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The El Gigante Rockshelter: Preliminary Observations on an Early to Late Holocene Occupation in Southern Honduras

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Timothy E. Scheffler ,
Kenneth G. Hirth  and
George Hasemann
Timothy E. Scheffler
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Hawai’i, Hilo, HI 96720 ([email protected])
Kenneth G. Hirth
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, 409 Carpenter Building, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 ([email protected])
George Hasemann
Affiliation:
Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia, Tegucigalpa, Honduras (deceased)
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Abstract

La cueva de El Gigante en las tierras altas de Honduras fue ocupada tan temprano como 10,000 años a.P. y da información previamente desconocida sobre la prehistoria de Honduras. Las condiciones climáticas secas resultan en una excelente preservación de esta área residencial. Las excavaciones documentaron una clara secuencia de ocho estratos culturales bien definidos que contienen hogares, así como depósitos densos de lítica, y restos microbotánicos y faunísticos. Basándose en métodos de fechamiento de radiocarbon convencional y AMS, se identificaron tres horizontes culturales distintos. La ocupación más antigua es de la fase Esperanza, la cual representa ocupación del Arcaico Temprano que se extiende entre 10,040–9100 a.P. La segunda es la fase Marcala que corresponde al periodo Arcaico Medio, entre 7350–6050 a.P. La tercera y más reciente ocupación en estas cuevas es en la fase Estanzuela, entre 3900–1500 a.P. El Gigante fue usado como residencia durante los dos periodos del Arcaico. Varias puntas de proyectil largas fueron recuperadas en niveles estratigráficos claramente identificados como del Paleoindio. El examen de los datos faunísticos muestra que, mientras disminuyen los huesos de mamíferos grandes, aumentan los de mamíferos de menor tamaño y los de animales no mamíferos. Una gran cantidad de maíz (Zea sp.) está presente en el sitio durante el periodo Estanzuela. La variedad de materiales de comida encontrados entre la transición sugiere el mantenimiento a largo plazo de una amplitud dietética en el contexto de una economía flexible y mezclada. El Gigante es un sitio que revela información clave en relación a la colonización inicial de Centroamérica y la incorporación de especies domesticadas dentro de una base de forrajeo que acompaña a la transición a la agricultura.

Abstract

Abstract

The El Gigante rockshelter in highland Honduras was occupied as early as 10,000 years B.P. and provides information previously lacking about the earliest periods of Honduran and Central American prehistory. Three distinct cultural horizons were identified and dated at the site using conventional and accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dates that correspond to the Early Archaic, the Middle Archaic, and the Formative to Classic periods. Dry conditions within the rockshelter resulted in excellent archaeological preservation across all time periods. Excavations documented a clear sequence of residential activity represented by well-defined cultural strata containing hearth and pit features as well as dense deposits of lithic, macrobotanical, and faunal remains. The variety of food items found throughout the transition from foraging to food production suggests the long-term maintenance of diet breadth in the context of a mixed and flexible subsistence economy. The El Gigante site reveals key information regarding the early occupation of Central America, the flora and fauna resources used by middle Holocene foragers, and the domesticated plant species cultivated during the late Holocene occupation of the rockshelter.

Type
Themed Reports Section: Caves and Rockshelters
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , December 2012 , pp. 597 - 610
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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