Isotopic Evidence for Marine Consumption and Mobility in the Atacama Desert (Quillagua, Northern Chile)

Abstract

Archaeological research in the Atacama Desert has recovered evidence of considerable cultural variability. This variability seems to have increased during the Late Intermediate Period (AD 950-1400). The oasis of Quillagua, located at the margins of the Loa River in northern Chile, between the Andes and the coast (70 km from the Pacific Ocean), has shown important evidence regarding this cultural diversity. The variety in the archaeological evidence found at Quillagua has been interpreted as the result of two different cultural influences at the oasis: the Pica-Tarapaca who occupied the coastal and inland regions to the north of Quillagua and the Atacama who occupied the oasis and fertile areas southeast of Quillagua. Here, we present the results of stable carbon, nitrogen and oxygen isotope analyses of 23 individuals recovered from the Cementerio Oriente in Quillagua, in order to test whether the observed cultural variability is also reflected in diet and mobility patterns. Results from carbon and nitrogen isotope measurements indicate the importance of marine protein, as well as a contribution of maize in the diet of some individuals. Four individuals show low delta O-18 values, suggesting a possible highland or non-local origin, whereas values for the remaining individuals are consistent with lowland populations. Together, the results support the idea that the Quillagua oasis represented an important site of interaction between the Tarapaca and Atacama cultures, with close contacts with the coast but also with the presence of individuals from the highlands. Copyright (C) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, LtdFONDECYT 1080458-1130279 112037

Maize (Zea mays) consumption in the southern andes (30°–31° S. Lat): Stable isotope evidence (2000 BCE–1540 CE)

“…This pattern is similar to the one observed further south in Central Chile (Sanhueza & Falabella, ). But, it contrasts with Northern Chile where high levels of mobility and exchange between the inland and the coast helped local communities to cope with the extreme conditions of the Atacama Desert (Pestle et al, ; Santana‐Sagredo et al, ; Torres‐Rouff et al, ). The only exception to this trend was found in the Late Archaic coastal individual from La Herradura, sample 30**.…”

“…North to the SARNC, in both the arid and hyper‐arid regions, maize appears during the Formative period. But, studies consistently show that coastal resources played a role in the diet of both coastal and inland groups throughout the prehistory of these areas (Pestle et al, ; Roberts et al, ; Santana‐Sagredo et al, ; Torres‐Rouff et al, ). This is not surprising given the importance of marine resources in the prehistory of the Andean region (Moseley, ).…”

Stable isotope ecology and human palaeodiet in the northern coast of Santa Cruz (Argentine Patagonia)

“…These values reflect an exclusive consumption of marine proteins by hunter‐gatherers during the Late Holocene. Other contexts where extremely high values of δ 15 N have also been recorded are the northern coast of Chile (Santana Sagredo, Hubbe, & Uribe, ), the southern coast of Peru (Tomczak, ), and the coast of Brazil (Colonese et al, ), as well as in historic Alaskan Eskimo populations, whose diet consisted mainly of marine mammals, and in the Haida and Tlingit societies of the northwest coast of the United States, which depended fundamentally on fishing salmon (Schoeninger, De Niro, & Tauber, ).…”

A multifaceted approach towards interpreting early life experience and infant feeding practices in the ancient Atacama Desert, Northern Chile

“…Other crops including tubers such as potato ( Solanum ), ullucu ( Ullucus ), and manioc ( Manihot ) are also likely to have been cultivated alongside squashes ( Curcurbita ), and legumes (e.g., Phaseolus ; Muñoz, ). Isotopic analysis of adults from this time period indicates that, although maize was available, individuals retained a broad‐spectrum resource base with marine resources still a significant component of the diet (Díaz‐Zorita Bonilla et al, ; King et al, ; Pestle, Torres‐Rouff, Gallardo, Ballester, & Clarot, ; Santana‐Sagredo, Hubbe, & Uribe, ). It is possible that agricultural resources comprised a more important portion of the diet for weaning infants and children (King et al, ), as crops such as maize and quinoa are easily reduced to gruels, which are used in weaning even today by the indigenous groups of the Andes (Barton, Castro Williams, Barja, & Murillo, ).…”