JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.We analyzed the remains of small mammals fzom two rockshelters in the pre-Andean mountains of central Chile. A significant fraction of the remains exhibited evidence of burning. Burned remains were present from 4460 to 1520 B.P. and belong to rodent species of large body size and weight that are either diurnal or colonial. We suggest that rodents were a constant food item for humans in central Chile, and that rodent species were selected based on body size and conspicuousness.Nosotros analizamos los restos de pequenos mamiferos de dos abrigos rocosos de la precordillera de Chile central. Una fraccion significativa de los restos presenta evidencias de haber sido expuestos al fuego. Restos quemados se encontraron desde 4460 a 1520 A.P., y pertenecen a especies de micromamlferos de talla grande, diurnos y/o coloniales. Nosotros sugerimos que los roedores fueron un elemento alimenticio frecuente para los pobladores de Chile central, y que las especies consumidas eran seleccionadas en base a su tamano corporal y facilidad de deteccion.Small mammals exhibit a high ratio of edible meat ret,ative to body weight, which renders them potential resources for human populations. This possibility, however, has usually been neglected in studies of paleodiets and patterns of resource use (Stahl 1982). The exploitation of rodents by prehistoric central Chilean populations is a case in point. Ethnohistorical sources mention the consumption of a diurnal rodent, the degu rat (Octodon degus), and the technique for hunting it in centralChile. According to de Ovalle (1974 [1646]), people inundated the gallery system of this semifossorial rodent, capturing them as they escaped the water. The development of a specific hunting technique suggests that this rodent species was a frequent prey item for human populations. Rodents, however, are an overlooked potential resource in both theoretical and empirical studies of prehistoric subsistence in central Chile. This is reflected in several archaeological reports, which, although reporting the presence of small mammal remains among the recovered materials, do not address their importance in the diet of human populations (Miller 1980; see also Simonetti and Cornejo 1987). While conducting research on the history of early Holocene small mammal fauna in the pre-Andean mountains of central Chile, remains of burned small mammals, including O. degus, were recovered.Here we advance the hypothesis that the consumption of small mammals was a long-term phenomenon as well as a selective process. At the same time we suggest criteria based on size and behavioral characteristics of the rodent species that can be used to distinguish between species intentionally exploited and sp...

We present isotopic and morphometric evidence suggesting the migration of farmers in the southern Andes in the period AD 1270–1420, leading up to the Inka conquest occurring ~ AD 1400. This is based on the interdisciplinary study of human remains from archaeological cemeteries in the Andean Uspallata Valley (Argentina), located in the southern frontier of the Inka Empire. The studied samples span AD 800–1500, encompassing the highly dynamic Late Intermediate Period and culminating with the imperial expansion. Our research combines a macro-regional study of human paleomobility and migration based on a new strontium isoscape across the Andes that allows identifying locals and migrants, a geometric morphometric analysis of cranio-facial morphology suggesting separate ancestral lineages, and a paleodietary reconstruction based on stable isotopes showing that the migrants had diets exceptionally high in C4 plants and largely based on maize agriculture. Significantly, this migration influx occurred during a period of regional demographic increase and would have been part of a widespread period of change in settlement patterns and population movements that preceded the Inka expansion. These processes increased local social diversity and may have been subsequently utilized by the Inka to channel interaction with the local societies.

ResumenEl presente artículo explora la interacción social en la región atacameña a partir del estudio de sus pinturas rupestres. Mediante el estudio cuantitativo y cualitativo de las distribuciones pictóricas, tanto por las estructuras compositivas como por los íconos claves que aparecen simultáneamente en dos o más localidades rupestres, se determinan flujos diferenciales de información visual. Esta circulación de conocimiento y personas habría operado como expresión de relaciones sociales preferenciales entre las distintas comunidades del desierto de Atacama.Palabras claves: interacción social -pinturas rupestresflujos de información visual.Abstract This article explores social interaction in the Atacama region through the local rock art paintings. Using a quantitative and qualitative study of pictorial distribution, including both compositional structures and key icons that appear simultaneously in two or more areas with rupestrian art sites, we can determine the presence of differential visual information flows. This flow of knowledge and people would have operated as an expression of preferential social relations between the different Atacama Desert communities.Key words: social interaction -rock art paintingsvisual information flows.Recibido: diciembre 2011. Aceptado: marzo 2012. Figura 1.Ubicación geográfica de las áreas incluidas en el estudio.

ResumenSe discute la cronología en que el norte y centro de Chile fue incorporado al Tawantinsuyu. Partiendo de la ya generalizada opinión acerca de que la fecha de 1470 DC para la incorporación de estos territorios, propuesta a partir de los estudios clásicos de Rowe no coincide con los datos arqueológicos, se analiza una extensa base de datos de fechas de C 14 y termoluminiscencia, con lo cual generamos una probabilidad acumulada de la cronología inca en Chile. Nuestros resultados indican que este evento ocurrió casi 100 años antes de 1470 DC, aunque existirían diferencias entre las distintas regiones analizadas.Palabras claves: radiocarbono -termoluminiscencia -TawantinsuyuChile. Abstract We discuss the chronology of the incorporation of North and CentralChile into Tawantinsuyu. Based on the widespread view that Rowe's 1470 AD proposal does not match with the archaeological data, we analyze an extensive database of 14 C and thermoluminescence dates and generate an accumulated probability of inca's chronology in Chile.Our results indicate that this event occurred almost 100 years before 1470 AD, although differences between regions analyzed exist.Key words: radiocarbon -thermoluminescence -Tawantinsuyu -Chile. También existe en este tema una serie de dificultades analíticas propias del acercamiento arqueológico a la cronología. Éstas se relacionan principalmente con el margen de error de los métodos arqueométricos disponibles y el corto tiempo en que ocurrieron los hechos históricos asociados a la expansión incaica. Así, cualquier fecha C 14 con una σ relativamente pequeña, por ejemplo 40 años, podría encontrarse en cualquier punto dentro de un rango de 130 años, rango que en determinados lugares podría abarcar prácticamente todo el período incaico. De hecho, es común que muestras tomadas desde sitios sin evidencias europeas, tengan fechas cuya probabilidad incluye varios años dentro del período Colonial. A esto es necesario agregar aquellas incertidumbres propias de los procesos de formación 1

Los resultados de estudios arqueobotánicos realizados en el sitio Las Morrenas 1, localizado en la cuenca andina del río Maipo en Chile Central, demuestran la presencia de restos carbonizados de quínoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) en un contexto de cazadores recolectores del momento más tardío del período Arcaico, con fechas de 3.250 a 2.980 años cal. a.p. Estas evidencias están presentes en toda la secuencia de ocupación del sitio, que incluye depósitos del período Alfarero Temprano en los niveles superiores. Los materiales indican que en ambos períodos se utilizó el asentamiento como campamento de tareas específicas de carácter estacional. Se discute el contexto regional y areal para la asociación entre cultígenos y poblaciones de finales del período Arcaico. Palabras claves: estudios arqueobotánicos, Chenopodium quinoa, Zea mays, período Arcaico, cordillera de Chile Central. Archaeobotanical studies from Las Morrenas 1 site, located in the Andean basin of the Maipo river in Central Chile, demonstrated the presence of charred remains of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) in a context of hunter gatherers from the end of the Archaic Period, with dates that ranged from 3250 to 2980 cal. years B.P. This evidence continued to be found through the occupation sequence observed at the site, which included Early Ceramic Period deposits at the upper levels. Archaeological materials indicated that in both periods the settlement was used for specific activities of seasonal character. The regional and local contexts of associations between cultigens and populations at the end of the Archaic Period are discussed.