Evidencias Arqueobotanicas Tempranas en El Oasis De Calama, El Cementerio Topater 1 (Formativo Medio, 500 Ac-100 Dc, Desierto De Atacama, Norte De Chile)

Abstract

The management of domestic camelids, and the income and cultivation of plants are some of the distinctive features of the Formative period in the Atacama Desert (ca. 3000-1450 A. P.). The increase and regularity of exchange alliances, stabilize a new way of life in which the relationship with the territory acquires new dimensions, while amplifying or at least making more visible the interaction of societies with the plant world. In this article we describe the archaeobotanical record of the Topater 1 cemetery of the oasis of Calama (Loa river), belonging to the middle Formative and dated by radiocarbon around 400 and 200 B. C. The excellent preservation and diversity of plant resources offered, contributes to the knowledge of the archaeobotanical repertoire in the Central-South Andes and to a better understanding of the existing idiosyncrasies during this regional period. The emergence of the first agro-silvopastoril societies of the Atacama Desert is foreseen.

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

“…Given this finding, it is unclear if mucuna is actually present in Atacama Desert archeological sites. Interestingly enough, the small cavity that the achira seeds possess was used for facilitating their perforation and their use as beads has also been documented at other Atacama sites including Topater 1 in the Loa River (McRostie et al, 2019). Additionally, the finding of seed caches suggests the possibility achira was planted (and/or potentially imported) not just through asexual propagation but also by seed planting.…”

“…In contrast, towards the south where runoff was seasonally constrained and perhaps involved high year-to-year variance, intensified agriculture could not occur within the intermittent river valleys. In the coast and western valleys of northern Chile, semi-sedentary maritime societies with significant social complexity persisted throughout the Holocene, and although they regularly utilized non-food inland resources, engagement with agriculture did not occur until the Late Holocene (Roberts et al, 2013;Standen et al, 2018Standen et al, , 2021McRostie et al, 2019;García et al, 2020;Ugalde et al, 2021). Starting approximately 3,100 years ago, an emergence of villages, fields and cemeteries, often composed of burial mounds in valleys such as Azapa, Chaca, and Camarones, signals the advent of fully agricultural societies (Focacci and Erices, 1973;Núñez and Santoro, 2011;Muñoz Ovalle, 2012, 2017Barba et al, 2015;Carter, 2016).…”

“…Starch grains of Canna have been identified in grinding stones dated between 2,800-2,400 cal BP at Real Alto in Ecuador and between 4,100 and 3,200 cal BP at Antofagasta de la Sierra in Argentina (Chandler-Ezell et al, 2006;Babot, 2011). In Chile, the species has been recovered from archeological contexts dating back to the Late Archaic and Formative (Erices, 1975;Santoro, 1980;Muñoz, 1985;García et al, 2014;Agüero and Uribe, 2015;McRostie et al, 2019). In most publications referring to this cultigen archeologically as well as museum collections, the scientific name Canna edulis is used, however, a recent revision of the genus suggests this is a synonymy of C. indica (Maas-van de Kamer and Maas, 2008).…”

Prácticas cotidianas durante el primer y segundo milenio d.C. en el sector centro-occidental del valle de Santa María (Catamarca-Tucumán)

“…Se han encontrado macrorrestos de quinoa en estado seco y carbonizado. Los secos, recuperados en ambientes que por sus características de sequedad han permitido su conservación como la puna de Argentina, Chile y Bolivia, se encuentran en entierros en pequeñas bolsas de fibra vegetal conteniendo gran cantidad de granos y granos inflados (Lagiglia 2001;McRostie et al 2019), así como en lugares de almacenamiento asociados a campos de cultivo, con distintos tipos de procesamiento posterior a la cosecha (López et al 2012). Los restos carbonizados se encuentran en áreas de vivienda en fogones donde se recuperan, en su mayoría, sin pericarpo y bajo la forma de granos enteros, fragmentados, así como de granos sin embrión y cotiledones aislados (Calo et al 2012;García y Uribe 2012).…”

Prácticas alimentarias prehispánicas en el Valle del Cajón, Catamarca

“…Granos carbonizados pertenecientes a la familia Amaranthaceae provenientes del sitio arqueológico Cementerio Topater 1 (Desierto de Atacama, Chile) tomada deMcRostie et al (2019).…”