https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683618810407 The Holocene 1–18 © The Author(s) 2018 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0959683618810407 journals.sagepub.com/home/hol Introduction In the last years, attention on the interplay between archeologi- cal and environmental processes has been focused on the com- plex paleoclimate–ecosystems–human interactions avoiding lineal correlations. This approach allows us to understand the complexity and diversity of ecosystems and of human responses to a range of paleoclimatic changes that may present different causes, onsets, durations, and magnitude (Birks et al., 2015). Multidisciplinary studies that contribute with ample and accu- rate data, adjusted chronologies, and clear spatial correlation are necessary to address the intricate relationships among human, environment, and climate, at different spatial and tem- poral scales. In the Pampean plain of Argentina, there are few studies that integrated archeological, sedimentological, geomorphological, and biological evidences, and those were made mainly in the southeastern sector (e.g. Gutiérrez et al., 2011; Martínez et al., 2013; Martínez and Martínez, 2011). Particularly, in the aeolian landscapes of central Pampas previous archeological research mostly devoid of detailed geomorphological and paleoecological analysis to relate the human occupations with environmental changes (Ávila, 2011; Curtoni, 2007; Heider, 2015; Mendonça et al., 2013; Oliva et al., 2015, among others). In these aeolian landscapes, archeological investigations were developed to understand the processes of changes and continuities of the social practices in hunter-gatherer societies. It is known that these inhabitants occupied this area, at least, from ca. 10,000 cal. yr BP (Politis et al., 2012) and during the Holocene (Ávila, 2011; Messineo et al., 2018; Oliva et al., 2015; Scheifler et al., 2017). These human Human occupation strategies and related environmental-climate during the middle and late Holocene in central Pampas of Argentina Pablo G Messineo, 1 Marcela S Tonello, 2 Silvina Stutz, 2 Alfonsina Tripaldi, 3,4 Nahuel Scheifler, 1 Nélida Pal, 5 Guillermina Sánchez Vuichard 2 and Diego Navarro 2 Abstract The main objective of this work is to generate and integrate interpretations of human occupation strategies and inferences of the environmental-climatic conditions in the central Pampas during the middle and late Holocene. We present a novel archeological–geological–paleoecological analysis in the area of the Cabeza de Buey lake, placed in an aeolian landscape. During the middle Holocene, two events of human occupations were recognized at Laguna Cabeza de Buey 2 archeological site. Both events present a small amount of lithic materials, a low diversity of tools and activities developed with them (principally hard material), and the hunting and primary processing of artiodactyls. These evidences suggest a locus of specific activity associated with an ephemeral human settlement under climate conditions drier than present and the presence of small, brackish, and shallow water bodies. For the late late Holocene, the hunter-gatherer occupation has a higher depositional rate of lithic assemblage, stones with diverse origins, presence of pottery fragments, a great lithic tool diversity, knapping techniques, and activities developed with these tools (processing wood, bone, hide, non-woody plant, and soft material). These evidences reveal an occupation with a higher degree of recurrence represented by a locus of multiple activities associated with a more stable landscape, such as an environment of dunes fixed by grass vegetation, and the establishment of a permanent water body. The different environmental characteristics for the middle and late Holocene in this area promoted that human groups develop two different patterns of mobility, settlement and use of space. Keywords aeolian landscape, human occupations, hunter-gatherers, late Holocene, middle Holocene, multiproxy, shallow lakes Received 18 April 2018; revised manuscript accepted 23 September 2018 1 INCUAPA–CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina 2 Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMYC), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, CONICET. Mar del Plata, Argentina 3 Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina 4 CONICET–Universidad de Buenos Aires and Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires (IGEBA), Argentina 5 Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas (CADIC–CONICET), Argentina Corresponding author: Pablo G Messineo, INCUAPA–CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Av. Del Valle 5737, 7400 Olavarría, Argentina. Email: pmessine@soc.unicen.edu.ar 810407HOL 0 0 10.1177/0959683618810407The HoloceneMessineo et al. research-article 2018 Research paper