Humans of the Andes domesticate quinoa
Quinoa was first domesticated by Andean peoples around 3,000 to 4,000 years ago and has been an important staple in the Andean cultures.
South America
Humans settled near Lake Titicaca domesticate the potato
Various cultures of indigenous peoples in Bolivia developed in the high altitude settings of altiplano, where they coped with low oxygen levels, poor soils and extreme weather patterns.
Humans create “Cave of the Hands” in modern-day Argentina
An important site of prehistoric art in southern Argentina, Cueva de las Manos is a rock shelter which is famous for its collages of hand stencils and other handprints.
Humans of ancient Brazil independently invent pottery
The earliest pottery ever found in the Western Hemisphere, radiocarbon-dated 8,000 years old, has been excavated in the Amazon basin of Brazil, near Santarém, providing evidence to overturn the assumption that the tropical forest region was too poor in resources to have supported a complex prehistoric culture.
The ancient people of South America independently invent clothing
Guitarrero Cave has evidence of human use around 8,000 B.C.E. In the 1960s, archeologists discovered artifacts in an extraordinary state of preservation at the site. Remarkably, textiles, wood and leather tools, and basketry have been preserved intact.
The Eldoradense culture emerges in modern-day Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina, near Iguazú Falls
The area surrounding Iguazu Falls was inhabited 10,000 years ago by the hunter-gatherers of the Eldoradense culture.
Humans settle in the high Andes
Comparing these DNA sequences revealed that the Andes’ lowland and highland peoples split about 8,750 years ago, give or take a few centuries.
Agriculture develops independently in the Americas
Agriculture arose independently in at least three regions: South America, Mesoamerica, and eastern North America.
Humans reach and settle Patagonia, the southern tip of South America in modern-day Argentina
Prehistory in the present territory of Argentina began with the first human settlements on the southern tip of Patagonia around 13,000 years ago.
The Aónikenk people emerge in modern-day Argentina
The Aónikenk people, better known by the exonym Tehuelche, are a group of indigenous peoples of Patagonia. They are widely believed to be the basis for the Patagones described by European explorers.