The Serra da Capivara area and the first settlements in South America: A bibliographical review

Abstract

The Serra da Capivara area (Piauí, Brazil) is famous among archaeologists, mainly because of the controversy over the Pedra Furada shelter and its dates from the upper Pleistocene, making it one of the oldest sites in the Americas. The data from this site undoubtedly contributed to discussions about the settlement processes on the continent. On the other hand, the concentration of attention on this site and the resulting debates overshadowed numerous investigations in the Serra da Capivara, wich provided an impressive amount of data on the first human occupations in a variety of knowledge areas. This article reviews the literature to summarize the results of this research on the contexts and behaviors of the human groups that occupied the region during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene showing how the prehistory of Serra da Capivara dialogues with the overarching themes related to the settlement of the Americas and makes a relevant contribution on these issues, at the macro-regional and continental levels.