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Widespread evidence for human occupation of the Atacama Desert, 20degrees to 25degreesS in northern Chile, has been found from 13,000 calibrated 14 C years before the present (cal yr B. P.) to 9500 cal yr B. P., and again after 4500 cal yr B. P. Initial human occupation coincided with a change from very dry environments to humid environments. More than 39 open early Archaic campsites at elevations above 3600 meters show that hunters lived around late glacial/early Holocene paleolakes on the Altiplano. Cessation of the use of the sites between 9500 and 4500 cal yr B. P. is associated with drying of the lakes. The mid-Holocene collapse of human occupation is also recorded in cave deposits. One cave contained Pleistocene fauna associated with human artifacts. Faunal diversity was highest during the humid early Holocene.