Patricio López Mendoza’s research while affiliated with Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Chile and other places

FREE COPIES: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/R9PYW8DYQVV68G5NVJRB/full?target=10.1080/00776297.2025.2471188 Feasts were a recurring practice in the ancient Andes and a cornerstone of the political strategies of the Inka empire. Despite this relevance, we lack a good understanding of the transformations of these practices between the Late Intermediate and Inka Periods, as well as how they were re-oriented by Tawantinsuyu to exhibit and implement its provincial power. This paper addresses this subject by comparing two archaeological contexts related to commensal practices in Central Chile. Our results show a significant transformation of these practices, moving from a ceremonial feast centered on the veneration of ancestors and their authority to commensalism based on the Inka metropolitan calendar and the relevance of local mountains and the movement of the sun

While a clear human presence may be recognised in the Andes by 12 000-11 000 cal BP, most archaeological research has focused on occupation of the Andean highlands. To understand the initial occupation of inland areas of South America, the authors consider regional connections and spatial exploitation strategies of hunter-gatherers highlighted in a recent survey of Andean sites. Focusing on north-central Chile, artefacts and radiocarbon dates from three rock shelters suggest sporadic and brief occupation during the Terminal Pleistocene-Early Holocene. Co-occurrence of marine and montane resources, the authors argue, demonstrates a strategy of high mobility and local adaptation in early Andean occupation , using rock shelters as landmarks to navigate and learn new landscapes.

We discuss the process of human re-occupation of the Southern Puna (25°-27°S) during the Late Holocene through a variety of lines of evidence, such as ceramics, faunal bones, lithic technology, sources of raw materials like obsidian, and rock art, and their integration with spatial analyses using least-cost paths. Our results indicate a process in which niches were formed in the puna, focused on a variety of activities such as vicuña hunting; exploitation of lithic sources, minerals and pigments; camelid grazing; symbolic manifestations, and inter-Andean circulation. This suggests that human dynamics in the highlands of the Southern Puna towards the Late Holocene were motivated by a range of biotic and abiotic resources, and different modes of occupation, which tended to become diversified in the long term; nevertheless, they retained a common base in vicuña hunting and obsidian procurement, circulation and exchange.

We present the results of an interdisciplinary study conducted at the Pedernales-5 site, situated in the Salar de Pedernales basin (26°S; 3356 masl), dated from 10,510−10,749 to 11,201−11,612 cal. BP. Unlike other Late Pleistocene and Holocene sites in the Andean Puna, where vicuñas (Vicugna vicugna) were the primary prey, at Pedernales-5, the zooarcheological assemblage consists almost exclusively of flamingo (Phoenicopteridae) and bird remains. Through the analysis of lithic and bone artifacts, archeobotanical remains, pigment composition, and paleoenvironmental data, we propose that the emphasis on flamingo exploitation cannot be solely explained by alimentary consumption but also served cultural and symbolic purposes related to the acquisition of feathers, hides, and bones. The unique archeological context of Pedernales-5 offers a distinctive perspective on human dynamics in the Andean highlands during the Early Holocene.

We present the results of technological and protein residue analyses of the lithic assemblages recovered at the Pedernales-38 site (26.5°S; 69°W), located in the highlands of the southern Andes (3380 masl). Based on a reconstruction of the operational chains and the differential representation of their phases, we suggest that the final production, use, maintenance, and discard of large stemmed projectile points occurred at the site. Of the assemblage studied, nine (9) projectile points and one end-scraper were subjected to residue analysis using cross-over immunoelectrophoresis (CIEP). Four positive reactions to antisera of human, camelid (guanaco or vicuña) and canid (Andean fox) were recorded. The results are discussed based on the depositional context and the structure of the archeological record. We propose that Pedernales projectile points were mainly used in hunting weapons to capture wild camelids during the seasonal occupation of the Andes highlands.

The Pacific coast of the Southern Andes has a long occupational history that shows regional diversification by the Middle and Late Holocene. The coast of north-central Chile had a significant hunter-gatherer occupation between cal 6000 and 2000 BP, which differs from those observed in neighboring areas because of their envionmental and historic characteristics. Studies of funerary contexts reveal that these groups underwent a demographic expansion and experienced social conflict during this period. But an emphasis on the significance of funerary contexts in the period cal 6000-2000 BP has limited our knowledge of these groups’ environmental strategies and use of coastal resources. This research examines evidence recovered from residential and funerary contexts from the Punta Teatinos site (Coquimbo Bay, north central coast of Chile, 29°S) to assess the strategies of environmental use. The study of this evidence—including stratigraphy; radiocarbon dating; lithic, malacological, and zooarchaeological material; microfossils; dental calculi, stable isotopes; and rock art—indicates an exploitation of coastal resources, to which others of terrestrial origin were added. Although no temporal changes in the exploitation of coastal resources were identified, the evidence also indicates changes in the constitution of historical landscapes and extra-regional social networks.

Se presentan y discuten los resultados del análisis zooarqueológico de 37 sitios arqueológicos del Valle de Mauro (31º57`S-71º01`O, ~900 msnm), emplazado en la franja meridional del Norte Semiárido del actual territorio chileno. Estos sitios abarcan una secuencia cronológica y cultural que va desde el Arcaico Tardío (ca. 3.400 años cal AP en adelante) hasta ocupaciones históricas, enfatizando la secuencia prehispánica asociada a eventos del Período Alfarero Temprano (El Molle), Intermedio Tardío (Diaguita) y Periodo Tardío (Inca). Nuestros resultados indican un consumo intensivo de camélidos (Lama guanicoe) durante el Arcaico que desciende drásticamente en sincronía con la aparición de la cerámica y prácticas hortícolas en el valle. Hacia momentos Diaguita y con prácticas agrícolas consolidadas junto a la aparición de camélidos domésticos (Lama glama), proponemos la necesidad de repensar a estos grupos con prácticas pastoriles trashumantes condicionadas por los ciclos de pasturas en el Semiárido, tal como se observa para momentos históricos.

We present obsidian compositional data obtained by X-ray fluorescence analysis in the Andean highlands (25-27°S/68-69°W) of northern Chile. Seventy-six samples (n = 76) from three lithic sources and six archaeological sites were analyzed, covering a chronological sequence from 10,100 to 500 cal BP. Compositional analyses indicate the exploitation of the Ciénaga Redonda and Cerro Manchado local sources as well as Ona-Las Cuevas and Salar del Hombre Muerto located between 200 and 230 km away on the eastern slope of the Andes, in northwestern Argentina. The results obtained show that the Puna de Copiapó has been a key area for circulation between the eastern and western slopes of the Andes since pre-Columbian times.