Abstract

This paper presents the results of the guided search of early open-air evidence framed within a program for assessing potential surfaces for human occupations during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition and the early Holocene. We studied selected areas of the steppe located east of the Andes of central-western Patagonia. The new findings are surface concentrations of lithic material in the Cisnes and Nirehuao river valleys. The data is discussed in a regional frame with the purpose of showing new aspects to consider within the alternatives offered by surface material and open-air contexts.