Taima-Taima is a

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division ...

archaeological site located about 20 kilometers east of

Santa Ana de Coro Coro is the capital of Falcón, Falcón State and the second oldest city in Venezuela (after Cumaná). It was founded on July 26, 1527, by Juan de Ampíes as Santa Ana de Coro. It was historically known as Neu-Augsburg (from 1528 to 1546) by the ...

, in the

Falcón Falcón State (, ) is one of the 23 States of Venezuela, states of Venezuela. The state capital is Coro, Venezuela, Coro. The state was named after Juan Crisóstomo Falcón. History Early history Present day Falcón State was first explored ...

State of

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. The human settlement at Taima-Taima started about 14,000 years ago.

History of research

The site was investigated starting in 1964 by José Cruxent (1911-2005), Alan Bryan, Rodolfo Casamiquela, Ruth Gruhn, and Claudio Ochsenius. The earliest human occupation goes back to 14,200-12,980 years ago. This indicates a pre-Clovis settlement of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

; the site is used as evidence for people arriving to South America earlier than previously believed. Cruxent discovered a ''

Notiomastodon ''Notiomastodon'' is an extinct genus of gomphothere proboscidean (related to modern elephants), endemic to South America from the Pleistocene to the early Holocene. ''Notiomastodon'' specimens reached a size similar to that of the modern Asian ...

'' pelvic bone that was pierced by a stone spearpoint. Geological and

radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...

of the find both indicate the date of 13,000 BP (11,000 BC). Fossils of ''

Xenorhinotherium ''Xenorhinotherium'' is an extinct genus of macraucheniine macraucheniids, native to northern South America during the Pleistocene and Holocene epoch, closely related to ''Macrauchenia'' of Patagonia. The type species is ''X. bahiense''.

'' (an extinct animal similar to

camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

s), dating from the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

Epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided b ...

, have been found in Taima-Taima. Other such finds were made in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, and also in Venezuela in the localities of Muaco, and Cuenca del Lago.

El Jobo projectile points

At Taima-Taima, José Cruxent discovered El Jobo

projectile point In archaeological terminology, a projectile point is an object that was hafted to a weapon that was capable of being thrown or projected, such as a javelin, dart, or arrow. They are thus different from weapons presumed to have been kept in the ...

s, which are believed to be the earliest such artefacts in South America, going back to 16,000 BP. This was a major discovery in

Paleoindian Paleo-Indians were the first peoples who entered and subsequently inhabited the Americas towards the end of the Late Pleistocene period. The prefix ''paleo-'' comes from . The term ''Paleo-Indians'' applies specifically to the lithic period in ...

archaeology. The bi-pointed El Jobo points were found in the valley of

Pedregal River Pedregal River is a river of northern Venezuela. It flows into the Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest ...

, and were mostly distributed in north-western Venezuela; from the

Gulf of Venezuela The Gulf of Venezuela is a gulf of the Caribbean Sea bounded by the Venezuelan states of Zulia and Falcón and by La Guajira Department, Colombia. The western side is formed by the Guajira Peninsula. A strait connects it with Maracaibo Lake to ...

to the high mountains and valleys. The population using them were hunter-gatherers that seemed to remain within a certain circumscribed territory.Oliver, J.R., Alexander, C.S. (2003). Ocupaciones humanas del Plesitoceno terminal en el Occidente de Venezuela. Maguare, 17 83-246 El Jobo points were probably used for hunting large mammals. The Joboid series of points have been grouped into four successive complexes. The earliest was ''Camare'', then ''Las Lagunas'', ''El Jobo'', and ''Las Casitas''. The Camare and Las Lagunas complexes lack stone projectile points. The Camare tool complex has been dated to 22,000-20,000 years ago. El Jobo tool complex has been dated to 16,000-9,000 years ago.

Notes

Bibliography

*Ochsenius, C. and R. Gruhn, eds. (1979) ''Taima-taima. A Late Paleo-Indian Kill Site in Northernmost South America''. Final Reports of the 1976 Excavations. CIPICS/South American Quaternary Documentation Program. Printed in the Federal Republic of Germany (includes chapters by J. M. Cruxent, A. L. Bryan, R. Gruhn, R. M. Casimiquiela and C. Ochsenius) *Jaimes Queros, A. (2003) ''El Vano, una nueva localidad paleo-india en el nor-occidente de Venezuela''. Maguaré No. 17, pp. 46–64. Gerardo Ardila Calderón, ed. Revista del Departamento de Antropología de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Bogotá Colombia. *Oliver, J.R., Alexander, C.S. (2003). Ocupaciones humanas del Plesitoceno terminal en el Occidente de Venezuela. Maguare, 17 83-246

External links

*José R. Oliver
Implications of Taima-Taima and the peopling of Northern South America
{{Authority control Archaeological sites in Venezuela Rock art in South America Paleontology in Venezuela Pre-Clovis archaeological sites in the Americas Pleistocene paleontological sites of South America

History of research

El Jobo projectile points

See also

Notes

Bibliography

External links