Fishing during the early human occupations of the Atacama Desert coast: what if we standardize the data?

Abstract

The Atacama Desert coast (18–30° S) presents one of the earliest chronologies in the South America region, whose first occupations date from ~ 13,000 cal BP. Since that time, coastal and marine resources have been a common component at sites along the littoral zone. Fish species have been particularly important, as have the fishing technologies developed and used by the coastal communities. However, even though several archaeological sites have been studied, there is no systematic macro-regional analysis of early fisheries along the Atacama Desert coast. Furthermore, differences in theoretical and methodological approaches, as well as research objectives, hinder comparisons between ichthyoarchaeological assemblages. Here, we present a comparative analysis of the Atacama Desert fish data obtained from publications and gray literature from ten archaeological sites dating from the Terminal Pleistocene to the Early Holocene. Through the standardization of contextual and ichthyoarchaeological information, we compared data using NISP, MNI, and weight to calculate fish density, richness, and ubiquity, in order to identify similarities and differences between assemblages. This exploratory approach aims to contribute to studies of fish consumption in the area, as well as proposing new methodological questions and solutions regarding data heterogeneity in archaeozoology.

El Viejo Y El Mar: Análisis Formal Al Sesgo Androcentrista en Literatura Científica Sobre La Pesca Prehistórica en La Costa Del Desierto De Atacama

“…Si bien el estudio de esta actividad ha sido abordado desde distintas líneas de evidencia -siendo foco principal la tecnología y los recursos-, conviene preguntarse respecto a otras dimensiones del conocimiento, vinculadas no solo a la producción de información empírica, sino también respecto de la reproducción y circulación de las interpretaciones arqueológicas. Por esto, no solo es importante hacer revisiones de los datos generados (Rebolledo et al 2021), sino también de las narrativas que han dominado el discurso sobre las comunidades litorales más tempranas de la zona. Frente a esto nos preguntamos ¿cómo se representan en el discurso actual a las comunidades pescadoras-recolectoras-cazadoras más tempranas de la costa del Desierto de Atacama?, y ¿qué elementos manifiestos y latentes encontramos en estas narrativas?…”

Initial Human Colonization of the Americas, Redux

“…In the narrow littoral zone of northern Chile, the earliest occupations in rockshelters, and evidence of fishing, date no earlier than ca. 12,300 cal BP (Salazar et al 2018;Rebolledo et al 2021).…”

Fishing Over the Millennia

“…Since the Chilean jack mackerel was, in some cases, common at several inland sites, a culinary influence may have persisted during the period from AD 500 to 1500. Rebolledo et al ( 2021 ) undertake a comparative analysis of the ichthyoarchaeological data obtained from ten sites dating from the Terminal Pleistocene to the Early Holocene (13,000–8000 cal BP), and situated along the Atacama Desert coast of southern Peru and northern Chile. The authors highlight the advantages, and disadvantages, in their attempts to standardise the data, which included NISP, MNI, fish density, richness, and ubiquity.…”