A LIFELONG COMMITMENT, MARCELO ZÁRATE AND GEOARCHAEOLOGY

This paper is a review of Marcelo Zárate’s lifelong contribution to the development and consolidation of geoarchaeology in Argentina and South America. The paper begins with his early work on Pampean stratigraphy, pedogenesis, and site formation processes at Late Pleistocene–Holocene archaeological localities. We highlight the emergence of an interdisciplinary perspective that would characterize his entire career. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Marcelo Zárate played a central role in establishing methodological and empirical frameworks that integrated geological, paleoenvironmental, and archaeological evidence. At the same time his perspective also promotes collaborative research across multiple regions—including the Pampas, Patagonia, Central Western Argentina, and more recently, the Puna. His work in Central West Argentina was particularly transformative, leading to the creation of a long‐term interdisciplinary program focused on Quaternary environmental change, human–environment interactions, and the geoarchaeology of early and middle Holocene occupations. Beyond his scientific contributions, Zárate has been an exceptional mentor and educator, training and inspiring several generations of archaeologists and geoscientists from Argentina and promoting international research networks. His career exemplifies the consolidation of geoarchaeology as an indispensable interpretive framework in the region, characterized by methodological innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and sustained field‐based inquiry.