Aleros ceremoniales del período Formativo en las tierras altas del Desierto de Atacama (región de Tarapacá, norte de Chile)

Herreros, Patricio De Souza; Méndez-Quiros, Pablo; Contreras, Dánisa Gabriela Catalán; González, Carlos Alfonso Carrasco; Fuente, Verónica Elena Baeza de la

doi:10.1080/00776297.2017.1333280

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The data indicate that the consumption of maize increased substantially to the status of a staple crop only after the Formative Period in inland sites, as seen in the step change in in human δ 13 C values, and that this coincided with the application of seabird guano as a fertiliser, as seen in the high δ 15 N values of both crops and humans. An increase in abundance of maize cobs and kernels is also observed in Late Intermediate and Late Period sites 36,37 , in contrast to the previous Formative in which less frequent maize finds suggests that they may have been used primarily in ritual contexts 38,39 .…”

Section: Human Diet Changes and Guano Influencementioning

confidence: 80%

‘White gold’ guano fertilizer drove agricultural intensification in the Atacama Desert from ad 1000

et al. 2021

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The archaeological record shows that large pre-Inca agricultural systems supported settlements for centuries around the ravines and oases of northern Chile's hyperarid Atacama Desert. This raises questions about how such productivity was achieved and sustained, and its social implications. Using isotopic data of well-preserved ancient plant remains from Atacama sites, we show a dramatic increase in crop nitrogen isotope values (d 15 N) from ~AD 1000. Maize was most affected, with d 15 N values as high as +30‰, with human bone collagen following a similar trend; moreover, their carbon isotope values (d 13 C) suggest a significant increase in the consumption of maize at the same time. We attribute the shift to extremely high d 15 N values -the highest in the world for archaeological plants -to the use of seabird guano to fertilise crops. Guano -"white gold" as it came to be called -thus sustained agricultural intensification, supporting a substantial population in an otherwise extreme environment.

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Section: Human Diet Changes and Guano Influencementioning

confidence: 80%

‘White gold’ guano fertilizer drove agricultural intensification in the Atacama Desert from ad 1000

et al. 2021

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“…The only area where the association between geoglyphs, pathways and other anthropogenic features has been extensively considered is in northern Chile, although a systematic, quantitative analysis of the spatial relationship between geoglyphs and pathways has not been conducted for this region (Sepúlveda et al . 2005; Duffait 2012; De Sourza Herreros et al 2017). Geoglyphs in northern Chile appear to have served as territorial makers for ethnic groups engaged in caravan trade (Briones et al .…”

Section: Pathways and Geoglyphs In The Ancient Andesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient pathways and geoglyphs in the Sihuas Valley of southern Peru

et al. 2018

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“…If these crops became adapted to arid conditions, they could have been grown with the assistance of irrigation and other management techniques whereas if they were imported, we could expect to find some of these plants in intermediate nodes. In fact, imported goods from the eastern lowlands have been found in campsites both in highland rock shelters as well as llama caravan sites within the intermediate depression and nearby highlands (Briones et al, 2005;De Souza Herreros et al, 2017).…”

Section: Cultivation Of Tropical Crops In the Atacama Desertmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pre-Columbian cultivation of vegetatively propagated and fruit tree tropical crops in the Atacama Desert

Capriles

García²,

Valenzuela³

et al. 2022

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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South America is a megadiverse continent that witnessed the domestication, translocation and cultivation of various plant species from seemingly contrasting ecosystems. It was the recipient and supplier of crops brought to and from Mesoamerica (such as maize and cacao, respectively), and Polynesia to where the key staple crop sweet potato was exported. Not every instance of the trans-ecological expansion of cultivated plants (both domesticated and wild), however, resulted in successful farming. Here, we review the transregional circulation and introduction of five food tropical crops originated in the tropical and humid valleys of the eastern Andes—achira, cassava, ahipa, sweet potato, and pacay—to the hyper-arid coastal valleys of the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, where they have been found in early archeological sites. By means of an evaluation of the contexts of their deposition and supported by direct radiocarbon dating, stable isotopes analyses, and starch grain analysis, we evaluate different hypotheses for explaining their introduction and adaptation to the hyper-arid soils of northern Chile, by societal groups that after the introduction of cultigens still retained a strong dependence on marine hunting, gathering and fishing ways of life based on wide variety of marine coast resources. Many of the studied plants were part of a broader package of introduced goods and technological devices and procedures, linked to food, therapeutic medicine, social and ritual purposes that transformed previous hunter-gatherer social, economic, and ideological institutions. Based on archeological data, we discuss some of the possible socio-ecological processes involved in the development of agricultural landscapes including the adoption of tropical crops originated several hundred kilometers away from the Atacama Desert during the Late Holocene.

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Aleros ceremoniales del período Formativo en las tierras altas del Desierto de Atacama (región de Tarapacá, norte de Chile)

Cited by 4 publications

References 13 publications

‘White gold’ guano fertilizer drove agricultural intensification in the Atacama Desert from ad 1000

‘White gold’ guano fertilizer drove agricultural intensification in the Atacama Desert from ad 1000

Ancient pathways and geoglyphs in the Sihuas Valley of southern Peru

Pre-Columbian cultivation of vegetatively propagated and fruit tree tropical crops in the Atacama Desert

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