the procurement territory was so restricted. Technological
analyses have demonstrated that the selection was based on the quality of the quartz and
quartzite blocks and on very specific morphological criteria that are much less common than
one would believe, as we have verified by experimentation. Poor-quality flint is available
in the Piauı́ terraces a few kilometres away but was not exploited, although it was present
in low quantities in the Holocene industries where it is used for the production of specific
tools such as lesmas.
It may be recalled that the artefacts from Boqueirão da Pedra Furada were considered
the products of natural breakage when they fell from the cliff, despite scientifically rigorous
technical and taphonomic arguments by Parenti (2001) confirming their human origin.
To avoid once again becoming embroiled in endless discussions, we decided to extend
the original study by undertaking four associated analyses: taphonomic, technological,
experimental and functional.
The source of the cobbles at Vale da Pedra Furada is clearly the same as for Boqueirão da
Pedra Furada, although the site is further from the cliffs. Taphonomic analysis was carried
out first on material from Boqueirão da Pedra Furada. (Details of the method can be found
in the online supplementary material.) We were then able to compare these results with
the material from Vale da Pedra Furada. It should be noted that throughout the excavation
of Vale da Pedra Furada and regardless of sedimentary context, all objects greater than
20mm (fractured or not) were kept, sampled, weighed and technically analysed, forming
an assemblage of several thousand objects. Through this comparison a series of 294 objects
could be identified by the presence of technical traits that showed them to be different from
those that taphonomic analysis had demonstrated to be of natural origin. This considerable
work allows us to assert with confidence the undeniably human origin of the artefacts
recovered from Vale da Pedra Furada.
We also analysed the technology. Three processes have been identified in each of the
archaeological assemblages: one involving shaping and two involving knapping. Analysis of
the artefacts from the different Pleistocene layers shows the diversified production of tools on
flakes and cobbles. Two methods dominate: bipolar reduction sensu stricto, and a reduction
scheme to shape cobbles that had been carefully selected on the basis of certain criteria. The
assemblages differ from one layer to another, evidencing differences in site function and/or
different cultural facies (Figures 4 & 5, and supplementary Figures S7–S10).
Functional analysis was also conducted to complete the study (Semenov 1964). Using
low- and high-power magnification, we analysed a sample (n = 18) of quartz artefacts
from Vale da Pedra Furada, from archaeological horizons C3 and C7. This experimental
method allows us to analyse tools made on different raw materials and from all chronological
periods (Keeley 1980; Keeley & Toth 1983; Clemente-Conte 1997). Some artefacts from
both C3 and C7 present evidence of butchery activities. Some have marks linked to sawing
and scraping of medium-hard materials such as wood. Some of the C3 artefacts also present
marks showing they had been used to perforate hard animal materials and others show traces
of activities on soft to medium materials such as hide (Figure 6). These results confirm that
the artefacts were humanly shaped and were used by people in their everyday activities.

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Eric Boëda et al.
Figure 4. Layer C3b: worked half-cobble with double bevelled transverse edge (n◦ 192158).
Chronology
Debate
Another goal of the project was a detailed chronological analysis of Vale da Pedra Furada.
Different charcoal samples were collected for this purpose from the different concentrations.
Horizons C2a, C2b C3, C4 and C6base/C7 were thus dated by radiocarbon at the
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement in Gif-sur-Yvette, France. In
parallel, we collected sediment samples in all of the accessible units, from C2a to C8. These
materials were then dated by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) at IRAMAT-CRP2A
at Université Bordeaux 3, France. Details of the materials and methods used to establish the
chronology of the occupations are included in the online supplementary material.
The chronological data obtained by both methods (radiocarbon and OSL) are reported
in Table S6 and Figure 3. We first note the very good coherence of the OSL ages in relation
to the depth of the sediments (Figure S16). No stratigraphic inversions are observed. We
also remark the good correlation between the radiocarbon and OSL results, wherever both
methods could be applied. The small discrepancy between the OSL and 14 C results from
layer C3 may result from the underestimation of the annual dose rate of the OSL C3 sample
(BR2011-11). This sample was situated at the limit between fine and coarser sediments
(Figure S13). The remainder of the values are coherent, and the chronology of the site is
well defined by the combination of OSL and 14 C ages. Finally, the absolute values of the
ages obtained should be noted: OSL and 14 C together situate layer C2 around 6000 BC,

935
Figure 5. Asymmetric convergent pieces: on split cobbles: 1 (n◦ 192157) and 3 (n◦ 191220), layer 3c; on cobble, 2 (n◦
192377), layer 7a.
layer C3 between 12 500 and 17 500 BC, layer C4 between 15 000 and 17 000 BC, and
finally layers C6 and C7 at around 22 000 BC.
Conclusion
The site of Vale da Pedra Furada is a succession of open-air human occupations near
monumental sandstone blocks at the base of a cliff and next to an intermittent stream. The
combination of 14 C and OSL dates situate the upper and lower units during Oxygen Isotope
Stages 1 and 2. The upper unit is an early Middle Holocene deposit laid down between 9000
and 7000 BC. The artefacts within it cannot be attributed to a specific techno-cultural facies.
The lower unit is clearly late in age, OIS 2, during the Last Pleniglacial. Two sedimentary
deposits (C3 and C7) from this unit contain nearly all of the archaeological assemblages.
Their 14 C and OSL ages correlate them with two humid phases at 15 000 and 24 000
BP documented by marine core GeoB 3104-1 (Behling et al. 2000). These observations
are corroborated by results obtained from nearby sites: Sitio do Meio (new excavations)
(Boëda et al. in press), Tira Peia (Lahaye et al. 2013) and Boqueirão da Pedra Furada (new

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Eric Boëda et al.
Figure 6. Use-wear analysis of n◦ 198057 from layer C7b, indicating cutting activity: butchery.
Debate
excavations). The occupations seem to be concentrated during these two periods, although
this does not preclude the possibility of occupations at other times. Human presence is
continuous, but of variable intensity.
It is not yet possible to comment on the cultural attribution of these artefacts because
the assemblages are not sufficiently large. However, several observations can be made. The
toolkits from the different Pleistocene layers from the Vale da Pedra Furada are broadly
similar, with certain characteristic tools such as single or double bevelled pieces and rostres.
In contrast, differences appear in the statistical representation of tools, in blank selection
(knapped or shaped) and in size. More generally, features of the assemblages from Vale da
Pedra Furada are shared by the other Pleistocene sites. Some disappear during the Early
Holocene, other persist into the Holocene. This transcendence of a common set of tools
from the Pleistocene to the Holocene supports continuity in patterns of lithic resource
management in this micro-region.
With respect to function, the analyses show evidence of processing wood, hide, hard
animal materials and other materials yet to be identified. The high acidity of the sediments
has destroyed faunal remains, although these are present at sites in the limestone zones. Only
charcoal and large numbers of hearths are available to provide evidence of human activities.

937
These hearths have not been found in all of the archaeological assemblages and those that
have vary in appearance.
These results give the strong impression that each assemblage does not necessarily indicate
the same functionality or the same duration of occupation. This is clearly evident for layer
C6base, which is particularly rich and appears to be a palimpsest. The other assemblages
occur in small clusters, as we observed at Boqueirao da Pedra Furada, located about 100m
downstream, when we reopened excavations in the remaining part of the site. These
similarities extend to the typo-technological and functional composition of the assemblages
that we have recently recovered. Yet, having reached only the layers dated to 14 580 BC,
it is still too early to conclude complete similarity between the sequences. Comparison of
artefacts from Vale da Pedra Furada with the artefacts from the previous excavations shows a
high degree of technological similarity, but as the excavation techniques were not the same,
we can compare only artefacts with artefacts and not assemblages as a whole. In addition,
we have only recently reached the uppermost Pleistocene layers.
For broader comparison, it is impossible to include Santa Elina in Brazil (Vilhena Vialou
2005) because of the very low number of lithic artefacts there. The sites of Monte Verde
in Chile (Dillehay 1997), Arroyo Seco and Los Toldos in Argentina (Cardich et al. 1973;
Miotti & Salemme 2004; Steele & Politis 2009), Huaca Pietra (Dillehay et al. 2012) in
Peru and Taima-Taima in Venezuela (Ochsenius & Gruhn 1979; Ranere & López 2007)
are too geographically distant to allow useful comparison; further, the raw materials are
different. The problem of raw materials in the Piauı́ region has often been used as a reason
to reject human modification of the material. Why were quartz cobbles used while much
better materials could be found elsewhere? We respond to this with several arguments:
1) Regardless of period or place, groups exploit only raw materials from the immediate
proximity; so why not quartz at Piauı́? In East Asia, Europe and Africa quartz was commonly
employed by Palaeolithic societies, yet does not present a problem for researchers.
2) The fallacy that considers cobble tools synonymous with archaic, and thus the Lower
Pleistocene, prevents us from realising that the cobble is above all as much the basis for a
tool as are shaped or retouched blades and flakes.
3) The term quartz covers a wide diversity of material and tools are made on the
best-quality quartz.
4) The taphonomic analysis has demonstrated that it is impossible to confuse natural
breakage and human production.
We should consider the world of cobbles, and quartz in particular, as the expression of
one technological option among others. This technical orientation existed at different places
and at different times. It is thus quite difficult to reconstruct possible population dispersals
and their cultural links from their lithic artefacts. We can, on the other hand, identify the
geographic limits of different technological options.
Such is the case for the Capivara region, where we have an increasing number of
exceptional sites located within a 10km radius and beyond, in different sedimentary contexts.
The 14 C and OSL dates, while not directly dating the humanly modified materials, allow
us to situate these industries in time and thus to compare different periods. As already

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Eric Boëda et al.
observed, the Pleistocene industries from the sites currently known between 25 000 and
15 000 years of age are typo-technologically and functionally homogeneous. Some of their
characteristics persist and are found in Holocene industries, while others disappear. They
reveal both the technological innovations that follow one another and typify a group of
archaeological assemblages within a single time frame, and the continuum of technical
traditions and the long-term rootedness of successive populations. In general, these new
results indicate a complex history that is still difficult to explain owing to the lack of data.
We now need to accept that North and South America were occupied as a result of successive
migration events that were irregular. Only the most striking of these waves of migration
remain visible in the archaeological record. Yet the visibility of these events should not
obscure the others. Indeed, the term ‘migration’ is too loaded with meaning and gives the
impression of mass population movements. Ethnology and history show us that population
movements can take many forms, some of which leave no visible traces at the archaeological
scale of interpretation and discovery.
Such may be the case for the very first migrations, which obviously did not involve the
massive and systematic invasion of these two continents. If that had occurred, we would
already have found significant evidence for it. The image proposed is rather of patchy
occupations disseminated across space with few visible links between them. We are dealing
with small groups over long time periods, dispersed across vast areas without significant
contact owing to the very low demographic densities. Cultural differentiation would have
been all the stronger. Ethnological data all point in this direction, so why should that not
apply to more ancient populations?
Acknowledgements
We thank the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and FUMDHAM (Fundação Museu do Homem Americano) for
annual financing of the Franco-Brazilian mission in Piauı́; Bordeaux-Montaigne University, the Conseil Régional
Debate
d’Aquitaine and the IUF (Institut Universitaire de France) for funding and technical support; this project
benefited from French State help managed by the French Research National Agency under the Investissements
d’Avenir Program (reference ANR-10-LABX-52). We also thank Mr A. Ollé, researcher at IPHES-Tarragona for
his assistance with analyses at the MEB in the Microscopy Unit in the Science and Technical Service at Rovira i
Virgili University (Tarragona, Spain). Thanks are due to J.-P. Dumoulin and C. Moreau for AMS facilities.
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BOËDA, E., A. LOURDEAU, C. LAHAYE, G.D. FELICE, S. Americans, Texas A&M University.
VIANA, I. CLEMENTE-CONTE, M. PINO, M.
FONTUGNE, S. HOELTZ, N. GUIDON, A.-M. PESSIS, CARDICH, A.R., L.A. CARDICH & A. HAJDUK. 1973.
A. DA COSTA & M. PAGLI. 2013. The late Secuencia arqueológica y cronologı́a radiocarbónica
Pleistocene industries of Piauı́ , Brazil: new data, in de la Cueva 3 de Los Toldos (Santa Cruz,
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Paleoamerican odyssey: 425–45. College Station: CLARK, D.L. 1968. Analytical archaeology. London:
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SEMENOV, S.A. 1964. Prehistoric technology. London: WATERS, M.R. & T.W. STAFFORD, JR. 2007. Redefining
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2008.09.024 for the late Pleistocene, in K.E. Graf, C.V. Ketron
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Vol. 1, Santa Elina. São Paulo: Universidade de São 541–60. College Station: Center for the Study of
Paulo. the First Americans, Texas A&M University.
Standards and expectations

Tom D. Dillehay∗
Archaeological site candidates like Vale da Pedra Furada, Boqueirão da Pedra Furada (Parenti
2001) and others (e.g. Dillehay & Collins 1988; Guidon et al. 1994) in South America
present different empirical and interpretative problems in the study of the first Americans.
These candidates date earlier than the generally accepted age of c. 14 500 cal BP for human
entry, contain unifacial assemblages unlike anything in North America, and exhibit few, if
any, food remains and traditional features (e.g. hearths, artefact clusters). If we judge them
by North American standards (e.g. Haynes 1973), they also rarely exhibit clearly defined
multi-component cultural strata with discrete use surfaces and reductive lithic industries
associated with abundant debitage. Since these candidates do not meet all expected site
criteria, what do they represent and how do we assess them? Are they valid archaeological sites
indicative of small, highly mobile populations equipped with expedient technologies that
left behind ephemeral records? Were they places produced exclusively by natural phenomena
Debate
(e.g. flooding, falling rocks) that mimicked human activities? Are they specific depositional
contexts (e.g. springs) associated with a palimpsest of co-mimicking natural and cultural
forces? What is needed is a better empirical understanding of early site candidates and a
reconsideration of the standards and expectations employed to judge them.
When I first visited Boqueirão da Pedra Furada (BPF), I had hoped it was an early
residential site. I expected it to exhibit recognisable use surfaces, stone tools, hearths, bone
remains and artefact clusters. For various reasons, the locality did not meet expected site
criteria and its archaeological validity was questioned (Meltzer et al. 1994). Now, after
having visited more early localities in South America and in other parts of the world (e.g.
unifacial sites in Australia and China), my expectations have changed. I am more open to
the idea that portions of BPF were used as quarries and/or short-term campsites by small
groups of mobile people. There are three reasons for a shift in my thinking. First, I have
examined the unifacial assemblages from other Brazilian site candidates and have become
more convinced that some cobbles (similar to a few at BPF) were shaped or knapped by
humans. Second, I recently excavated similar early unifaces (made on exotics) and associated
burned features at Monte Verde, Chile (Dillehay 2014). And third, I agree with Boeda et al.
that we need more contextual and technological options in evaluating early site candidates.
∗
Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, 124 Garland Hall, Nashville, TN 37235, USA

941
Standards and expectations
This does not necessarily imply that all criteria traditionally used to judge site candidates
should change. Yet, the earliest human record in South America is more diverse and, in
several ways, different from that in North America and should be viewed with more flexible
standards and expectations.
In turning to questions regarding Vale da Pedra Furada (VPF), the authors are to be
commended for their interdisciplinary study of another potential early site. Although aspects
of VPF appear to be archaeologically valid, I am concerned about some issues. There is no
discussion of the specific horizontal locations of the knapped/shaped stone tools and charcoal
concentrations. Do the lithics and charcoal form discrete use surfaces and activity areas?
Are the grey (ashy?) sediments underlying these concentrations burned? How much micro-
debitage is associated with knapped stones? Does some debitage conjoin? Although elements
of the SEM study of the stones are convincing, I am dubious of use-wear analysis on quartz.
Although use-wear can be demonstrated, it is difficult to assign specific functions to quartz
implements. In regard to stones in the culturally sterile sediments between ‘archaeological
horizons’, do they have sharp chipped edges? If so, how do they differ from the designated
‘cultural’ stones? Also, why was VPF selected as a site location? These and other questions
need more detailed reporting.
The authors state that the long distances between VPF and other early candidates in
South America prohibit an inter-site comparison of their stone tool industries. I disagree.
Regardless of the irregular movement and small size of early populations, people had contact
and exchanged technologies across vast areas of the continent, as suggested by genetic, skeletal
and artefact evidence (e.g. Battaglia et al. 2013). Some quartz assemblages from pre-14 500
cal BP candidates are comparable, especially those with selected morphological traits for
knapping. As the authors note, these types of localities appear to represent ephemeral,
discontinuous and functionally different episodes of human activity resulting in low levels
of archaeological visibility. If this is the case for most of the earliest South American record,
then we must redefine our standards and expectations.
References GUIDON, N., F. PARENTI, M.F. DA LUZ, C. GUÉRIN &

M. FAURE. 1994. Le plus anciens peuplement de
BATTAGLIA, V., V. GRUGNI, U.A. PEREGO, N. l’Amerique: le Paléolithique de Nordeste brésilien.
ANGERHOFER, J.E. GOMEZ-PALMIERI, S.R. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 91:
WOODWARD, A. ACHILLI, N. MYRES, A. TORRONI 246–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.3406/bspf.1994.9732
& O. SEMINO. 2013. The first peopling of South
America: new evidence from Y-chromosome HAYNES, C.V. 1973. The Calico site: artifacts or
haplogroup Q. PLoS ONE 8(8): e71390. geofacts? Science 181: 305–10. http://dx.doi.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0071390 org/10.1126/science.181.4097.305
DILLEHAY, T.D. 2014. Informe preliminar sobre MELTZER, D.J., J.M. ADOVASIO & T.D. DILLEHAY.
recientes excavaciones en Monte Verde. Report 1994. On a Pleistocene human occupation at Pedra
produced for the Consejo de Monumentos Furada, Brazil. Antiquity 68: 695–714.
Nacionales, Santiago, Chile. PARENTI, F. 2001. Le gisement quaternaire de Pedra
DILLEHAY, T.D. & M.B. COLLINS. 1988. Early cultural Furada (Piauı́, Brésil). Stratigraphie, chronologie,
evidence from Monte Verde in Chile. Nature 332: évolution culturelle. Paris: Recherche sur les
150–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/332150a0 Civilisations.

942
Adriana Schmidt Dias & Lucas Bueno
More of the same

Adriana Schmidt Dias1 & Lucas Bueno2
The number of radiocarbon dates for the late Pleistocene and early Holocene periods in
South America has greatly increased in recent years, due to the widespread availability of
AMS dating, and the growth of academic research done by South American archaeologists.
A recent review of the period between 13 000 and 8000 14 C years BP showed the continuous
occupation of major biomes and the emergence of regional cultural and economic variation.
Before this period the evidence is weak, sparse and discontinuous. It comes from sites that
exist in spatial and temporal isolation from the surrounding regions, and invariably are
subjected to intense debate. The critical approach to this data is not a simple signal of a
‘curse’ or an ideological barrier to be fought, as suggested by Boëda and colleagues. It simply
demonstrates the difficulty of incorporating this data into a geographically comprehensive
demographic model for the early peopling of South America (Bueno et al. 2013a & b).
Pleistocene radiocarbon dates have been obtained for several sites in Brazil (Schmitz 1990;
Prous & Fogaça 1999). Although the validity of these data had been questioned for many
reasons, Boqueirão da Pedra Furada, in Piauı́ State, and Santa Elina, in Mato Grosso State,
remained key pieces in this puzzle, justifying the importance of the continuing investigation
of these areas (Parenti 1992; Vialou 2003). Their importance goes beyond the dates of over
20 000 years BP obtained for both sites. They represent the first clues to the pioneering phase
of the colonisation of South America. This process would have created an archaeological
record of low population density, but concentrated in physically distinctive places that could
have been frequently re-occupied. Boqueirão da Pedra Furada and Santa Elina also point to
the importance of the riverine routes, such as the São Francisco and La Plata basins, in this
Debate
initial settlement process, connecting the continental interior to other contemporaneous
settlement routes of the North Atlantic coast and the eastern side of the Andean chain (Dias
& Bueno 2013).
The article by Boëda and colleagues summarises the research conducted in the Vale da
Pedra Furada open-air site; and it can be compared to other two Pleistocene sites recently
investigated by the authors in the same region, Toca da Tira Peia and Sı́tio do Meio (Boëda
et al. 2013; Lahaye et al. 2013). The preliminary results presented in these papers have the
same problematic, unresolved issues as those that the Boqueirão da Pedra Furada debate
brought to light in the pages of Antiquity in the 1990s: a) a lack of information about
the contextual relationship between dated samples and artefacts; and b) a lack of specific
palaeoenviromental, geoarchaeological and formation process studies to support a better
understanding of the cultural and natural differences between the occupational phases of
the Serra da Capivara region (Meltzer et al. 1994; Guidon et al. 1996; Parenti et al. 1996).
1
Department of History, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Avenida Paulo Gama, 110, Farropilhas,
Porto Alegre – RS, 90040-060, Brazil
2
Department of History, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Campus Universitário Reitor João David
Ferreira Lima, Trinidade, Florianópolis – SC, 88040-900, Brazil

943
More of the same
Besides, the authors do not analyse how other Pleistocene findings in South America, and
in particular in Brazil, can be related (or not) to Pedra Furada, arguing that geographical
distances or the low densities of artefacts make comparisons difficult.
The discussion presented by the authors is mainly focused on the criticism raised about
the ‘archaic’ nature of the lithic industries of Pedra Furada (and, by extension, of other
non-bifacial/pre-Clovis industries in the Americas). Arguments are presented extensively
in the supplementary material to ‘prove’ the human origin of the materials. Yet it is not
clear to us why Boëda and collegues did not use the abundant Holocene data from the
São Francisco Basin to support their hypothesis. One example is the Lagoa Santa region,
at Minas Gerais State, where quartz was used as the main raw material between 10 000
and 8000 BP. Furthermore, the same technological strategies related to the exploitation of
local raw materials are present at Santa Elina, suggesting a similar cultural strategy for the
pioneering exploitation of new territories.
A true dialogue with the ‘native’ academic community would have certainly added more
interesting arguments to this debate than the validity of dating methodologies, the expertise
of the ‘technologists’ in charge of the analysis, or the comparisons with ancient East Asian
and African technologies. As presented here, the new data from Pedra Furada are old news
for us: it is just more of the same old game between rocks and dates. It has little to say about
how people creatively made their living in new territories, but says a lot about how modern
academic politics works.
References GUIDON, N., A.-M. PESSIS, F. PARENTI, M. FONTUGNE

& C. GUÉRIN. 1996. Nature and age of deposits in
BOËDA, E., A. LOURDEAU, C. LAHAYE, G. FELICE, S. Pedra Furada, Brazil: reply to Meltzer, Adovasio &
VIANA, I. CLEMENTE-CONTE, M. PINO, M. Dillehay. Falsehood or untruth? Antiquity 70:
FONTUGNE, S. HOELTZ, N. GUIDON, A.-M. PESSIS, 408–15.
A. DA COSTA & M. PAGLI. 2013. The
late-Pleistocene industries of Piauı́, Brazil: new LAHAYE, C., M. HERNANDEZ, E. BOËDA, G. FELICE, N.
data, in K. Graf, C. Ketron & M. Waters (ed.) GUIDON, S. HOELTZ, A. LOURDEAU, M. PAGLI,
Paleoamerican odyssey: 445–66. College Station: A.-M. PESSIS, M. RASSE & S. VIANA. 2013. Human
Texas A&M University Press. occupation in South America by 20,000 BC: the
Toca da Tira Peia site, Piauı́, Brazil. Journal of
BUENO, L., L. PRATES, G. POLITIS & J. STEELE. 2013a. Archaeological Science 40: 2840–47.
A late Pleistocene/early Holocene archaeological http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2013.02.019
14
C database for South America and the isthmus of MELTZER, D., J. ADOVASIO & T. DILLEHAY. 1994. On a
Panama: paleoenvironmental contexts and Pleistocene human occupation at Pedra Furada,
demographic interpretations. Quaternary Brazil. Antiquity 68: 695–714.
International 301: 1–2. http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.quaint.2013.04.008 PARENTI, F. 1992. Le gisement quaternaire de la Toca
do Boqueirão da Pedra Furada (Piauı́, Brésil) dans le
BUENO, L., A.S. DIAS & J. STEELE. 2013b. The late contexte de la préhistoire Américaine. Fouilles,
Pleistocene/early Holocene archaeological record in stratigraphie, chronologie, evolution culturelle.
Brazil: a geo-referenced database. Quaternary Unpublished PhD dissertation, École de Hauts
International 301: 74–93. http://dx.doi.org/ Étude en Sciences Sociales, Paris.
10.1016/j.quaint.2013.03.042
PARENTI, F., M. FONTUGUE & C. GUÉRIN. 1996. Pedra
DIAS, A.S. & L. BUENO. 2013. The initial colonization Furada in Brazil and its ‘presumed’ evidence:
of South America eastern lowlands: Brazilian limitations and potential of the available data.
archaeology contributions to settlement of America Antiquity 70: 416–21.
models, in K. Graf, C. Ketron & M. Waters (ed.)
Paleoamerican odyssey: 339–58. College Station:
Texas A&M University Press.

944
Hubert Forestier
PROUS, A. & E. FOGAÇA. 1999. Archaeology of the VIALOU, A. 2003. Santa Elina rockshelter, Brazil:
Pleistocene-Holocene boundary in Brazil. evidence of the coexistence of man and
Quaternary International 53–54: 21–41. Glossotherium, in L. Miotti, M. Salemme & N.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1040-6182(98)00005-6 Flegenheimer (ed.) Where the south winds blow:
SCHMITZ, P.I. 1990. O povoamento Pleistocênico do ancient evidence of Paleo South Americans: 21–28.
Brasil. Revista de Arqueologı́a Americana 1: 33–68. College Station: Texas A&M University Press.
New World, new models

Hubert Forestier∗
The dominant current paradigm for the expansion of modern human populations
(Homo sapiens sapiens) is largely driven by the historical development of prehistory and
palaeoanthropology. It has been established mainly on the basis of only European and
African data. The epistemology underlying the present article implies that the facts
and European certainties are far from being universal.
Whether focusing on the latest co-existence of two particular hominins (Neanderthal and
modern) or the very significant transition from Middle to Upper Palaeolithic, the history of
these disciplines has projected as a universal model what concerns in fact only a continental
dead end, that of old periglacial Western Europe. The co-existence of several hominin
species was the common mode for several hundred thousand years, and the Neanderthal
episode was long considered the last and was certainly the most discussed of the hominin
extinctions: raising the question why them and not us? (Lévêque et al. 1993; Hublin et al.
1996; d’Errico 2003; Finlayson 2004; Stringer et al. 2004; Smith et al. 2005; Lorenzo et al.
2012; Lowe et al. 2012; Bates et al. 2013).
For the past decade, following the discovery of the Flores hominin that disappeared
Debate
towards 17 ka (Brown et al. 2004; Morwood et al. 2004) and the recognition of several
subspecies of Homo sapiens in Southeast Asia (Zeitoun et al. 2010), the co-existence of several
hominin species has become again the ‘normal’ vision. To this purely anthropological view
may be added developments in prehistoric research outside Europe that show there are
regions where the universalist pan-European model does not apply. These include notably
the powerful example of the cobble tool industry that was present 2 million years ago in
China (Hou & Zhao 2010) and persisted until around a millennium ago in Southeast Asia
(Forestier et al. 2013). Southeast Asia was marked by a subtropical environment, and the
major contribution of plant materials to Hoabinhian technology from 30 to 3 ka was hence
only to be expected (Gorman 1970; Solheim 1972; Hutterer 1977; Forestier 2003). Indeed:
“to obtain a proper insight into the Palaeolithic of the Tropics, account should be taken of
climatic conditions, and of the special properties obtaining in tropical forests, which for
example enabled the nomadic food-gathering tribes to develop an elaborate folk culture
based on the availability of bamboo, hardwood and rattan” (van Heekeren 1972: 77).
∗
UMR 7194 Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle – CNRS – UPVD, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine,
1 Rue René-panhard, Paris 75013, France

945
New World, new models
The field data from the South American site of Vale da Pedra Furada show that the inhabitants
either retained or developed a local industry on cobble tools at a relatively early period. These
new data are supported by a coherent chronological framework that has been established
from two independent methods. They entail the description and identification of a hitherto
unknown episode in the human colonisation of this continent. The ‘psychological’ barrier
evoked by the authors also holds because the cobble tool assemblages are described according
to the simplified, restrictive and very functional European model based on Modes 1, 2, 3
and more (Clark 1969; Carbonnell et al. 2010; Barsky et al. 2013). Preceding the Acheulean
assemblage (Mode 2), Mode 1 is supposed to reflect a certain archaism and early date
for cobble/pebble tool cultures with small flake tools, cultures that are connected with
the African emergence through to the earliest settlement of Europe. Nevertheless, in several
tropical regions of the world this equation is no longer respected, as for example in Southeast
Asia with the Hoabinhian (Forestier 2000; Zeitoun et al. 2008), in the Philippines (Pawlik
& Ronquillo 2003), in Korea (Yi 2011) or in western Africa (Soriano 2003).
The results of the typo-technological and functional analysis show that the stone tools
from Vale da Pedra Furada were undoubtedly knapped and used according to specific
technical criteria. Partly geographical determinism and partly cultural choice, this South
American case is an anthropological response to the environment (both climate and
geology/raw material sources) and the ecology.
To understand them objectively, these lithic assemblages from the Late Pleistocene
archaeological sequence in Brazil must be studied outside the constraints of the European
model. They must be recognised as an authentic Brazilian techno-functional convergence
without any biological, cultural and chronological connection with the Old World. To
conclude, the Vale da Pedra Furada site (Piauı́, Brazil) allows us to glimpse a new geographical
area conquered by modern humans where the dominant bio-cultural paradigm built in
Europe may not be valid. Indeed, the latter appears to be an exception which does not work
in other regions. It is precisely that which is important about this paper, especially from a
fundamental epistemological perspective.
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MOSQUERA, A. OLLÉ, J.M. VERGÈS, B.
BARSKY, D., J. GARCIA, K. MARTÍNEZ, R. SALA, Y. MARTÍNEZ-NAVARRO & J.M. BERMÚDEZ DE
ZAIDNER, E. CARBONELL & I. TORO-MOYANO. CASTRO. 2010. Early hominid dispersals: a
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j.quaint.2010.01.018
Is dating an issue?
James Feathers∗
Few areas have been the target of such persistent efforts to demonstrate a human presence
in the Americas during the Last Glacial Maximum as the region in and around Serra da
Capivara National Park in Piauı́, north-eastern Brazil. This reflects the 30 years of research
in the area by Niède Guidon, who first brought attention to the possibility of evidence
for early humans at Boqueirão da Pedra Furada in the 1980s (Guidon & Delibrias 1986;
Guidon 1989). The current paper by Boëda et al. on the open-air site of Vale da Pedra
Furada follows close on the heels of another from the nearby Toca da Tira Peia site by
Lahaye et al. (2013), both claiming human presence by c. 20 ka.
My contribution to this discussion stems from my application of luminescence dating
to Palaeoindian sites in Brazil (e.g. Araujo et al. 2008, 2013; Feathers et al. 2010; Bueno
et al. 2013; Vialou et al. in prep.). I have also done luminescence work in Serra da Capivara,
but only of Holocene-age sediments (unpublished). Both Boëda et al. and Lahaye et al.
employed optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating on sediments to date their sites,
and I will briefly review their work. Both used relatively fine grain sizes (20–41μm) of quartz
and both employed the commonly used single aliquot regenerative dose (SAR) protocol for
determining equivalent dose (De ). In neither case did the aliquots for each sample display
much spread in values, even for Lahaye et al., who employed smaller, 1mm diameter aliquots.
The quartz was sensitive and dominated by the fast-bleaching component, which is typical
for Brazilian quartz (Feathers et al. 2010; Guedes et al. 2013). An argument could be made
that with sensitive quartz, even 1mm aliquots might suffer from signal averaging among
individual grains, so that the true dispersion in De values is hidden and can only be properly
evaluated with single-grain data. In other words, evidence for mixing of different aged grains
might not be detectable without single-grain analysis. On the other hand, the OSL dates in
each case are in the correct stratigraphic order, and in the case of Boëda et al. are in agreement
with some 14 C dates. But an argument for mixing at either site, however unlikely, is not
really germane to the whole debate, because the issue has never been about dating.
Rather, it has been about the nature of the artefacts and whether they can unambiguously
be attributed to human origin (Meltzer et al. 1994). Boëda et al. and Lahaye et al. (2013)
make at least two arguments. First, that the breakage patterns on the ‘artefacts’ are different
from those on natural cobbles; and, second, that no geologic process can account for the
position of ‘artefacts’ of certain size and shape. Boëda et al. make additional technological
∗
Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Box 353412, Seattle, WA 98195-3412, USA

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James Feathers
and functional observations. I do not have the expertise to evaluate these arguments, but I
can make a few comments. First, much of Brazil has a long unifacial lithic tradition, where
bifaces or other distinctive diagnostics are rare. Clovis sites, on the other hand, are defined
by a very distinctive kind of biface: fluted points. This puts any argument about early sites in
Brazil at a distinct disadvantage. Even if the lithics at the Serra da Capivara sites are artefacts,
their defenders have an uphill battle demonstrating that. But they can well point out that
the most a Clovis-first argument can really say is that Clovis is the first diagnostic artefact (an
observation with a long history; see Krieger 1964). Second, the Serra da Capivara sites have
some support from Santa Elina rockshelter in Mato Grosso state, central Brazil (Vilhena
Vialou 2005; Vialou et al. in prep.), also dated by OSL (by the author) to the same time
period. Here the lithics are also difficult to distinguish from natural breakage, and the same
arguments are made about natural versus human patterning and the exogenous nature of
the artefacts. But also recovered from Santa Elina are two perforated osteoderms, for which
a better case can be made for human origins.
Third, an underpinning of the original Clovis-first argument was that colonisation of the
New World was not really possible prior to Clovis, because of continental glaciers. But this
assumption has steadily been eroded, because of the potential of coastal migrations, either
Pacific (Dixon 2013) or Atlantic (Bradley & Stanford 2004), and because of evidence that
the ‘ice-free corridor’ may have been open much earlier than originally thought (Munyikwa
et al. 2011). If there is no reason to cling to a Clovis-first argument, then the potential
for understanding New World colonisation widens considerably. I think this is the point
Boëda et al. make in their prefatory remarks. Perhaps age should no longer be the defining
parameter of the debate, because with the restrictions of Clovis-first removed, the search for
the oldest site seems less meaningful (Waguespack & Kelly 2014). Rather, unless evidence
to the contrary comes to light or the arguments about the human origins of the artefacts are
shown to be specious, we should give Guidon and her colleagues the benefit of the doubt,
Debate
and begin to research a larger problem: how the record of these few earlier sites, such as Santa
Elina, Toca da Tira Peia and Vale da Pedra Furada, evolved into the much more abundant
record of c. 13 ka and later. That is a gap that has not been filled but if it could be, that
would put these sites into much better context and the controversy around them would be
lessened.
References BUENO, L., J. FEATHERS & P. DE BLASIS. 2013. The

formation process of a Paleoindian open-air site in
ARAUJO, A.G.M., J.K. FEATHERS, M. ARROYO-KALIN &
central Brazil: integrating lithic analysis,
M.M. TIZUKA. 2008. Lapa das Boleiras rockshelter:
radiocarbon and luminescence dating. Journal of
stratigraphy and formation processes at a
Archaeological Science 40: 190–203.
Paleoamerican site in central Brazil. Journal of
Archaeological Science 35: 3186–202. DIXON, E.J. 2013. Late Pleistocene colonization of
North America from northeast Asia: new insights
ARAUJO, A.G.M., A. STRAUSS, J.K. FEATHERS, J. PAISANI
from large-scale paleogeographic reconstructions.
& T. SCHRAGE. 2013. Paleoindian open-air sites in
Quaternary International 285: 57–67.
tropical settings: a case study in formation
processes, dating methods and paleoenvironmental FEATHERS, J.K., L. PILÓ, M. ARROYO-KALIN, R. KIPNES
models. Geoarchaeology 28: 195–220. & D. COBLENZ. 2010. How old is Luzia?
Luminescence dating and stratigraphic integrity at
BRADLEY, B. & D. STANFORD. 2004, The North
Lapa Vermelha, Lagoa Santa, Brazil. Geoarchaeology
Atlantic ice-edge corridor: a possible Palaeolithic
25: 395–436.
route to the New World. World Archaeology 36:
459–78.

949
‘Simple’ need not mean ‘archaic’
GUEDES, C.C.F., A. SAWAKUCHI, P.C.F. GIANNINI, R. MELTZER, D.J., J.M. ADOVASIO & T.D. DILLEHAY.
DEWITT & V.A.P. AGUIAR. 2013. Luminescence 1994. On a Pleistocene human occupation at Pedra
characteristics of quartz from Brazilian sediments Furada, Brazil. Antiquity 68: 695–714.
and constraints for OSL dating. Anais da Academia MUNYIKWA, K., J.K. FEATHERS, T. RITTENOUR & H.K.
Brazileira de Ciências 85: 1303–16. SHRIMPTON. 2011. Constraining the chronology of
GUIDON, N. 1989. On stratigraphy and chronology at the Late Wisconsinan retreat of the Laurentide ice
Pedra Furada. Current Anthropology 30: 641–42. sheet from western Canada using luminescence ages
GUIDON, N. & G. DELIBRIAS. 1986. Carbon-14 dates of postglacial aeolian dune sequences. Quaternary
point to man in the Americas 32,000 years ago. Geochronology 6: 407–22.
Nature 321: 769–71. VIALOU, D., M. BENABDELHADI, J. FEATHERS, M.
KRIEGER, A.D. 1964. Early man in the New World, in FONTUGNE & A. VILHENA VIALOU. In preparation.
J.D. Jennings & E. Norbeck (ed.) Prehistoric man in Peopling in the South America’s center: Santa Elina
the New World: 23–84. Chicago (IL): University of (Brazil) a site in late Pleistocene.
Chicago Press. VILHENA VIALOU, A. (ed.). 2005. Pré-história do Mato
LAHAYE, C., M. HERNANDEZ, E. BOËDA, G.D. FELICE, Grosso Vol I—Santa Elina. São Paulo: Editora da
N. GUIDON, S. HOELTZ, A. LOURDEAU, M. PAGLI, Universidade de São Paulo.
A.-M. PESSIS, M. RASSE & S. VIANA. 2013. Human WAGUESPACK, N.M. & R.L. KELLY. 2014. An update
occupation in South America by 20,000 BC: the on New World colonization research: the
Toca da Tira Peia site, Piauı́, Brazil. Journal of Paleoamerican Odyssey conference. Evolutionary
Archaeological Science 40: 2840–47. Anthropology 23: 47–48.

Kjel Knutsson∗
Boëda et al.’s paper reports the results of an archaeological re-investigation in north-eastern

Brazil, an area where previous attempts to identify South American pioneer settlements
earlier than 14 000 cal BC have been disqualified and rejected. Not least have arguments
based on the analysis of lithics been questioned; as this paper makes clear, that is still
the case. Boëda and colleagues returned to this area to re-analyse the sequences discussed
previously through a new excavation. They have, to my mind, convincingly argued for the
presence of artefacts situated in a closed stratigraphic sequence extending as far back as
25 000 years. Within the excavated sediment a series of discrete layers with assumed quartz
and quartzite cobble and flake tools have been identified. I will not discuss further the
stratigraphic sequence: I assume it to be correctly dated and the chronological logic of the
sequence speaks in favour of that.
Since the dating of the sequence thus seems unproblematic, the key remaining problem
is one that is well known to archaeologists in general and to lithic analysts more specifically.
Underlying it is the social evolutionary thinking that permeates Western thinking, which was
shaped within the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century intellectual climate and which still,
after all these years, albeit mostly on an unconscious level, has consequences for archaeology;
simple technologies belong to archaic humans.
A second fundamental problem concerns the archaeological construction of data;
more specifically the long-standing conflict between the doxa of flint typologies and
a more dynamic view of technology which sees lithic assemblages as the result
∗
Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, Box 626, 751 26 Uppsala, Sweden

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Kjel Knutsson
of a sequence of manual acts, as illustrated by the debitage from the process of

production.
A third problem, familiar to the present author, concerns the clash between academic
traditions as they are reproduced within different university classrooms. Perhaps more
importantly, there is the conflict that arises when flint types hammered out over a century
of archaeological classification are used to classify and interpret assemblages of other raw
materials. This clash has become most obvious when ‘flint thinking’ is used to understand
quartz assemblages (see Knutsson 1998 for a discussion).
The problems discussed in the article and supplementary online material by Boëda and
his team illustrate all these points well and show that decades of archaeological work on
the lithic analysis of non-flint material has somehow gone unnoticed in some quarters. It
must be noted, however, that the controversy surrounding the origins of the first settlers of
the Americas has put a special strain on the researchers and the power of their transparent
analyses.
From this point of departure I offer comments on several of the themes raised in the
paper, keeping to my area of competence, lithic analysis. One of the problems encountered by
Boëda et al. and others in the region is the assumed ‘archaic character’ of quartz assemblages.
This is a universal problem related to the above-mentioned strands of evolutionary thinking
which are still part of Western thought. Quartz is the dominant edged-tool raw material
during the Stone Age in central and northern Scandinavia. The typical assemblage has low
formal variability and contains some bipolar cores or platform cores and a few ‘scrapers’.
At first glance it does indeed look simple and ‘archaic’. Fracture analysis (Callahan et al.
1992; Tallavaara et al. 2010) and use-wear analysis of unmodified flakes and flake fragments
(Knutsson 1988a) show, however, that a varied set of tools are to be found in the group of
informal ‘debitage’ that consists mostly of fragmented flakes (Knutsson 1988b; Knutsson &
Knutsson forthcoming). There are basically no formal tools; the sharp edge was the primary
Debate
selection criterion. Today we know through well preserved sites that the bone, antler and
wooden tools produced by these quartz-using societies were of the same technological and
formal quality as those among groups where flint was the dominant raw material for tools.
There is therefore nothing ‘archaic’ about non-formal quartz assemblages including cobbles
with flaked edges. In Scandinavia they are found throughout prehistory from probably
egalitarian hunter-gatherer groups in the Early Mesolithic to stratified societies in the Late
Neolithic.
Another classic question concerns embedded technologies. To put it simply, what do you
expect groups of prehistoric hunter-gatherers to do if flint or flint-like materials are not
available? As Boëda and his team suggest, why not use quartz instead? It is omnipresent in
most places on earth. Furthermore, that is also exactly what happened during the pioneering
colonisation of Scandinavia by groups of hunter-gatherers from the eastern European taiga
in the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene. They came with a tool set built upon a complex
pressure blade technology in flint, entering present-day Finland and the Fennoscandian
shield, an area devoid of naturally occurring flint but dominated by quartz (Rankama
& Kankaanpää 2011). Within a few centuries they had adapted to the local conditions
and built their entire edged-tool technology on a very simple flake technology in quartz
(Jussila et al. 2012). Quartz flakes are used in the same way as flint flakes are in the

951
rest of Scandinavia, often as insets in slotted bone points. Quartz is, to my knowledge,
therefore a perfect substitute for flint: you just have to look beyond the technology and
see what it actually was to be used for. There is no such thing as a ‘better material’
than quartz—it simply represents another way of making a stone tool. I am sure that
the inhabitants of Pedra Furada soon found out how to do it. I totally agree with the
arguments presented by the authors of this paper: if quartz is available, why not use it, it
works.
Quartz, as the authors observe, varies considerably in quality. Splitting beach nodules
or taking materials directly from the quartz vein does not normally yield good enough
material for creating strong and sharp edges on tools. As an experienced quartz knapper
I can testify that what began as a one-hour trip for knappable quartz to the nearest esker
normally ended as a tiresome quest over several days to find a good piece. It is not surprising
then that the quartz material found on excavated prehistoric sites is of perfect quality
for tool-making. It is obvious that the prehistoric tool makers have carefully selected the
material they used. Quartz is therefore not used by desperate people trying to survive
despite the lack of flint; it was systematically selected for and used by knowledgeable tool
makers.
Another issue raised by the authors concerns classification. How do you discriminate
between a naturally broken quartz cobble and the result of human production? Quartz is
hard to read even for a skilled lithic analyst (Callahan et al. 1992; Tallavaara et al. 2010).
It is even harder to convince non-specialists, as the authors of this paper have experienced.
Their discussion of taphonomy and technical analysis in the supplementary online material
is, in my view, well designed and convincing, since they compare the qualities of natural
cobbles with quartz from the individual layers in the sequence, the latter assumed to be of
human origin. The qualities indicating human manufacture are the character of the striking
platform, the number and contiguousness of the flake scars and the duration of the flaking
sequence indicated by the flake scars. Since the natural and human-worked quartz material
differs in these respects, the human origin of the assumed prehistoric tool material seems
obvious.
The study of bipolar anvil reduction, split cobbles and worked pebbles seems to be at an
early stage but adds to the general picture of human modification of the cobbles from the
different layers in the sequence. The final typological classification into pieces with different
edge qualities is reasonable, although hard to evaluate at this point. The illustrations help to
evaluate the feasibility of their arguments that show convincingly that the worked cobbles
must be the result of a planned sequence of gestures based on a mental template. The
secondarily modified flakes are mostly Siret flakes; that is, flakes split during knapping. This
may not necessarily be a systematic selection criterion: it is simply the way quartz naturally
fractures during knapping and thus there will be a high frequency of this type of flake in
the assemblage. Intact complete flakes are the exception. Microwear analysis of a number
of quartz assemblages from Sweden and Finland actually shows that these split flakes can
be used as knives, the right-angle break being a natural ‘backing’ (Knutsson & Knutsson
forthcoming).
The functional analysis further strengthens the argument that the tools are human-made,
but is hard to evaluate from the illustrations and details provided. The references to previous

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Kjel Knutsson
work on use-wear on quartz are very general in character and include partially incompatible
methods (the Keeley method and the Knutsson method). To evaluate the microwear analysis,
the micrographs must be presented at greater size than here, and the specific features used
in the argument must be identified and described in relation to relevant experimental
background material. From my experience of used, unused and weathered quartz, the
micrographs seem to illustrate strongly weathered surfaces, and it is difficult to distinguish
what might be the result of use and what is a result of weathering. To be of real value a
microwear analysis must follow basic principles of documentation, analysis and description.
This is not the case here.
To round off my comment, however, the microwear analysis is not essential to the
argument for the human origin of the quartz assemblage in layer 7 at Vale da Pedra Furada.
If the dating of this layer is correct, the authors have convincingly shown that South America
was already settled before 20 000 cal BC. . .by knowledgeable toolmakers.
References – 1998. Convention and lithic analysis, in J. Holm &

K. Knutsson (ed.) Proceedings from the Third Flint
CALLAHAN, E., L. FORSBERG, K. KNUTSSON & C.
Alternatives Conference at Uppsala, Sweden, October
LINDGREN. 1992. Frakturbilder. Kulturhistoriska
18–20, 1996 (Occasional Papers in Archaeology
kommentarer till kvarts säregna sönderfall vid
16): 71–93. Uppsala: Department of Archaeology
bearbetning. Tor 24: 27–63.
and Ancient History, Uppsala University.
JUSSILA, T., A. KRIISKA & Y. ROSTEDT. 2012. Saarenoja
KNUTSSON, H. & K. KNUTSSON. Forthcoming.
2—an early Mesolithic site in south-eastern
Hunter-gatherer responses to raw material variation
Finland: preliminary results and interpretations of
during the pioneer settlement of northern
studies conducted in 2000 and 2008–10.
Fennoscandia. Journal of Lithic Technology.
Fennoscandia Archaeologica XXIX: 3–27.
RANKAMA, T. & J. KANKAANPÄÄ. 2011. First evidence of
KNUTSSON, K. 1988a. Patterns of tool use. Scanning
eastern Preboreal pioneers in arctic Finland and
electron microscopy of experimental quartz tools (Aun
Norway. Quartär 2011: 183–209.
10). Uppsala: Societas Archaeologica Upsaliensis.
TALLAVAARA, M., M.A. MANNINEN, E. HERTELL & T.
– 1988b. Making and using stone tools. The analysis of the
RANKAMA. 2010. How flakes shatter: a critical
lithic assemblages from Middle Neolithic sites with
Debate
evaluation of quartz fracture analysis. Journal of
flint in Västerbotten, northern Sweden (Aun 11).
Archaeological Science 37: 2442–48.
Uppsala: Societas Archaeologica Upsaliensis.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2010.05.005

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The peopling of South America
The peopling of South America:

expanding the evidence
Eric Boëda1 , Christelle Lahaye2 , Gisele Daltrini Felice3,4 ,
Niède Guidon3 , Sirlei Hoeltz5 , Antoine Lourdeau1,6 ,
Anne-Marie Pessis3,6 , Sibeli Viana7 , Ignacio Clemente-Conte8 ,
Mario Pino9 , Michel Fontugne10 , Marina Pagli1 & Amélie Da Costa1
The objective of the Franco-Brazilian mission, established in 2008 at the request of and
in collaboration with Brazilian researchers, was to address the issue of the earliest peopling
of South America as evidenced in north-eastern Brazil. Such early settlement had been
suggested, and in our view demonstrated, by the previous research undertaken at the site of
Boqueirão da Pedra Furada. Yet like any discovery, this occurred at a particular point in the
history of research. Its acceptance depends on many factors that have often been difficult to
accommodate as the evidence has unfolded. Still more fundamental has been the reasoned
argument presented by the discoverers, since that is the basis of knowledge. The increasing
number of sites and the conjunction of multiple approaches—stratigraphic, taphonomic,
experimental, technological and functional—play a key role in the construction of this
argument. Whether or not it is accepted will be part of the history of science. With the sites
of Boqueirão, Sı́tio do Meio, Tira Peia and now Vale, we know that the settlement of this
region of Piauı́ began more than 20–25 000 years ago, and occupation persisted throughout
the entire Holocene period. When the data from these sites are compared with those from
Santa Elina in the Mato Grosso, the antiquity of human settlement is confirmed and the
area occupied at this early period is expanded.
Another step has been taken; further steps must clearly follow in order to advance
further. We now need to orient our questions differently by addressing behavioural issues.
1
UMR 7041 CNRS ArScAn–AnTET, Université Paris X, Maison de l’Archéologie et de l’Ethnologie, 21 allée de
l’Université, 92023 Nanterre, France
2
Université Bordeaux-Montaigne, UMR 5060 IRAMAT-CRP2A, Institut de Recherche sur les Archéomatériaux,
Maison de l’Archéologie, Esplanade des Antilles, 33607 Pessac, France
3
Fundação Museu do Homem Americano (FUMDHAM), Centro Cultural Sérgio Motta s/n, Bairro Campestre,
São Raimundo Nonato – PI, 64770-000, Brazil
4
Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco (UNIVASF), Campus Serra da Capivara, Rua João Ferreira dos
Santos, S/N, Bairro Campestre, São Raimundo Nonato –PI, 64770-000, Brazil
5
Archaeo: Pesquisas Arqueológicas, Av. Carandaı́ 99, Parque Georgia, Cuiabá – MT, 78085-485, Brazil
6
Departamento de Arqueologia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Av. Prof. Moraes Rego 1235, Cidade
Universitária, Recife – PE, 50670-901, Brazil
7
Instituto Goiano de Pré-História e Antropologia, Pontificia Universidade Católitica de Goiás, Av. Universitária
1.440, Setor Universitário, Goiânia – GO, 74605-010, Brazil
8
Departamento de Arqueologı́a y Antropologı́a, IMF-CSIC, Calle Egipcı́aques 15, Barcelona 08001, Spain
9
Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Edificio Emilio Pugı́n, Avenida
Eduardo Morales Miranda, Campus Isla Teja, Valdivia, Chile
10
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, UMR 8212 CNRS-CEA-UVSQ, Domaine du
CNRS, 91198 Gif sur Yvette, France

954
Eric Boëda et al.
Future fieldwork, by enlarging the excavated areas exposed at the sites, will focus on
the patterns of occupation seen in each archaeological horizon. The functions, activities
and spatial patterns of occupation are all issues that will be addressed by our team
in the future. Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction will be a priority, especially since the
results of functional use-wear analysis clearly shows (as expected) an interaction between
tools and animals and plants. Reconstructing modes of tool production and use through
experimentation is a line of research that we have followed for several years. Quartz is a
complex material that was subject to technological investment at different places and times,
but simply to state that is not enough. Broader comparative analysis of this technological
phenomenon is needed to recognise that more than one technological option or process
exists.
In reality, the discussion of quartz focuses the question on one point that is certainly
important, but not crucial. The underlying and more significant question concerns the
concept of cobbles—their form and volume, and the ways in which natural features of the
raw material may have been incorporated in reduction sequences leading to tool production.
This is essentially a qualitative question that requires technological and technical analysis that
cannot be reduced to simple numbers and graphs. The cobble conceived as a tool-producing
matrix becomes a technological solution with its own potential for variability and its own
constraints. It is thus not only a technological option, but becomes a structuring element in
the knowledge of a human group. Recent analyses, such as those undertaken by a member
of our team in the Palestina region in the state of Goı́as, have identified technological
behaviours identical to those seen in the Holocene. The technological tradition of the Final
Pleistocene industries in our study region is thus not unique, but rather is one possibility
among many and was shared by other groups. In reality, these industries are set apart only
by their age. It is clear that the number of absolute dates will increase and the chronology
will be further refined, but henceforth the data go beyond the old paradigm. Our next
Debate
challenge is to describe more fully the technological and behavioural facies of the earliest
human populations in South America.

955

A New Late Pleistocene Archaeological Sequence in South America - The Vale Da Pedra Furada

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A new late Pleistocene archaeological

sequence in South America: the Vale da

The date of the first settlement of the Americas

Figure 1. Location of Vale da Pedra Furada and adjacent sites.

Excavations at Vale da Pedra Furada in 2011

The lithic assemblage

References BOËDA, E., G.D. FELICE, M. FONTUGNE, S. HOELTZ, A.

Standards and expectations

References GUIDON, N., F. PARENTI, M.F. DA LUZ, C. GUÉRIN &

More of the same

References GUIDON, N., A.-M. PESSIS, F. PARENTI, M. FONTUGNE

New World, new models

References CARBONELL, E., R. SALA RAMOS, X.P. RODRÍGUEZ, M.

References BUENO, L., J. FEATHERS & P. DE BLASIS. 2013. The

‘Simple’ need not mean ‘archaic’

Boëda et al.’s paper reports the results of an archaeological re-investigation in north-eastern

of a sequence of manual acts, as illustrated by the debitage from the process of

References – 1998. Convention and lithic analysis, in J. Holm &

The peopling of South America:

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