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Science 19 April 1996:
Vol. 272. no. 5260, pp. 373 - 384
DOI: 10.1126/science.272.5260.373
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Articles

Paleoindian Cave Dwellers in the Amazon: The Peopling of the Americas

A. C. Roosevelt, * M. Lima da Costa, C. Lopes Machado, M. Michab, N. Mercier, H. Valladas, J. Feathers, W. Barnett, M. Imazio da Silveira, A. Henderson, J. Sliva, B. Chernoff, D. S. Reese, J. A. Holman, N. Toth, K. Schick

A Paleoindian campsite has been uncovered in stratified prehistoric deposits in Caverna da Pedra Pintada at Monte Alegre in the Brazilian Amazon. Fifty-six radiocarbon dates on carbonized plant remains and 13 luminescence dates on lithics and sediment indicate a late Pleistocene age contemporary with North American Paleoindians. Paintings, triangular bifacial spear points, and other tools in the cave document a culture distinct from North American cultures. Carbonized tree fruits and wood and faunal remains reveal a broad-spectrum economy of humid tropical forest and riverine foraging. The existence of this and related cultures east of the Andes changes understanding of the migrations and ecological adaptations of early foragers.

A. C. Roosevelt is with the Field Museum, Chicago, IL 60605, and the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA. M. Lima da Costa is with Geociencias, Universidade Federal do Pará, C.P. 1611, CEP 66000 Belém, PA, Brazil. C. Lopes Machado is with the Reserva Florestal de Linhares, Br 101-KM 122, C.P. 91, CEP 29900-970, Linhares, ES, Brazil. M. Michab, N. Mercier, and H. Valladas are with the Centre de Faibles Radioactivités, Laboratoire mixte CNRS-CEA, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91198, Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France. J. Feathers is with the Luminescence Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. W. Barnett is with Interdepartmental Laboratories, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA. M. Imazio da Silveira is with the Universidade de São Paulo and Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi (MPEG), C.P. 399, CEP 66000, Belém, PA, Brazil. A. Henderson is with the Institute of Systematic Botany, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458-5126, USA. J. Sliva is with the Center for Desert Archaeology, 3975 North Tucson Boulevard, Tucson, AZ 85716, USA. B. Chernoff is with the Ichthyology Department and D. S. Reese is with the Anthropology Department, Field Museum, Chicago, IL 60605, USA. J. A. Holman is with the Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. N. Toth and K. Schick are with Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47408, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.


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