Climate change and human settlement around the late-glacial laguna De Punta Negra,northern Chile: The preliminary results

Major bodies of fresh water are extremely scarce in the dry Atacama region. Unlike the Salar de Atacama, which has no outlet, the Salar de Punta Negra (24$ 35′ S, 3000 m elevation) used to spill north into the Atacama drainage. Archaeological survey of the beaches and spillway above today's salar indicates late-glacial human use of the 800 km² lake and environs under a contrasting climate regime. The histories and water budgets of the Pleistocene lakes of the south-central Andes are not well understood, but archaeological data can be interpreted to support (1) hypotheses that would bring westerly storm tracks and winter rain further north 14,000 to 10,000 B.P., especially if accompanied by increasing warmth for part of the period, and/or (2) theories of orbital variation, increased summer insolation, and strengthened monsoons that would provide generally increased rainfall at the Tropics 10,000 to 9000 B.P. Archaeological, paleoclimatological, and geomorphological studies come together to show how this large lake could be a focus of human activity from the time of first settlement of the Atacama region.