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9
The Andes Mountains are perhaps one of the most
distinctive features of South America as they form a
continuous range along its western coast. The extensive
latitude and extreme altitude of this mountain range
give way to a multitude of environments. While the at
lowlands that lie to the east of this chain of mountains
include some of the world’s most impressive tropical
forests and prairies (pampas), the Andes contain vertically
zoned habitats that are mainly the result of the interplay
between latitude, elevation and rainfall. This volume is
dedicated to the archaeology of hunter-gatherers in the
CHAPTER 1
HUNTER-GATHERER ARCHAEOLOGY OF A HIGH ELEVATION DESERT:
CURRENT RESEARCH IN THE ARGENTINE SALT PUNA
Elizabeth L. Pintar
South-Central Andes, in a region of northwest Argentina
known as the Salt Puna –a high elevation desert which
occupies the high intermontane basins above 3300 m asl.
This volume is both geographical, as it covers one single
study area –Antofagasta de la Sierra, Catamarca (Figure
1)– and topical, as it pertains to hunter-gatherer lifestyles
within a high-elevation desert. The case studies presented
in this volume address various aspects of hunter-gatherer
life in this harsh and rugged desert, where a continuous
sequence of human habitation spans the last 10,000 years.
Figure 1. Antofagasta de la Sierra in Catamarca province, northwest Argenna. Archaeological sites shown are menoned
throughout this volume. 1: Peñas de las Trampas 1.1; 2: Cueva Cacao 1A; 3: Quebrada Seca (includes sites Quebrada Seca 1, 2 and
3); 4: Punta de la Peña (includes sites Punta de la Peña 3, 4, 9, 11); 5: Cueva Salamanca 1; 6: Peñas de la Cruz 1; 7: Peñas Chicas
(includes sites Peñas Chicas 1.1, 1.3 and 1.5); 8: Casa Chávez Monculos 1; 9: Real Grande (includes sites Real Grande 3 and 5); 10:
Aguada Cortaderas; 11: Los Negros
10
Hunter-gatherers from a high-elevation desert. People of the Salt Puna (northwest Argentina)
The papers presented in this volume reect more than
25 years of archaeological research in the Salt Puna. The
archaeological case studies take on different aspects of
human adaptation, from the earliest evidence of hunter-
gatherers in the region to the transition toward food
producing societies. Authors examine different kinds
of evidence –animal bones and eece bres, macro and
micro-botanical remains, chipped and ground stone tools,
and human burials in order to explain hunter-gatherer
subsistence, settlement and mobility strategies during the
Holocene, including the period of increased aridity during
the Middle Holocene.
Authors were asked to write contributions that showed the
present state of their research in Antofagasta de la Sierra.
Much of this research has been published in academic and
peer-reviewed archaeological journals (mostly Argentina
and Chile), albeit in Spanish. One of the goals of this
volume is to bring together an English version of this
research, thereby reaching a wider audience –non-Spanish
readers. This has the potential of promoting a dialogue
among archaeologists who research hunter-gatherers in
deserts in other parts of the world.
The Salt Puna
Three ecological zones within the Puna may be thus
dened: the Wet, Dry and Salt (or Desert) Punas (Troll
1958). These zones have distributions dened partly by
elevation and partly by vegetation patterns, but they differ
mainly in terms of rainfall, which is highly variable and
overall follows a decreasing gradient from north to south
and from east to west, reaching maximum values in the
Wet Puna of Peru (500–1000 mm), and the lowest values
in (< 100 mm) in the Salt Puna of northwest Argentina,
southwest Bolivia and northeast Chile. Here salares,
or salt lakes, are the outcome of reduced moisture and
high evaporation rates. In these desert environments, the
unpredictability and uctuation in rainfall intensity from
one year to another results in a patchy distribution of plant
and animal resources (Turner and Méndez 1979).
In northwest Argentina, the Puna occupies the western
sectors of Jujuy, Salta and Catamarca provinces. The
former province lies in the Dry Puna where rainfall
averages 300 mm annually. Archaeologists in Argentina
refer to this region as the North Puna. Further south is the
Salt Puna of Salta and Catamarca provinces where rainfall
does not exceed 100 mm annually and an average summer
rainfall (November to March) is lower than 20 mm. This
region is also referred to as the South Puna, in contrast
to the slightly wetter Puna of Jujuy to the north. These
terms –Dry or North Puna and Salt or South Puna– are
used interchangeably throughout this book.
Elevation in the Argentine Salt Puna ranges between
3300–5000 m asl. The low to virtually nil precipitation
results in a patchy environment characterized by an
uneven distribution of salt lakes, small lagoons and
streams with wetlands where plant and animal resources
are concentrated. Vegetation varies with elevation and is
marked by the presence of tolar shrub steppes (Adesmia,
Fabiana, Baccharis and Parastrephia genera) at elevations
below 3900 m asl and pajonal grasslands (Festuca, Stipa
and Azorella genera) at elevations above 3900 m asl,
whereas wetlands (vegas) have soft grasses dominated by
Juncaceae and Cyperaceae families. Faunal communities
consist mainly of rodents, such as viscacha (L. viscacia)
and chinchillas (Chinchilla chinchilla) and seasonal birds
like amingos (Phoenicoparrus andinus) and guayatas
(Chloephaga melanoptera). Among the camelids, vicuña
(Vicugna vicugna) dwell in the pajonal, while llama
(Lama glama) and guanaco (Lama guanicoe) occupy the
tolar. Carnivores such as grey and red fox (Lycalopex
griseus and L. culpaeus) and puma (Puma concolor)
are present throughout the range, as are many species of
rodents (Lagidium viscacia, Chinchilla chinchilla). Birds
such as amingos (Phoenicoparrus andinus, P. jamesi
and Phoenicopterus chilensis) seasonally inhabit surface
lakes. Rheas, locally termed suri (Ptenocnemia pennata),
are ubiquitous (Cabrera 1976; Turner and Méndez 1979;
Alonso et al. 1984).
Although at rst sight it might seem that the Salt Puna
is homogenous, there are important differences with
regard to the Chilean Salt Puna. First, the Salt Puna in
Chile (Atacama Desert) lies on the western slopes of the
Andes, ranging between 2600–4300 m asl (Santoro and
Núñez 1987; Núñez and Santoro 1988). The Salt Puna
in the region of Antofagasta de la Sierra (Catamarca,
Argentina) is an intermontane basin with a base level of
3300 m asl. While it is bounded to the west and east by
mountain ranges over 5500 m asl and lies in a double rain
shadow where dry westerly winds provide some humidity
in winter, the easterly winds discharge their humidity
during the summer on the eastern rim of the Puna, in the
high mountain ranges of Sierras de Toconquis and Sierra
de Laguna Blanca. This summer precipitation recharges
the aquifers that provide water to springs and rivers of
the drainage basin of the Laguna de Antofagasta. Today,
this phenomenon has resulted in a unique concentration of
biotic resources around wetlands that are surrounded by
an extremely arid desert, and is referred to as an “oasis”
(Aschero 1988).
Research in Antofagasta de la Sierra, Catamarca
The basin of the Laguna de Antofagasta, located in the
region of Antofagasta de la Sierra, is an endorheic basin
that covers approximately 2500 km2 (Figure 1). The
landscape is dominated by undulated plains, or pampas,
that are interrupted by narrow gorges, or quebradas,
rivers, volcanic cones and mountain ranges such as the
Sierra de Calalaste (to the west), the Sierra de Laguna
Blanca and Cerro Galán (to the east), and the Cordillera
de Buenaventura (to the south). Wetlands border the
narrow rivers and occupy the lower elevation zones, such
as Laguna de Antofagasta and the Laguna Colorada.
11
Elizabeth L. Pintar – Hunter-gatherer archaeology of a high elevation desert: current research in the Argentine Salt ...
Large salares are found beyond the study area, such as the
Salar del Hombre Muerto (to the north) and the Salar de
Antofalla (to the northwest). Wetlands around the salares
support herds of wild camelids.
The main tributary of the Laguna de Antofagasta is the
Punilla River –barely a stream– which has a series of
tributaries: Las Pitas, Mirihuaca and Toconquis Rivers,
with volumes that range between 2000 m3/h and 700m3/
h respectively (Olivera et al. 2004). These narrow rivers
are permanent, and their headwaters are located on the
western slope of the Cerro Galán. To the west are other
watercourses like the Calalaste River, a tributary of the
Los Colorados River, which ows intermittently into the
Laguna Colorada. In the eastern mountain ranges, in Sierra
de Laguna Blanca and Cerro Galán, are a series of high-
elevation lagoons, such as Laguna Cavi (Figure 1).
Daily temperature range is high (over 30o C), with high
temperatures during the day and very cold nights. Seasonal
temperature range is also high, with maximum and
minimum mean temperature ranging between 18o C and
–10o C respectively. Mean annual temperature is 9.5o C,
and precipitation –rain, hail and snow–mainly falls during
the summer (November to March). Rainfall does not
exceed 100 mm annually and drought is not uncommon.
Vegetation is xerophylous and ground cover is low (García
Salemi 1986; Olivera 1992).
In Chapter 2, Carlos Aschero explains hunter-gatherer
research in the basin of Laguna de Antofagasta, which
began in the mid 1980’s with the general goal of carrying
out a thorough survey of the region and understanding the
settlement and subsistence systems of prehistoric hunter-
gatherers in a desert environment. That rst project, as
well as many others that followed, focused in the Las
Pitas–Quebrada Seca area.
The rst site excavated was Quebrada Seca 3 site, where
the excavation of an area about 30 m2 revealed over 25
successive occupation levels. This site constitutes the
chronological backbone of the region, as it is the only
site that has yielded a sequence of almost uninterrupted
preceramic occupations ranging ca. 9500–4500 BP
(Aschero 1988; Elkin 1996; Pintar 1996; Martínez 2003).
Intensive surveys in the 1980s and 1990s led to the
discovery of other rock-shelters: Cueva Salamanca 1, Punta
de la Peña 4, Peñas de la Cruz 1, Peñas de las Trampas 1
and Cueva Cacao 1A (Figure 1). With the exception of the
latter, all sites are within a range of 13 km from Quebrada
Seca 3 and have yielded shorter ranging occupations, either
spanning the Early and Middle Holocene –Peñas de las
Trampas 1, Cueva Salamanca 1 and Peñas de la Cruz 1– or
the Early and Late Holocene, such as Punta de la Peña 4.
The radiocarbon dates from these sites are compiled in
Tables 1 and 2.
Much archaeological effort over the last decades has been
given to the careful excavation of these rock-shelters,
where research is still on going. Preservation conditions
in this desert are quite exceptional, and organic materials
such as basketry, hides, animal eece, bones, cartilage,
human hair, teeth, sinew, animal and vegetal cordage,
insects, wood, grasses, seeds, thorns and owers have
been retrieved in all the excavated sites. Field surveys
have focused on the distribution of surface scatters and
stone quarries, and more recently, open-air sites in the
Peñas Chicas and Punta de la Peña localities (Figure 1)
have been excavated.
Themes in this volume
This volume is organized with a general chronological order
from the Late Pleistocene to the Late Holocene. Various
themes are woven throughout the case studies presented.
These themes, and future lines of inquiry, are discussed in
relation to their wider relevance to the archaeology of the
South-Central Andes.
The Late Pleistocene and the earliest colonizers (ca.
12,500? –10,200 BP)
Paleoenvironmental studies are crucial in order to
understand the landscape that hunter-gatherers interacted
with during the Late Pleistocene and throughout the
Holocene. Most paleoenvironmental studies in the Puna are
based on multi-proxy evidences, such as lake sediments,
diatoms, shorelines, glaciers, vegetation records and
alluvial deposits. While many studies have been carried
out in the Chilean (western) Salt and Dry Punas of northern
Chile and Bolivia, less is known about the paleoclimate in
northwest Argentina.
Much research has been carried out in northern Chile, at
Laguna Seca, Laguna Miscanti, Laguna Chungará and
Laguna del Negro Francisco and several small endorheic
lakes (Baied and Wheeler 1993; Valero-Garcés et al. 1996;
Grosjean et al. 1997; Geyh et al. 1999; Valero-Garcés et
al. 2000; Grosjean et al. 2001), and in Bolivia, in Lago
Taypi Chaka Kkota, Laguna Viscachani, Salar de Uyuni,
Salar Coipasa, Nevado Illimani, Lake Titicaca and Sajama
(Wirrmann and De Oliveira 1987; Abbott 1997; Thompson
et al. 1998; Sylvestre et al. 1999; Smith et al. 2011).
Although, in relation, the amount of paleoenvironmental
research in northwest Argentina is scant, in recent years
such studies have taken large strides in order to understand
the local environment in which hunter-gatherers lived
(Markgraf 1985; Olivera et al. 2004; Yacobaccio and
Morales 2005; Tchilinguirian 2009; Morales 2011;
Tchilinguirian et al. 2012; Tchilinguirian and Morales
2013).
In Chapter 3, Tchilinguirian and Olivera present the results
of sedimentological analyses in the region of Antofagasta
de la Sierra. These authors identify a lake transgression
in Laguna Colorada (Figure 1) ca. 10,000–8700 BP,
suggesting a cold and wet climate that coincides with
12
Hunter-gatherers from a high-elevation desert. People of the Salt Puna (northwest Argentina)
Quebrada Seca 3:
4050 m asl
Peñas de la Cruz 1.1:
3665 m asl
Cueva Salamanca 1:
3665 m asl
Punta de la Peña 4:
3650 m asl
Peñas de las Trampas 1.1:
3580 m asl
6160 ± 100 1, 2
[layer 2b(8)]
6250 ± 60 5, 6
[layer 2(2)]
7220 ± 100 1, 2
[layer 2b(9)]
6080 ± 70 1, 2
[layer 2b(10)]
7130 ± 110 1, 2
[layer 2b(11)]
7760 ± 80 1, 2
[layer 2b(13)]
7350 ± 80 1, 2
[layer 2b(14)]
7270 ± 40 3
[layer 2]
7910 ± 100 3
[layer 3]
7410 ± 100 2
[layer 2(3)]
7630 ± 40 11
[level 2(3)]
7500 ± 60 5, 6
[layer 2(4)]
7550 ± 60 5, 6
[layer 2(5)]
7540 ± 50 11
[layer 2(6)]
7620 ± 60 5, 6
[layer 2(7)]
7870 ± 50 10
[layer 2(8)]
7990 ± 60 10
[layer 2(9)]
8330 ± 110 1, 2
[layer 2b(16)]
8660 ± 80 1, 2
[layer 2b(17)]
8640 ± 80 1, 2
[layer 2b(18)]
8100 ± 50 10
[layer 2(10)]
8320 ± 120 7
(layer 6)
8480 ± 40 7
(layer 6)
8510 ± 110 7
(layer 6)
8970 ± 60 12
(layer 6)
8140 ± 30 9
8150 ± 30 9
8230 ± 30 9
8440 ± 40 4
[Funerary Structure 1]
8000 ± 30 9
8170 ± 30 9
8210 ± 30 9
8210 ± 30 9
[Funerary Structure 2]
9790 ± 50 3
[layer 2b(19)]
9050 ± 90 1, 2
[layer 2b(22)]
9250 ± 100 3
[layer 2b(25b)]
9410 ± 120 7
[layer 2b(25c)]
10,190 ± 210 8
[layer 1]
10,030 ± 100 8
[layer 2(2a)]
Table 1. Convenonal radiocarbon dates from Antofagasta de la Sierra ca. 10,000–6000 BP. Dates are organized by stragraphic
order and by millennium. Sources: 1 Elkin 1996; 2 Pintar 1996; 3 Martínez 2003, 4 2005; 5 Pintar 2004, 6 2008; 7 Urquiza 2009;
8 Martínez et al. 2010; 9 Martínez 2012; 10 Mondini et al. 2013; 11 Pintar in press; 12 Aschero pers. com.
13
Elizabeth L. Pintar – Hunter-gatherer archaeology of a high elevation desert: current research in the Argentine Salt ...
Quebrada
Seca 3:
4050 m asl
Alero Sin Cabeza:
3672 m asl
Cueva Salamanca 1:
3665 m asl
a Punta de la
Peña 4;
b Punta de la
Peña 11 A:
3650 m asl
Cueva Cacao 1A:
3625 m asl
Peñas de las
Trampas 1.1:
3580 m asl
c Peñas Chicas 1.5
d Peñas Chicas 1.1
e Peñas Chicas 1.3:
3475 m asl
3390 ± 7011
3470 ± 6011
3610 ± 7011
b 3210 ± 505
b 3630 ±1504
a 3820 ± 1008
[layer 3x]
a 3870 ± 901
[layer 4a]
3000 ± 807
3390 ± 1107
(layer 3)
c 3830 ± 5010
d 3590 ± 551
(3rd extracon)
d 3660 ± 601
(4th extracon)
e 3490 ± 609
(level 3/4)
e 3680 ± 509
(level 7)
4410 ± 608
[layer 2b(2)]
4510 ± 1002
[layer 2b(2)]
4930 ± 1102
[layer 2b(2)]
4770 ± 802
layer [2b(3)]
4460 ± 4012
[layer 2(1)]
4060 ± 901
[layer 4b(1)]
3250 ± 508
[layer 5(6)2]
4100 ± 1608
[layer 5(6)2]
4560 ± 608
[layer 6(3)]
4210 ± 606
[layer 2]
5380 ± 703
[layer 2b(5)]
5400 ± 9010
[layer 2b(5)]
Table 2. Convenonal radiocarbon dates from sites in Antofagasta de la Sierra ca. 5400–3000 BP. Dates are organized by
stragraphic order and by millennium. Sources: 1 Pintar 1996; 2 Aschero et al. 1991; 3 Aschero et al. 1993-1994; 4 Aschero 1999;
5 Araníbar et al. 2001; 6 Marnez 2003; 7 Olivera et al. 2003; 8 Hocsman 2006, 9 2007; 10 Aschero and Hocsman 2011; 11 Escola et al.
2013; 12 Pintar in press.
the rst human settlement in the region. These data are
in agreement with paleoclimatic conditions that prevailed
shortly before the appearance of the rst hunter-gatherer
groups in the Atacama region and in the Dry Puna in
Argentina (Grosjean et al. 2001; Yacobaccio and Morales
2011).
In Chapter 4, Martínez discusses the earliest unequivocal
evidence of human activity in Antofagasta de la Sierra,
at Peñas de las Trampas 1.1 ca. 10,200–10,000 BP, and
argues that despite the presence of megafauna at this site
and Cueva Cacao 1A (Figure 1) ca. 20,000–12,500 BP,
the current state of research does not show coexistence
between humans and megamammals in Antofagasta de la
Sierra. On the contrary, in the North Puna of Argentina,
at Barro Negro (Jujuy province), there is clear indication
for the coexistence of humans and megafauna ca. 10,200
BP (albeit without consumption; Yacobaccio and Morales
2011), and at Tuina-5 site in the Chilean Puna ca. 10,000
BP (Núñez et al. 2002) the presence of one sacrum from
a Pleistocene horse amidst a very large zooarchaeological
assemblage reveals the low proportion of megamammals
in the natural faunal communities at the time (Jackson et
al. 2004).
Very recent nds at another site, received at the time
of publication of this book, Cueva Cacao 1A, show the
remains of a Glossoterium rib with possible cutmarks
in association with ve obsidian and dacite artifacts ca.
13,300–12,500 BP (Aschero et al. 2013). While eldwork
is currently under way to conrm this association, these
dates are highly signicant since they would show the very
early occupation of the Andean Puna synchronically with
Monte Verde ca. 12,600 BP (Dillehay 2008). Therefore,
until these dates and associations are corroborated, we can
unambiguously state that the earliest evidence for human
occupation in the region of Antofagasta de la Sierra comes
from three Holocene sites spanning a period of 1200 years:
the above mentioned Peñas de las Trampas 1.1 site, ca.
10,000 BP (3580 m asl), Quebrada Seca 3 site, ca. 9500
BP (4100 m asl), and Punta de la Peña 4, ca. 9000 BP
(3500 m asl) (Aschero 1988; Pintar 1996; Martínez 2003;
14
Hunter-gatherers from a high-elevation desert. People of the Salt Puna (northwest Argentina)
Urquiza 2009; Martínez this volume). None of the sites with
Middle Holocene components, such as Cueva Salamanca
1 and Peñas de la Cruz 1, have yielded comparable Early
Holocene contexts, and despite intensive surveys in the
region, other coetaneous sites are lacking. The paucity
of such Early Holocene contexts could be explained, in
part, by the proposal made by Tchilinguirian and Olivera
(Chapter 3) who assert that the landscape underwent
a series of transformations that resulted in the burial of
archaeological records during the Late Pleistocene and
Early Holocene.
The evidence from Peñas de las Trampas 1.1 site shows that
elevations above 3600 m asl on the eastern slopes of the
Andes were occupied ca. 10,000 BP. This is not standalone
evidence, as data from sites located approximately 400
km further north, in the Argentine North Puna, show that
elevations between 3400–3800 m asl were occupied even
earlier, ca. 10,700–10,300 BP. For example, Pintoscayoc
and León Huasi sites located at 3800 m asl have yielded
dates ca. 10,700–10,500 BP, whereas three sites located at
3400–3600 m asl –Inca Cueva 4, Huachichocana and Yavi
sites– have yielded dates ca. 10,600–10,300 BP (Aschero
1984; Fernández Distel 1986, 1989; Kulemeyer et al.
1999; Hernández Llosas 2005).
This distribution of dates suggests a north to south
migratory route. While mountain ranges and areas with
steep slopes might have acted as barriers, the dispersal
along rivers which have a gentle slope have often been
cited as landmarks which could have been followed when
traversing a new region (Anderson and Gillam 2000; Kelly
2003).
On the western slopes of the Andes, the situation is slightly
different. In the Chilean Puna, the earliest occupations –at
Tuina and San Lorenzo sites, located at 3000 m asl– date
ca. 10,800–10,400 BP (Núñez 1980). However, in Peru,
whereas early coastal explorers utilized the Alca obsidian
source located at 2800 m asl ca. 11,500–10,000 BP, the
Andean highlands above 2600 m asl, where Guitarrero Cave
is located, were only permanently settled ca. 10,400 BP.
Elevations between 3400–3800 m asl –at sites such as Tres
Ventanas, Asana and Jaywamachay– were only occupied
ca. 10,000–9600 BP, whereas elevations between 4100–
4300 m asl –at Panalauca and Pachamachay sites – were
occupied ca. 9600–9000 BP (Lynch 1980; Ziolkowski et
al. 1994; Aldenderfer 1998; Sandweiss et al. 1998; Jolie et
al. 2011; Rademaker et al. 2013).
These dates show that the Chilean and Argentine Andean
highlands between 3000–3800 m asl were occupied
slightly earlier than the Peruvian highlands, about 500
radiocarbon years. This earlier occupation of the Chilean
and Argentine high elevations is likely related to various
trans-Andean exploratory routes that originated from
different points along the Pacic coast and not necessarily
due to the process of biological adaptation to high-elevation
environments, which has been cited as an explanation
for the time lag between the initial explorations and the
permanent occupation of the high Andes – the reduced
content of oxygen in the air (hypoxia) having negative
effects on pregnancy and foetal growth, resulting in low
rates of population growth (Aldenderfer 2008).
Future research will contribute to our understanding of how,
and from where, the region of Antofagasta de la Sierra was
colonized. Whereas entry routes to the Chilean Puna were
likely from the Pacic coast along small river valleys, the
more likely entry route to the study area however, would
have been from the north and northwest, from the areas of
the Salar del Hombre Muerto and the Salar de Antofalla.
These salares are connected to the drainage basin of
the Laguna de Antofagasta through the Punilla and the
Calalaste Rivers, which might have constituted important
paths in the exploration and colonization phases. Moreover,
the small salt lakes, streams, springs and vegas (wetlands)
that surround the salt ats, dot the Puna landscape and
are also likely to have been important landmarks in the
colonizing paths and trails of the early foragers. In fact,
many ancient trails that crisscross the Andes were travelled
by explorers like Isaiah Bowman (1924) and are still in use
today. However, their potential has yet to be explored, as
they remain in the most inhospitable and remote parts of
the Puna even in the twenty rst century.
New lines of research are currently focusing on human
remains –bones, teeth and hair– from Peñas de las Trampas
1.1 (ca. 8400–8000 BP), Cueva Salamanca 1 (ca. 7400–
3600 BP), Quebrada Seca 3 (ca. 4500 BP) and Punta de la
Peña 11A (ca. 3200 BP) (Aschero this volume; Aschero
et al. 1991, 1999, and this volume; Martínez 2012 and
this volume). These materials are currently under study
by Deborah Bolnick at The University of Texas at Austin.
This vertical sample of human remains, covering almost
5000 years, provides a good opportunity to investigate
aDNA and to obtain genetic information regarding the
haplogroups and specic lineages in the prehistoric
populations that inhabited this region.
There is general agreement that the Americas were
colonized via Beringia and that the ancestors of Native
Americans come from an Asian source. However, there
is dissent in terms of how (and when) South America was
colonized. The competing models that explain entry routes
into South America can be summarized as follows: a)
hunter-gatherers at the Isthmus of Panama and northern
South America would have reached a crossroads, and while
some groups progressed southward along the coast, others
entered the Andean highlands from where they migrated
southward, and yet other groups dispersed eastwards
along the Caribbean coast towards the Amazonian basin
(Rothhammer and Dillehay 2009); or b) groups migrated
southward along the Pacic Ocean with trans-Andean
migrations departing from different points along this
long coast, with delays posed by the extreme altitude
of the Andes Mountains and the cultural and biological
adaptations that would have facilitated inhabiting the new
Andean environments (Wang et al. 2007; Fagundes et al.
2008; Bodner et al. 2012; de Saint Pierre et al. 2012).
15
Elizabeth L. Pintar – Hunter-gatherer archaeology of a high elevation desert: current research in the Argentine Salt ...
Although these models are based on the mtDNA study of
modern indigenous people in South America, there is yet
no aDNA support as only a few human remains predating
ca. 7000 BP have yielded genetic information to date,
including the coprolites from Paisley Caves, On-Your-
Knees-Cave skeletal remains, some Chinchorro mummies
from northern Chile and remains from the Arroyo Seco 2
site in the Pampas of Argentina (Figueiro and Sans 2007;
Kemp et al. 2007; Gilbert et al. 2008; Pérez et al. 2009;
Rothhammer et al. 2010; Raff et al. 2011). Ancient DNA
results obtained from the human remains in Antofagasta de
la Sierra will lend support to either a coastal or an inland
migration in South America and will widen our knowledge
of the genetic variability in this part of the continent.
Continuities and gaps in hunter-gatherer occupations
during the Middle Holocene (ca. 8000–4500 BP)
Chapters 5–10 focus their research on the Middle
Holocene, a time during which paleoenvironmental
studies show a general tendency toward increased aridity
in the environment ca. 8000 BP. However, the timing and
intensity of this drought varied across the Andean region.
Lake levels at Lake Titicaca (Bolivia) and Lake Miscanti,
Laguna del Negro Francisco (both in Chile) and Laguna
El Peinado (Argentina) reect a retraction of these water
bodies between 8500–4000 BP (Valero Garcés et al. 1996,
2000). Pollen records from Laguna Seca (Chile) reveal
a reduction in arboreal pollen and an increase in grass
pollen, suggesting an increase in aridity and temperature
after 8000 BP (Baied and Wheeler 1993). In El Aguilar
(Argentina), Markgraf (1985) proposed that the humid
conditions of the Early Holocene lasted until 7500 BP,
after which arid conditions became prevalent until 4000
BP. Pollen records from Tumbre and Laguna Miscanti
(Chile) also show dry conditions ca. 6200–3800 BP, and
8000–6100 BP respectively (Grosjean et al. 2001, 2007).
Recent paleoenvironmental studies carried out in northwest
Argentina have highlighted the increase in aridity and
temperature during the Middle Holocene (Morales 2011;
Tchilinguirian et al. 2012; Tchilinguirian and Morales
2013). In Antofagasta de la Sierra, sedimentological
analyses (Chapter 3) reveal a lacustrine retraction of Laguna
Colorada ca. 8700–6300 BP, indicating an increase in
aridity and temperature, with brief humid events indicated
by diatoms and organic matter, ca. 6300 BP and short wet
conditions ca. 5900 BP in Mirihuaca River, about 10 km
from Laguna Colorada.
Despite the evidence for increased aridity, there are Middle
Holocene contexts at four sites in the basin of the Laguna
de Antofagasta: Quebrada Seca 3, Cueva Salamanca 1,
Peñas de la Cruz 1 and Peñas de las Trampas 1.1 (Aschero
1988; Pintar 1996; Martínez 2005; Pintar 2009, 2014).
Cueva Salamanca 1 has, by far, the greatest record for
uninterrupted human occupations, as I show in Chapter 5.
The sedimentary archive at this site (3665 m asl) shows
a sequence of eight stratied occupations ca. 8100–7400
BP proposing the existence of favourable conditions
surrounding Las Pitas River (300 m from the site today) in
spite of the increased aridity recorded at Laguna Colorada
–located 12 km away– and highlights the hydrological
variation within the basin of the Laguna de Antofagasta.
Sporadic occupations were found at Cueva Salamanca 1
and Quebrada Seca 3 sites between ca. 7200–4500 BP.
Recent studies suggest a series of discrepancies among
paleoenvironmental records from different regions of the
Andes, and highlight the fact that the Middle Holocene
drought was more severe in areas that were more sensitive
to a decline in effective moisture. Instead, particular
geomorphological, hydrogeological and geographical
settings allowed certain areas to retain wetter conditions
(Tchilinguirian and Morales 2013). Areas with records
showing moister conditions during the arid Middle
Holocene include, for example, Laguna Seca where
local records show humid periods with heavy storms ca.
5000–4000 BP (Baied and Wheeler 1993), the Salar de
Atacama (Núñez and Grosjean 1994; Grosjean and Núñez
1994) and the Quebrada de Puripica (Chile) where alluvial
deposits reveal a series of moderate to heavy storms ca.
6200–3100 BP (Grosjean et al. 1997, 2007). Similarly,
in Pastos Chicos (Jujuy, Argentina), an arid environment
prevailed between ca. 7300–6000 BP, with humid events
ca. 7000–6300 BP (Tchilinguirian et al. 2012). Likewise,
in the Quebrada de Lapao (Dry Puna of Jujuy, Argentina),
local humid conditions favoured the formation of a wetland
ca. 8200–7550 BP (Yacobaccio and Morales 2005).
Thus, although the Middle Holocene drought was a
widespread phenomenon, it was harsher in some areas
than others. This was the case in the Atacama basin, where
a 3000-year occupational hiatus, known as the silencio
arqueológico, is documented in Tuina-4 and San Lorenzo
sites. It has been argued that during this time, populations
dispersed toward the Pacic coast, areas with wetlands and
springs, and ecological refuges –optimal and previously
unoccupied areas– within the Salt Puna. The Quebrada
Puripica (3500 m asl) constituted one such refuge, where
a series of storms with varied intensity created ca. 6200–
3800 BP a favourable environment with water, fauna and
vegetation surrounded by a hostile environment (Núñez
and Santoro 1988; Grosjean et al. 1997; Núñez et al. 1999,
2001; Grosjean et al. 2007; Núñez et al. 2013).
In the basin of the Laguna de Antofagasta, less signicant
occupational hiatuses have been identied: ca. 7000–6200
BP, ca. 6200–5400 BP and ca. 5400–4800 BP (Table 2).
These gaps suggest that conditions surrounding Las Pitas
River and Quebrada Seca areas within the basin –between
4100–3500 m asl– changed, either due to increased
drought which resulted in decreased river discharge or to a
reorganization of the settlement system which emphasized
the occupation of high elevation quebradas where
humidity was higher (Pintar 1996). Further, although it was
originally proposed that the area immediately surrounding
Cueva Salamanca 1 site constituted an ecological refuge
(Pintar 2009), a recent re-examination of the conditions
16
Hunter-gatherers from a high-elevation desert. People of the Salt Puna (northwest Argentina)
surrounding this site and other nearby sites with Middle
Holocene contexts argue for the existence of a uvial
oasis (sensu Bruniard 1999) in the Laguna de Antofagasta
(Pintar 2014).
Therefore, the evidence from the Laguna de Antofagasta
basin suggests that the silencio arqueológico and the
existence of ecological refuges are phenomena that were
mostly limited to the Chilean (western) Salt Puna. This
lends further support to a similar statement made by
Yacobaccio and Morales (2005) from the vantage point of
the Argentine Dry (North) Puna.
Future research in the Salt Puna requires, in order to
understand the variability in hunter-gatherer responses to
the Middle Holocene aridity and their use of the landscape,
(a) expanding surveys to other river basins beyond the
Laguna de Antofagasta, for example in the area of Los
Patos River in the Salar del Hombre Muerto basin where
an initial reconnaissance has been done by this author, and
to high-elevation lagoons such as Laguna Cavi (ca. 5000 m
asl), which is located near an obsidian source that was used
during the Early to Middle Holocene (Pintar et al. 2012;
Pintar and Pessarossi-Langlois 2013). Moreover, research
requires (b) understanding the increased fragmentation
of the environment during the Middle Holocene and the
upward displacement of pajonal grasslands by 300 m
(Pintar 1996; Tchilinguirian 2009; Yacobaccio 2013),
as well as the impact this environmental fragmentation
had on the distribution of wild camelid herds (vicuñas
and guanacos) and potential hunting grounds. Isotope
analyses are becoming important in our understanding of
the ecology and the diet of wild camelids (Mondini et al.
2010; Motta 2013), and multi-proxy evidence is needed in
order to model the characteristics of the environment and
landscape use between 3400 and 4500 m asl.
The Puna as an open system (9000–3500 BP)
The Puna was by no means a closed system. Obsidian is
among the earliest non-local resources associated with
Early Holocene contexts at Quebrada Seca 3 site. Although
sourcing analysis on the early triangular projectile points
made of obsidian has not yet been done, their provenance
might range 40–400 km from this site, where ten sources
have been identied (Yacobaccio et al. 2002, 2004).
Archaeological sites in the region of Antofagasta de la
Sierra have also yielded abundant botanical remains from
other ecological zones, as presented by Rodríguez in
this volume (Chapter 8). The Early Holocene contexts at
Quebrada Seca 3 site (ca. 9000–8600 BP) have yielded
shafts made of wooden canes (Rhipidocladum newmannii
and Salix humboldtiana) whose natural habitats are the
eastern lowlands, mountain forests (yungas) and even the
Chaco plains distant 450 km, showing that interaction
with distant areas was established very early on in the
occupational sequence in Antofagasta de la Sierra.
In Middle Holocene assemblages from Quebrada Seca 3,
Cueva Salamanca 1, Peñas de las Trampas 1.1 and Peñas
de la Cruz 1.1 sites (ca. 8500–6200 BP), the interaction
with the eastern lowlands continued, as seen by mid-shafts
and fore-shaft fragments made from Chusquea lorentziana,
as well as cordage and netted bags made from palm bres
(Acrocomia totai), whose origins are in the mountain
forests to the east, and thorns from tall cacti (Trichocereus
pasacana) that grow in the high valleys leading into the
Puna. Also, a cervid bone dating ca. 7900 BP in Cueva
Salamanca 1 has been recently identied (Mondini and
Elkin, Chapter 6). The natural habitat for cervids is not the
Puna, but rather the eastern rim of the Puna. Interaction with
the Pacic coast (350 km away) is seen by the presence of
shell beads made of marine molluscs that are associated
with a secondary burial at Peñas de las Trampas 1.1, ca.
8400 BP (Martínez, Chapter 4) and in a residential context
at Cueva Salamanca 1 ca. 7600 BP (Martínez 2005; Pintar
2008; Mondini et al. 2013; Rodríguez in Chapter 8).
In Chapter 9, Babot examines starch grains and phytoliths
of edible plants from archaeological contexts associated
with grinding stones used by hunter-gatherers transitioning
to agro-pastoral lifeways ca. 4800–4500 BP. These
residues and phytoliths are akin to amaranth (Amaranthus
caudatus / A. mantegazzianus), algarrobo (Prosopis
sp.), walnuts (Juglans australis) and canna (Canna
edulis), and to domesticated or semi-domesticated quinoa
(Chenopodium quinoa, Ch. pallidicaule) and maize (Zea
mays L.). Whether these plants were locally cultivated
or introduced by trade is the subject of current research,
although quinoa stems present at Cueva Salamanca 1,
ca. 3500 BP, show it was locally cultivated. However,
the natural habitats for amaranth, canna, algarroba and
walnuts are the mesothermal valleys beyond the Salt Puna,
suggesting they were introduced to the Puna.
The presence of allochthonous materials in Antofagasta de
la Sierra is signicant in various regards. First, most of the
non-local items came from the lowlands to the east of the
Andes. Second, while the use of non-subsistence elements
occurred within 500–1000 years of the colonization
of the area of Antofagasta de la Sierra, it preceded the
consumption of non-local edible resources by 4000 years.
Third, the earliest materials ca. 9000 BP constituted parts
of composite tools –projectile points and their shafts– that
were indispensable for hunting and gathering lifeways in
the Puna. However, netted bags made of palm bres and
marine shells are associated with burials, the latter possibly
being elements of personal adornment or sumptuary
goods.
Elsewhere in the Andes the evidence also suggests
that early Puna foragers had some degree of contact or
interaction with groups and ecological zones outside of
the Puna; however, on the western slopes of the Puna, the
items are mostly from the Pacic coast. Whereas the Tuina
phase (ca. 11,000 BP) in northern Chile does not reveal
any interaction outside of the Puna, the early coastal site
of Quebrada Jaguay in Peru –ca. 11,000 BP– shows the
17
Elizabeth L. Pintar – Hunter-gatherer archaeology of a high elevation desert: current research in the Argentine Salt ...
presence of Alca obsidian from the Puna. This evidence
added to that from Quebrada Maní 12, an early inland
site in northern Chile –ca. 10,400 BP– indicate a certain
degree of contact or interaction between the coast and the
Puna (Sandweiss et al. 1998; Núñez and Santoro 2011;
Santoro et al. 2011).
In southern Peru, in the Osmore drainage basin, Aldenderfer
suggests that complementarity existed among early
foragers, ca. 10,000 BP, mostly in the form of buffering
strategies (access to resources in another group’s territory
during times of stress) and high residential mobility, where
low population density enabled the dispersal between
unpredictable environments. It is likely that foragers
moved between higher or lower altitudinal environments.
The evidence of a few marine shells and shark’s teeth in
highland contexts (such as Asana) and the appearance of
Puna raw materials in coastal sites (such as the Osmore
lomas) suggest that early foragers had mutual access to
different environments during periods of stress. However,
the presence of those non-local items was not the expression
of mutualism (a trade relationship whereby important
quantities of foods like quinoa were exchanged), but rather
of buffering relationships between groups, where these
shells represented tokens given between individuals from
different groups in order to create and maintain reciprocal
exchanges (Aldenderfer 1989, 1998). Aldenderfer also
argues that after ca. 4500 BP, the appearance of cultigens
might be signalling a form of mutualism where camelid
meat from the Puna was exchanged for lowland plants.
In the region of Antofagasta de la Sierra, two different
models attempt to explain how non-local elements were
acquired. On one hand, Aschero (Chapter 2), favours a
scenario where Early to Mid-Holocene hunter-gatherers
were territorial (as inferred from rock art motifs) and
not highly mobile, and proposes the existence of social
networks that facilitated the circulation and exchange of
plants, animals and genes through a system of generalized
reciprocity between Puna hunter-gatherers and groups
living in the eastern lowlands, the Pacic coast and the
Atacama basin. In Chapter 5, on the other hand, I draw
inferences from obsidian sourcing analyses and propose
that Early and Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers were
highly mobile and procured some of the lowland items –
particularly the wooden Chusquea lorentziana canes used
for hafting spear points– by logistical mobility. According
to this model, decorative, symbolic and sumptuary items
(marine shell beads and beads made from seeds) could
have been obtained by reciprocal exchanges with other
groups living in different ecological zones.
Clearly, there are certain challenges that archaeologists
face in trying to determine what form of complementarity
(buffering, exchange, mutualism, direct access) was
present in the study region, and it is likely that one form
does not exclude another, that is, reciprocal exchanges
could have existed concomitantly with high mobility.
Therefore, a larger archaeological database both within
and beyond the Puna is required for supporting or rejecting
either of these proposals. Additionally, new research in the
eastern lowlands is crucial to understand these interactions.
Efforts in that direction have already begun in the
Aconquija mountain system of western Tucumán province
in Argentina (Martínez et al. 2013). Further, genetic
studies of Holocene human remains from Antofagasta de
la Sierra (mentioned above) will also contribute to our
understanding of the genetic makeup of Puna peoples and
to what degree gene ow from other areas was signicant
during different periods of the Holocene.
Intensication in the use of animal and plant resources
(ca. 8500–4500 BP)
The archaeological record shows that both hunting and
gathering strategies during the Middle Holocene were
oriented toward increasing the caloric return of biotic
resources (Elkin 1996; Mondini et al. 2011; Marozzi
2012). Camelids were very important to hunter-gatherer
subsistence from early on: they provided meat, grease,
bone, marrow, eeces, skin and hides, wool and even
transportation. In Chapter 6, Mondini and Elkin present
results of osteological analyses of the archaeofaunal
records from Quebrada Seca 3 and Cueva Salamanca 1
sites that show a clear dominance of camelids, followed
in importance by rodents. Further, both wild camelids
–vicuñas and guanacos– are identied from osteometric
studies in the early archaeological contexts. Interestingly,
bre analyses of camelid eeces by Reigadas, in Chapter
7, have identied a third phenotype –a “llama pattern”– in
the Early and Middle Holocene with similar characteristics
to modern llamas, although this camelid form does not
have a modern counterpart. Fibre studies also show that
guanacos became more abundant in the faunal assemblages
of Cueva Salamanca 1 during the Middle Holocene.
An increased use of all camelid parts –meat, bones,
grease, marrow, sinew, hides and eeces– occurred in the
Middle Holocene contexts, ca. 8500–4500 BP, signalling
an intensied relationship between hunter-gatherers and
camelids that was triggered by the increased aridity in the
Puna environment. This process eventually involved the
protection of camelid herds (sensu Harris 1996), where
camelid populations were protected against carnivore
predation and were given access to pastures albeit without
a genetic control of their reproduction. This initial taming
would have progressively led to situations of captivity
where the selection of behavioural and phenotypic traits
resulted in domesticated herds (Gallardo and Yacobaccio
2005). In the region of Antofagasta de la Sierra,
osteometric analyses of bones from Peñas Chicas 1.5 site,
dated ca. 3800 BP, yielded results that are consistent with
Lama glama. However, true pastoralism in this region is
archaeologically visible only after ca. 2100 BP (Olivera
1998; Aschero et al. 2012).
Evidence from other parts of the South-Central Andes
shows that camelid domestication was a regional process,
which likely resulted from the close relationship hunter-
18
Hunter-gatherers from a high-elevation desert. People of the Salt Puna (northwest Argentina)
gatherers had with camelids. Various analyses, including
osteometry, age prole, pathology and bre studies from
camelid remains at Tulán and Puripica sites in northern
Chile show camelid domestication ca. 5000-3800 BP
(Cartajena et al. 2007). The presence of dung-derived soil
also suggests pastoralist occupations, for example at Asana
ca. 3600 BP, and Inca Cueva 7 site in the North Puna of
Argentina where the presence of a corral ca. 4100 BP has
been suggested (Aldenderfer 1998; Yacobaccio 2003).
Reigadas, in Chapter 7, highlights the importance of
camelids in hunter-gatherer diet and also in the production
of textiles, such as cordage and ropes. Thorough analysis
shows the selection process of bres from different
camelid species (vicuñas, guanacos and “llama pattern”)
in the manufacture of cords that had different functions.
These studies underscore the importance of considering
the production of wool –in addition to meat– in the process
that led to the domestication of camelid herds. In this
regard, the selection of bres from the “llama pattern” at
Quebrada Seca 3, ca. 4800 BP, used for making thick cords
–used for fastening– emphasizes the need to research the
role of camelids in the interactions with other ecological
zones (as pack animals).
Plant use was also intensied during the Middle Holocene,
as presented by Babot in Chapter 9. The presence of
grinding stones in hunter-gatherer sites ca. 7400 BP
reveals they were used for grinding local tubers, roots and
grass seeds 2500 years before they were used for grinding
quinoa and maize. During the transition from the Middle
to the Late Holocene, hunter-gatherer diet was broadened
with the incorporation of amaranth, canna and algarrobo
pods, and a signicant intensication in the use of plant
resources is tied to the increase in residential site size that
marks the onset of agro-pastoralist lifeways.
Transition to a mixed economy
The transition from hunting and gathering to a mixed
economy of hunting, gathering, cultivating and herding is
a complex process. Studies regarding this transition focus
on the critical period ca. 5000–3500 BP. Many indicators
suggest the local continuity from hunter-gatherer societies
in Antofagasta de la Sierra to mixed economies that added
pastoral and agricultural components to a hunting and
gathering base.
In Chapter 2, Aschero argues that the intimate knowledge
people had of the landscape, the environment and their
neighbours laid the foundations of agro-pastoral societies
several thousand years prior to their existence. Shearing
camelid wool, discerning different kinds of bres, twining,
weaving and other activities related to camelid wool, as well
as gathering, processing, grinding and cooking activities
must have been passed down from one generation to the
next. Various lines of inquiry presented in this volume,
such as camelid bre analysis (Reigadas, Chapter 7) and
plant use (Babot, Chapter 9), show the continuous use of
these resources which implies the transmission, over the
course of many generations, of skills and knowledge of
how to procure and process different materials and how to
transform them into certain intended results.
In Chapter 10, Hocsman presents a technological and
typological analysis of projectile points and explores
the change in morphometric characteristics of points
from hunter-gatherer and agro-pastoral societies ca.
5500–1500 BP. This author identies a gradual change
in morphological types which was probably linked to
a typological change at the macroregional level –within
the Puna– that was concomitant with a technological
simplication that involved the disappearance of bifacial
thinning (and bifaces), a reduction in the diversity of
stone tools and the emergence of tools used in agricultural
contexts. These changes are explained by issues of time
management related to agro-pastoral activities, resulting
in a reduced time and energy budget for manufacturing
projectile points that led to the abandonment of bifacial
thinning and bifacial reduction techniques. Further, the
standardization of projectile points resulting in smaller
points and stems is explained through the introduction
of the bow into northwest Argentina. Hocsman also
investigates the issue of territoriality during the transitional
phase between hunter-gatherers and agro-pastoral societies
ca. 4000–3500 BP. Increased spatial demarcation that can
be linked to increased competition between individuals
from different families or lineages can result in distinct
projectile point styles. The identication of multiple
projectile point designs during this transition is probably
showing the existence of separate territories held by
different families in the Las Pitas River basin (within the
Laguna de Antofagasta basin) (Aschero 2007; Hocsman
2006, and this volume). Thus, future research paths require
new surveys in adjacent valleys and quebradas where
these hypotheses can be tested.
The transition from hunting and gathering to hunting,
gathering and herding was a complex issue that likely varied
from region to region. The interaction networks between
Antofagasta de la Sierra and other Puna regions, such as
the North Puna (Jujuy, Argentina) and the Atacama basin
(distant 300 km), might explain certain similarities between
these regions. Differences, on the other hand, might have
arisen from particular trajectories and individual choices
transitional hunter-gatherers made in their own societies
(Aschero and Hocsman 2011).
The evidence from Antofagasta de la Sierra argues in
favour of a transitional phase without admixture from a
new population or the arrival of a new “package” of cultural
traits. Genetic analyses, specically aDNA studies of
human remains dating ca. 4500–3200 BP mentioned earlier,
will contribute to the elucidation of the afnities between
the prehistoric inhabitants of the Puna and other regions in
South America, namely the eastern lowlands, Pampa and
Patagonia. In addition, current botanical studies, which are
focusing on the genetic history of quinoas from several
sites in the region that date to ca. 4500 BP (Bertero et al.
19
Elizabeth L. Pintar – Hunter-gatherer archaeology of a high elevation desert: current research in the Argentine Salt ...
2013), will determine whether plants were domesticated
locally or not.
Future studies of transitional hunter-gatherers and early
agro-pastoral societies must continue to focus on the
importance of camelids in people’s diets and their every
day lives –after all, they continue to play a vital role in
modern Andean family, festivities, seasonal movements,
clothing, trade, ritual, religion and symbolism. Further,
the study of transitional hunter-gatherers needs to
consider that the different contributions from hunting,
gathering, pastoralist and agricultural components in past
economies must have varied regionally and seasonally,
and that one formula did not t all. In this regard, Núñez
et al. (2006, 2009) have argued that Andean studies have
over-emphasized the role of agriculture, when mixed
economies really characterized early Formative lifeways
in the Atacama basin ca. 3500 BP.
Final remarks
This volume is intended to provide a more comprehensive
knowledge of hunter-gatherer adaptations to high-elevation
areas on the eastern slopes of the Andes, in the Salt Puna,
and to cover some of the gaps in the knowledge of desert
societies. Hopefully, by providing a more detailed picture
of these hunter-gatherer adaptations, these case studies
will contribute to a better understanding of the wide array
of hunter-gatherer adaptations both to high elevations and
to dry environments around the world.
Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to many people who collaborated in all
phases of the putting together of this volume. I am grateful
to all the authors that jumped aboard with the idea of
having an Antofagasta de la Sierra hunter-gatherer volume,
and who eagerly made their written contributions. I am also
thankful for the assistance of P. Neumann and V. B. Chacón
who provided a rst translation of the chapters written by
C. Aschero, M. P. Babot, S. Hocsman and J. Martínez. I
am, however, responsible for the nal English versions and
accountable for any mistakes herein contained. My great
appreciation goes to my colleagues at Austin Community
College: Karen Bell who helped me with proofreading and
improving the English of all the papers, Mary Beth Booth,
for making the maps in Chapters 1 and 5, and George Staff,
who commented on Chapter 2. My deepest thanks go to
Gwyneth Ramsey and Ana Paula Motta for their assistance
with the nal editing of the volume, and to Kelly and Megan
Ramsey for their unrelenting encouragement and support
during the last many months of nal editing. This volume
is dedicated to all colleagues, students, volunteers and
relatives who participated in the eldwork in Antofagasta
de la Sierra since 1985 –the research presented here would
not have been possible without their hard efforts at high
altitude– and to the villagers of Antofagasta de la Sierra for
their friendship and companionship during all these years.
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