BárBara Cases* Charles rees** GoNzalo PimeNtel*** rafael laBarCa**** daNiela leiva***** Este trabajo presenta el estudio de caso de un contexto funerario situado en la pampa adyacente a la actual oficina salitrera de María Elena, norte de Chile. Variados análisis multidisciplinarios -que incluyen bioantropología, textiles, zooarqueología, prospección de las rutas cercanas y fechas AMS asociadas-nos permiten sugerir visiones alternativas y matizadas de supuestos previos en torno al tráfico regional.Palabras clave: norte de Chile, bioantropología, textiles, zooarqueología, eje vial, tráfico interzonal A case study is presented of a funerary context situated in the pampas near the current María Elena Nitrate Mine offices, in Northern Chile. A multidisciplinary analysis, which includes bioanthropological, textile and zooarchaeological research, and studies of nearby routes and their associated AMS dates, provides new interpretations and understandings of former assumptions regarding regional traffic.

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Chungara Revista de Antropología Chilena The social groups that initially inhabited the hyper arid core of the Atacama Desert of northern Chile during the late Pleistocene integrated a wide range of local, regional and supra regional goods and ideas for their social reproduction as suggested by the archaeological evidence contained in several open camps in Pampa del Tamarugal (PdT). Local resources for maintaining their everyday life, included stone raw material, wood, plant and animal fibers, game, and fresh water acquired within a radius of ∼30 km (ca. 1-2 days journey). At a regional scale, some goods were introduced from the Pacific coast (60-80 km to the west, ca. 3-4 days journey), including elongated rounded cobbles used as hammer stones in lithic production, and shells, especially from non-edible species of mollusks. From the Andes (ranging 80-150 km to the east, ca. 5-8 days of journey), they obtained camelid fiber, obsidian and a high-quality chalcedony, in addition to sharing knowledge on projectile point designs (Patapatane and Tuina type forms). Pieces of wood of a tropical forest tree species (Ceiba spp.) from the east Andean lowlands (600 km away, ca. 30 days of journey) were also brought to the PdT. While local goods were procured by the circulation of people within the PdT, the small number of foreign items would have been acquired through some sort of exchange networks that integrated dispersed local communities throughout several ecosystems. These networks may have been a key factor behind the success exhibited by these early huntergatherers in the hyper arid ecosystems of the Atacama Desert at the end of the Pleistocene. Different lines of archaeological evidence including open camps, workshop-quarries, lithic artifacts, archaeofaunal remains, plant and animal fibers and textiles, archaeobotanical remains, and paleoecological data show that people of the PdT managed a wide range of cultural items from the Pacific coast, the Andean highland and the tropical forest, that were integrated with resources

Las caravanas con sus particularidades histó-ricas se encuentran en tierras áridas y montañosas de diferentes partes del mundo. Comparten rasgos comunes tales como: animales domesticados conCaravans are historically specific and can be found in arid lands and mountains of different parts of the world, sharing characteristics such as domesticated animals with specific morphologies http://dx