Depositional Contexts and New Age Controls for Terminal-Pleistocene Megafauna in North-central Chile (31°50′S)

ABSTRACT Sites in north-central Chile have yielded late-Pleistocene megafauna bone remains, occasionally associated with human-made artifacts. However, little is known about the depositional characteristics, the conditions that allow their preservation, and how to identify recurrences facilitating their discovery. This work presents contextual and stratigraphic data, coupled with radiocarbon dates on bone material from surface findings and excavations conducted in Los Vilos (Coquimbo, Chile), which show that this area was rich in Pleistocene terrestrial mammals and that alluvial sequences and dunes have allowed bone preservation and exposure. These results have implications for the search for new evidence and for the interpretation of their historical trajectories. Radiometric age distribution indicates mainly terminal-Pleistocene specimens with the potential of some taxa persisting into the Holocene. These results are used to discuss coexistence and interaction scenarios between extinct faunas and the early record of human beings in the region.