Understanding how human societies interacted with environmental changes is a major goal of archaeology and other socio-natural sciences. In this paper, we assess the human-environment interactions in the Pampa del Tamarugal (PDT) basin of the Atacama Desert over the last 13,000 years. By relying on a socioenvironmental model that integrates ecosystem services with adaptive strategies, we review past climate changes, shifting environmental conditions, and the continuities and discontinuities in the nature and intensity of the human occupation of the PDT. As a result we highlight the importance of certain key resources such as water, an essential factor in the long-term trajectory of eco-historical change. Without water the outcome of human societies becomes hazardous.

Este artículo refiere al material cerámico de poblados arqueológicos de la región de Tarapacá ubicados en las quebradas altas, valles bajos y la costa al este y oeste de la Pampa del Tamarugal. Nuestro objetivo ha sido sistematizar nuestros anteriores estudios y los análisis de otros investigadores acerca de la cerámica de la región para actualizar el conocimiento en torno a la historia cultural y los procesos sociales relacionados con el aún poco conocido complejo Pica Tarapacá del Norte de Chile. Al respecto, proponemos que este complejo cultural se desarrolló durante el período Intermedio Tardío al menos en dos fases, una inicial y otra clásica, las que denominamos fase Tarapacá (ca. 900-1.250 d.C.) y Camiña (ca. 1.250-1.450 d.C.), respectivamente. Se plantea una tradición alfarera local que nació a fines del período Formativo y que luego, en ausencia de influencias estilísticas Tiwanaku, integró elementos nuevos del altiplano meridional, siendo este último el panorama que predominaría en la región a la llegada del Inka. Lo anterior pretende contribuir con mayor evidencia empírica a la discusión acerca de las dinámicas sociales e interacción económica entre las tierras bajas y altas de los Desarrollos Regionales (período Intermedio Tardío) de esta parte de los Andes Centro Sur.Palabras claves: complejo cultural Pica Tarapacá, tipología y análisis cerámicos, secuencia y fases, período Intermedio Tardío. 250) and Camiña Phase (ca. A.D. 1,450) In this paper we study the ceramic material from the archaeological villages of the Tarapacá region, located in the high ravines, the low valleys, and the coast to the west and east of Pampa del Tamarugal. Our objective is to do a systematic review of earlier studies by ourselves and by other investigators of domestic pottery in the region

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A gradual transition to crop consumption, especially maize, is suggested. This complemented the earlier hunter-gatherer tradition of marine resources and wild fruit consumption. Contrarily to the predictions made by some archaeologists, the results obtained for northern Chile contrast with the classical perspective of a "Neolithic Revolution" in which transition to agriculture occurred more abruptly and linearly.

Pica 8 is a Late Intermediate Period (AD 900–1450) cemetery located in the Atacama Desert. Burials at the site present unexpectedly high variability in δ13C (–8‰ to –16‰) and δ15N (10‰ to 24‰) values in their skeletal tissues, implying highly diverse diets. There are two possible explanations for this variability: the first is diachronic change in diet while the second involves synchronic sociocultural distinctions. To distinguish between them a radiocarbon (14C) dating program (n=23) was initiated. The presumed importance of marine foods adds the complication of a marine reservoir effect. To address this problem, paired 14C dates were obtained on human bone and camelid textiles from nine graves. The results fall into two groups, one showing an average offset of 117±9 14C yr, and the other no statistically significant offsets. We conclude that the contribution of marine foods to bone collagen at Pica 8 was less than previously supposed. Other factors must be invoked to account for the unusually high human δ15N values at the site. Manuring crops with sea-bird guano emerges as a probable explanation. No relationship with chronology is seen implying the presence of considerable diversity in diets and hence lifeways within the Pica 8 community.