Abstract

We present bio-indicators of navigation and oceanic hunting practices during the Middle Holocene (ca. 7,000 cal BP) in the arid coast of Taltal, northern Chile. Based on the analyses of ichthyologic remains from the Agua Dulce site we identified large-sized epipelagic fish: swordfish (Xiphias gladius), marlin (Istiophoridae), and two shark species (Notorynchus cepedianus and Galeorhinus galeus), recorded at four occupational moments of the stratigraphic sequence of the Middle Archaic in the arid coast. Similar evidence has been detected at other local contemporary sites (Zapatero, Caleta Bandurrias, Cachinales). This would imply that, since early times, coastal populations had access to new eco-anthropic spaces by means of some sort of vessel, as part of their specialized adaptive system for exploitation of marine resources. Open sea hunting of large epipelagic fish would have developed in the context of increasing social complexity of local hunter-gatherer-fisher populations.