Pilauco: A Late Pleistocene Archaeo-paleontological Site

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. Pilauco and Los Notros Sites Research: A Narration of Human and Scientific Events

   • Mario Pino

   Pages 1-11

3. From Gondwana to the Great American Biotic Interchange: The Birth of South American Fauna

   • Martín F. Chávez Hoffmeister

   Pages 13-32

4. Geology, Stratigraphy, and Chronology of the Pilauco Site

   • Mario Pino, Alejandra Martel-Cea, Rodrigo M. Vega, Daniel Fritte, Karin Soto-Bollmann

   Pages 33-53

5. The Proboscidean Gomphotheres (Mammalia, Gomphotheriidae) from Southernmost South America

   • Omar P. Recabarren

   Pages 55-68

6. The Camelids (Artiodactyla: Camelidae) and Equids (Perissodactyla: Equidae) from the Pilauco Site, Northwestern Chilean Patagonia

   • Rafael Labarca

   Pages 69-94

7. Sporormiella Fungal Spores as a Proxy for Megaherbivore Abundance and Decline at Pilauco

   • Mario Pino, Nathalie Cossio-Montecinos, Benazzir Pinto

   Pages 95-109

8. Micromammals (Mammal: Rodentia) from Pilauco: Identification and Environmental Considerations

   • Patricia Canales-Brellenthin

   Pages 111-121

9. Taphonomy of the Pilauco Site, Northwestern Chilean Patagonia

   • Rafael Labarca

   Pages 123-156

10. Vegetation–Climate–Megafauna Interactions During the Late Glacial in Pilauco Site, Northwestern Patagonia

    • Ana M. Abarzúa, Alejandra Martel-Cea, Viviana Lobos

    Pages 157-173

11. Diatoms: Microalgae from Pilauco

    • Leonora Jarpa-Mateluna

    Pages 175-182

12. Phytolith Analysis from Coprolites of Pilauco

    • Valentina Álvarez-Barra

    Pages 183-193

13. Fossil Coleoptera from the Pilauco Site: An Approach to Late Pleistocene Microenvironments

    • Francisco Tello, Fernanda Torres

    Pages 195-212

14. Coprolites as Proxies for Paleoparasitology at Pilauco

    • Leonora Salvadores-Cerda, Felipe Ramírez-Mercado

    Pages 213-230

15. The Site Los Notros: Geology and First Taxonomic Descriptions

    • María Paz Lira, Rafael Labarca, Daniel Fritte, Hugo Oyarzo, Mario Pino

    Pages 231-248

16. Evidence from Pilauco, Chile Suggests a Catastrophic Cosmic Impact Occurred Near the Site ∼12,800 Years Ago

    • Allen West, Ted Bunch, Malcolm A. Lecompte, Víctor Adedeji, Christopher R. Moore, Wendy S. Wolbach

    Pages 249-270

17. The Cultural Materials from Pilauco and Los Notros Sites

    • Ximena Navarro-Harris, Mario Pino, Pedro Guzman-Marín

    Pages 271-316

18. Planning and Managing a Palaeontological Tourism Destination: The Case of Pilauco-Osorno, Chile

    • Silvia Constabel, Katerina Veloso

    Pages 317-332

19. The Pilauco and Los Notros Sites: A Final Discussion

    • Mario Pino

    Pages 333-340

20. Back Matter

    Pages 341-343

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This volume combines 10 years of accomplished research at the Pilauco site. The studies are focused on a variety of scientific areas including geological, sedimentological, geomorphological and paleobotanical topics, as well as paleontology of vertebrata and invertebrata, micropaleontology, archaeology, biochemistry, taxonomy, taphonomy, astrophysics  and the development of some particular touristic aspects. In 18 chapters a variety of authors describe the excavation and investigation of this unique location.

The book presents Pilauco as an example for the natural laboratory which can be found in South America, a testing ground for many of the hypotheses regarding migrations of animals and humans. In this context the study of topics, such as the paleozoography, the role of megafauna species for the architecture of the forests, the animal extinctions or the early human settlements, is extremely important on a global scale.

The Pilauco site features paleontological and archaeological evidences and is contemporaneous with the Monte Verde site (~ 15,000 cal. yr AP). It is located 100 km north from Monte Verde and lies within the Intermediate Depression in northwestern Chilean Patagonia. It was discovered by chance in 1986 and has been excavated and investigated since 2007.

• Late Pleiostene Paleontological Site
• Chilean Northern Patagonia
• Natural Laboratory
• Settlement in the Americas
• Paleozoography
• Los Notros
• South American Fauna
• Pilauco Bajo

• Facultad de Ciencias, Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile

  Mario Pino , Giselle A. Astorga

Mario Pino was born in 1952. He studied geology at the University of Chile, Santiago de Chile, between 1970 and 1975. He joined the Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh) in 1977. He obtained Dr.rer. nat. Degree at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster in 1987. He has been a Full Professor since 1997. His main research issue is geoarchaeology, and he has worked as a geologist in sites in Peru, Brazil and Chile, including Quereo, Monte Verde and Pilauco. He has held various academic management positions like Department Chairman and Dean of the Sciences Faculty. Since 2016 is a corresponding member in the Academy of Sciences of Chile He currently teaches General Geology, Sedimentary Petrology, Pleistocene, Holocene, Anthropocene? and Sedimentology.
Dr. Giselle Astorga is a keen palaeobotanist and scientific Chilean explorer. She did her honors thesis at Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh) working with plant macrofossils from an Eemian interglacial deposit in south-central Chile.During her Ph.D. in Tasmania-Australia, Dr. Astorga developed a deep interest on studying plant macrofossils assemblages to assist Lateglacial - Holocene vegetation reconstructions in southern latitudes.  She is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at Instituto Ciencias de la Tierra (UACh) working with leaf-cuticles to complement pollen investigations in southern Chile. Since 2016 she has been active research collaborator at Pilauco, guest lecturer of the Master of Palaeontology program at Universidad Austral de Chile and recently appointed accredited Associated Professor of the program.

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