The scarcity of middle Holocene radiocarbon dates in different regions of the Andes has been interpreted as an indicator of discontinuity in human occupations in response to adverse environmental conditions due to marked aridity. In the subtropical Andes of north-central Chile and adjacent areas, this paucity has been detected in radiocarbon ages between 8000 and 6000 cal BP. A systematic programme of cave excavations with detailed chronologies in the Combarbalá area in the Andean western foothills at 31°S allows questioning the role these spaces and ecosystems played for hunter-gatherers throughout the Holocene. The elusive record of dateable material has been addressed by excavating deposits under rock-shelters which tend to trap sedimentary material. This dataset has been compared with the available climate records and shows a collation between the onset of various site chronologies during the early-to-middle Holocene and periods of extreme aridity. The organization of mobility and the role of Andean foothills for hunter-gatherer settlements is reviewed. Resource availability in the area, namely fresh water supply, good-quality toolstones, faunal resources, and shelters, attracted mobile populations to these environments as indicated by our records as well as others in the broader region.

安第斯山脉不同区域中全新世放射性碳年代的稀缺已被解释为由于干旱引起的不利环境条件导致人类职业不连续的一种指示。在智利中北部和邻近地区的亚热带安第斯山脉，这种稀疏性在8000至6000 cal BP的放射性碳年龄中被检测到。在31°S的安第斯山西丘陵地带Combarbalá地区进行的有洞察的系统挖掘计划，按时间先后，使人们质疑这些空间和生态系统对于整个全新世的狩猎采集者所起的作用。难以捉摸的过时材料记录已经通过在倾向于捕获沉积物的岩石防护棚下挖掘沉积物来解决。该数据集已与可用的气候记录进行了比较，并显示了全新世早期至中期和极端干旱时期各种地点年代的发作。审查了流动性的组织和安第斯山麓地区在猎人-采集者聚居地的作用。如我们的记录所示，该地区的可用资源，即淡水供应，优质的工具石，动植物资源和庇护所，吸引了流动人口到这些环境中，以及其他地区的其他人。