Human dispersal and climatic conditions during Late Pleistocene times in Fuego-Patagonia

A brief review of the evidences for a Late Glacial cooling episode in Fuego-Patagonia and of the arguments used to suggest or reject the existence of a Younger Dryas Chronozone is presented. From this review it becomes clear that harsher climatic conditions were characteristic of at least several centuries during Late Glacial times. However, the timing and magnitude of that episode is difficult to establish due to scale and sampling problems resulting from the use of data obtained by different disciplines. This review is followed by a discussion of the implications of this deterioration for human occupation, which was in the process of initial installation in selected regions of Fuego-Patagonia. (C) 1998 INQUA/Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.