ABSTRACT

Paleoindian research in Central America remains a nascent field of study even as significant progress has been made nearby in Mexico and further south in Panama and much of South America. Only a single Paleoindian site, Los Tapiales, has been excavated in Guatemala. This research investigated a previously recorded site that contains Pleistocene megafaunal remains and from which a fluted lanceolate projectile point has been recovered. Although Los Tapiales is the best-reported Paleoindian site from Guatemala, the quality of the radiocarbon technique available to researchers at the time poses problems for contemporary interpretations of the site's record. The fieldwork consisted of three principal tasks: pedestrian reconnaissance, geomorphological mapping, and stratigraphic description and sampling. Multidisciplinary work at Chivacabe was conducted from late-2008 to early-2009 with the objective of investigating a possible terminal Pleistocene archaeological deposit with megafauna associations.