Late Prehispanic Period Research Articles

Dwelling architecture and flexible land-use strategies in the Prehispanic Sierras de Córdoba, Argentina

The article examines the evidence of architecture recovered from the Late Prehispanic Period of the Sierras de Córdoba (∼1220–330 cal BP), Argentina. We explore the relationship between household architecture and the level of residential mobility, arguing that a flexible subsistence and mobility pattern followed the adoption of plant cultivation and not entirely sedentary farming. The architectural evidence presented structures made using low-energy construction techniques that were not intended for an anticipated long-term occupation. This architecture meets the expectation of a settlement pattern left by groups that were occasional food producers and used specific locations as seasonal campsites, indicating a flexible landscape-use organization.

When humans were the hunted: bone-tipped arrow points in Prehispanic Sierras of Córdoba, Argentina

ABSTRACT This paper presents the techno-typological study of seven bone projectile points closely associated with a burial assemblage excavated from El Alto 5 (~550 cal BP, Sierras of Córdoba, Argentina). The bone points provide a comparative model for interpreting the function of arrow points, primarily concerning how archaeologists can accurately differentiate the arrow tips used for warfare or hunting. Bone points have barbed shoulders to resist removal from the wound and serrated stems for secure hafting. They required shafts a few millimeters thicker than stone-tipped arrows for hafting, involving more kinetic energy to inflict severe injuries. Identifying a dark residue spattered over the blades opens the possibility that poison was applied to enhance the effectiveness of the shoot. The study is considered a starting point to build more accurate models to identify interpersonal violence during the Late Prehispanic Period, where most bone points occurred as domestic refuse of campsites.

Bone spearheads from the Late Prehispanic Period of Sierras of Cordoba (Argentina)

AbstractThe archaeological record of the Late Prehispanic Period of Sierras of Córdoba, Argentina (~1220–330 cal BP) has revealed a rich and highly developed bone industry. The worked bones are purported to include various types of hunting or warfare weapons such as arrowheads, knives and daggers, or bleeders. However, most of the latter two tools can now be interpreted as spear or spear‐thrower dart heads based on ethnographic and macro‐wear studies. Thus, the aim of this article is to present the techno‐typological and functional analysis carried out on the bone spearheads collected at the San Roque archaeological locality (Villa Carlos Paz, Argentina). Spearheads are defined as massive and strong pointed tools that are suitable for hafting to a shaft about 15 mm or more in diameter, which corresponds to ethnographic spears or darts. The tools were assigned to the Late Prehispanic Period based on their similarity with those recovered in neighboring sites and regions during the last 1,500 years. The study supports the contention that Late Prehispanic people developed a variable and highly sophisticated set of weapons suitable for taking any animal resource when encountered, minimizing the cost of failure in the capture of the prey they depended on. However, warfare and the use of spears in raids against other groups need to be taken into account because evidence of physical interpersonal violence increases in the Late Prehispanic Period. Finally, it is proposed that museum collections can provide valuable data for archaeologists, mostly when artifacts with low frequency in modern excavations are the focus of the analysis.

Body size from unconventional specimens: A 3D geometric morphometrics approach to fishes from Ancestral Pueblo Contexts

Animal body size estimation from zooarchaeological specimens often relies on specific, one-dimensional (i.e., conventional) measures from skeletal elements. Here, we introduce an animal body size estimation technique for archaeological fishes that relies on 3D reference scans and the calculation of centroid size, a standard 3D geometric morphometric proxy measure for organism size. Centroid size-based estimations on whole caudal vertebrae are strongly correlated with a widely accepted measure (i.e., centrum width), but the scalability and flexibility of the centroid size-based approach allows for use on a wide variety of fragmented remains. We use zooarchaeological fish remains (subfamily Ictiobinae) from late pre-Hispanic period large village sites located in the Middle Rio Grande region of New Mexico. Informal reports suggest that fishes were large during this time, and we demonstrate that ictiobines were significantly large compared to modern specimens. The centroid size-based body size estimation technique indicates that Ancestral Pueblo fishing strategies were associated with energy maximizing foraging behavior.

Sandstone weathering processes in the painted rock shelters of Cerro Colorado (Córdoba, Argentina)

AbstractTafoni, produced by physicochemical weathering of sandstones, are abundant in the Cerro Colorado (Córdoba province, Argentina). Many of the rock shelters are decorated with rock art of high heritage significance. This art belongs to semisedentary communities from the Late Prehispanic Period (ca. 1550–350 AP). They include morphologies inherited from more humid ancient climates combined with current weathering processes. Evolutionary relief study established that tafoni formation is a product of inherited past wetter climates. Mineralogical and petrographic analyses were performed on samples collected from the sandstones and from various morphologies, weathering residues, and wall and ceiling concretions at four rock shelters, Cueva del Indio, Ricci, Quitilipi, and La Trampa. Gypsum and other salts that are not part of the unaltered rock but the result of weathering reveal the magnitude of hydroclastic and haloclastic processes. These activities form active granular disintegration, flaking, and spalling, and impinge on some painted panels. Mapping the distribution of weathering features and processes at each rock shelter enables the planning of interventions to mitigate and alleviate the effects caused by infiltration of water through rock discontinuities, fractures, and overhangs. It also allows decreasing the accumulation of dust and minimizing muddy water flowing over the paintings. These actions are aimed at retarding the progression of rock art degradation and the visible loss of some paintings.

Horticultura, movilidad y tecnología lítica

This article analyzes the core technology, flaked stone artifacts manufacture debris and tools recovered at Boyo Paso 2 (Sierras de Córdoba, Argentina), an open-air site interpreted as a residential base-camp occupied during the growing season (October-April) by people with mixed foraging and cultivation economy. The major aim is to present the results and characterize the organization of lithic technology during the Late Pre-Hispanic Period (1500-350 BP), where the adoption of plant cultivation did not constrained the group´s mobility or the time investment into other subsistence activities as foraging. Results pointed out the existence of certain curated technological component among late prehispanic groups, which in conjunction with expedient flake-tool production strategies governed the organization of technology. The intensive exploitation of fine-grain lithic but less abundant in the landscape raw materials, in a context dominated by expedient tools, provides primary data to understand the variability of technological responses where the adoption of crop plants did not necessarily lead to fully-sedentary farming, a pattern commonly observed ethnographically but difficult to identify from the material culture.

Using ceramic petrography to assess human mobility during the Late Prehispanic Period from Sierras of Córdoba (Argentina)

How human foragers adjusted their mobility strategies to the labor demand of plant cultivation is a question that drives much modern archaeological research. As a result, the spread of food-producing economies during the Late Prehispanic Period from Sierras of Córdoba (Argentina, ca. 1500–360 BP) has been recently defined as a dynamic sociocultural process where a mixed foraging and cultivation economy was accompanied by a flexible and seasonal landscape-use organization. However, the seasonal-sedentary model requires the elaboration of details that have not been specified. In order to enhance the knowledge of local and regional mobility, pottery fragments obtained on five open-air sites from Pampa of Olaen, northern Punilla and eastern Salsacate valleys interpreted as seasonally reoccupied encampments were studied. A first petrographic analysis of ceramic pastes was performed to explore how pottery production, distribution and consumption were organized within late prehispanic groups. It was concluded the pots were likely fashioned using raw materials obtained close to sites and carried during the annual cycle of mobility, improving the understanding of residential mobility in archaeological groups where the adoption of crop plants did not necessary lead to fully-sedentary farming.

Pit-houses, seasonality, and subsistence resources: an essay from Boyo Paso 2 (ca. 900–700 BP, Sierras of Córdoba, Argentina)

How pre-Hispanic foragers adjusted their foraging and mobility strategies to plant cultivation is a question that drives much of the modern archaeological research. As a result, the spread of food-producing economies during the late pre-Hispanic period from Sierras of Cordoba (Argentina, ca. 1500–360 BP) has been recently defined as a dynamic sociocultural process where a mixed foraging and cultivation economy was accompanied by a flexible and seasonally landscape-use organization. However, the seasonally-sedentary model requires the elaboration of details that has not been specified. In order to enhance the discussion, this paper presents the study carried out on faunal and botanical spring-summer indicators recovered at Boyo Paso 2, an open-air site interpreted as a residential base camp occupied during the growing season (October–April) by people with mixed foraging and cultivation economy. The major aim was to identify reliable biological indicators to assess the season of use of the site based on their ecology. The identification of Rheidae eggshells, small vertebrates, crops, and wild fruits remains, as well as the contextual evidence, supports that Boyo Paso 2 was occupied with a stronger signature in middle spring through early autumn (October–April), when planting, harvesting, and/or wild food were available around the site. Thus, it is concluded that zooarchaeological and archaeobotanical data were critical to understand the dynamic process that has underlain transition from foraging to farming in Sierras of Cordoba, providing data to improve the understanding of residential mobility in archaeological groups where the adoption of crops plants did not necessary lead to fully sedentary farming.

Animal food during the Late Prehispanic Period at Sierras of Córdoba, Argentina. A zooarchaeological view from Boyo Paso 2

How prehispanic foragers adjusted their foraging activities to plant cultivation is a question that drives much of the modern archaeological research. As a result, the spread of food-producing economies during the Late Prehispanic Period (c. 1500-360 BP) from Sierras of Cordoba, Argentina, has been recently defined as a dynamic sociocultural process, where a mixed foraging and cultivation economy was accompanied by a flexible land-use strategy. However, the economic organization has only been superficially assessed. Thus, the aim of this article is to present the study of faunal remains recovered during the excavation of the open-air site Boyo Paso 2 in order to provide primary data on the properties of the animal food remains left by late prehispanic people and the characteristics of site occupation. Faunal remains suggest a complex sequence of reoccupations where bones were deposited, accidentally reburned and fragmented by trampling. The diversity of exploited prey also sheds light on the fact that a broad hunting spectrum continued playing a key role in the daily subsistence. Nevertheless, cultigens were a fluctuating component in a diverse foraging economy in which wild resources as guanaco (Lama guanicoe Muller, 1776), small-vertebrates and Rheidae eggs continued to be extensively used. The study of Boyo Paso 2 faunal assemblage is relevant because it helps to improve the current understanding of the economic importance of foraging wild resources and would constitute a model to interpret other archaeological cases during the Neolithic or Formative transition, where the boundaries between farming and foraging were fluid, but remained relatively invisible according to the existing terminology.

ENTRE BORUS Y FRAGMENTOS. ANÁLISIS DE UN CONTEXTO ARQUEOMALACOLÓGICO DE PRODUCCIÓN DE CUENTAS EN CERRO COLORADO (SIERRAS DEL NORTE, CÓRDOBA, ARGENTINA)

Se realiza el análisis de un conjunto de fragmentos malacológicos pertenecientes al caracol gigante Megalobulimus lorentzianus (Doering 1876) o Borus, procedente de una excavación efectuada en la localidad de Cerro Colorado (provincia de Córdoba). Los resultados obtenidos sugieren que los depósitos estratigráficos de los cuales fueron recuperados estos fragmentos serían de origen antrópico, dado que habría indicios de selección de estos elementos malacológicos. Se discuten estas evidencias en vinculación a la fabricación de cuentas destinadas a la ornamentación personal, a la vez que se propone a los sitios de procedencia de estos hallazgos, como un locus de producción que registra diferentes momentos de una cadena operativa, cuyos componentes se caracterizan por variaciones cuantitativas. En base a la información contextual y a los datos arqueológicos recopilados durante los últimos años en la localidad, por ahora se estima que la cronología para los usos artesanales de este recurso sería compatible con el período Prehispánico tardío propuesto para las Sierras Centrales (ca. 1500-400 AP).

Painted origins: inscribed landscape histories in the Fortaleza pictograph style during the Andean, late pre-Hispanic period

ABSTRACT The headwaters of the Fortaleza River, Ancash, Peru are an understudied area, archaeologically. Seventeenth-century Spanish Colonial accounts from the region describe a general moiety distinction between highland pastoralist and agricultural communities and mention named corporate ancestral descent groups (ayllu). Pierre Duviols’ analysis of these accounts identified that these moieties were actually mixed, bi-ethnic communities that originated around A.D. 1350. To test these observations and analysis, this study focuses on a large complex of rock art from the region referred to as Fortaleza pictograph style and which is defined by large panels that are found in association with water springs, tombs and agricultural fields. Regional survey and excavation results are paired with these accounts and Duviols’ analysis to place in time when ayllus deployed rock art to construct location-based histories and in doing so, controlled resources, primarily water and heritage in a time characterized by social strife and unreliable resources.

Arquitectura prehispánica limeña de los siglos XI al XV: El caso de la conservación de la Pirámide A de Mateo Salado

Desde el año 1000 de la era cristiana hasta finales del período prehispánico, floreció en Lima la cultura Yschma. De ella han quedado numerosas huacas o edificaciones prehispánicas, que se caracterizan por tener a la tierra como principal material de construcción, desde mortero para asentar piedras hasta grandes bloques de tierra y enlucidos. Son testimonio histórico de este período sitios arqueológicos como el Complejo Maranga, ubicado en el actual Parque de las Leyendas, la Universidad Católica y la Universidad San Marcos, y otros como Mateo Salado, Huaca La Luz, Huantille, Huantinamarca, San Borja, La Merced y muchos más. Estas edificaciones han sido seriamente afectadas por el paso del tiempo, los movimientos sísmicos y el avance de la modernidad. En este ensayo se presenta la descripción constructiva-estructural del Complejo arqueológico Mateo Salado (1100 d.C. – 1532 d.C.), y los trabajos de conservación y consolidación realizados en el año 2007 en la pirámide A por un equipo interdisciplinar que integró arqueología, conservación e ingeniería estructural, que se rigió por los conceptos de respeto a la autenticidad, conocimiento profundo de la fábrica, seguridad estructural e intervención de mínimo impacto en el valor cultural.

Aproximaciones etnobotánicas de las especies y prácticas de frutos nativos comestibles de la actualidad. Aportes para la interpretación del pasado prehispánico de Cerro Colorado (Córdoba, Argentina).

Los estudios etnobotánicos constituyen una importante base de conocimiento sobre la cual la paleoetnobotánica, disciplina que analiza los restos vegetales arqueológicos, hace pie para inferir las posibles prácticas realizadas en el pasado por los grupos humanos. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo, en primer lugar, identificar y documentar las especies nativas de frutos comestibles utilizadas por los pobladores actuales de Cerro Colorado (Córdoba, Argentina) y alrededores. En segundo lugar, detallar las prácticas asociadas a su uso como alimento (precolecta, colecta, postcolecta, consumo y descarte). Para ambos objetivos se efectuaron entrevistas abiertas y semiestructuradas y observación participante de las actividades realizadas. Y finalmente, mediante los resultados obtenidos, realizar un primer acercamiento a las distintas esferas de actividades que pudieron realizarse en el pasado y en los cuales estuvieron involucradas los vegetales. De esta manera, se contabilizaron 20 especies cuyos frutos se reconocen como alimento, de los cuales 13 son procesados de algún modo antes de ser consumidos, mientras que el resto son ingeridos únicamente como “fruta fresca”. Se registraron diversos productos, tales como arrope, mermelada, jalea y harina. Para el estudio de lo ocurrido en el pasado, se cuenta con la información proveniente del sitio Quebrada Norte 7 (Sierra del Norte, Córdoba). La integración de datos permitió vislumbrar prácticas postcolecta actuales que pueden tener su correlato en el pasado, como así también la existencia de discontinuidades en el consumo de los recursos nativos.

Hilando entre las rocas... análisis de los diseños de torteros foráneos en el arte rupestre de Cerro Colorado (norte de Córdoba, Argentina)

This paper analysis some rock art motifs that breaking with a Cerro Colorado (Sierras del Norte, Cordoba) shared repertoire. The local and macro regional iconographic comparison provide us guidelines for understanding their incorporation into the local repertoire. In the same way, this comparative strategy allow to proposed lines to inquiry about the social processes that took place in the region during the Late Pre-hispanic period (400-1550 AD). Thus, some motifs of Cerro Colorado are similar to the designs of the spindle whorls found in the middle region of Salado river (Santiago del Estero) but also on site of La Paya (Calchaqui Valley). Its inclusion in a local historical context marked by social tensions involving different spheres of interaction indicates that these designs were symbolic resources to strengthen and demarcation within and also out of the group from the reference to the ties established with communities, for example, of the of thelowlands of Santiago del Estero.

Archaeobotany in central Argentina: macro- and microscopic remains at several archaeological sites from early Late Holocene to early colonial times (3,000–250 bp)

Recent archaeobotanical research on 16 archaeological sites in the Sierras de Cordoba, central Argentina, provides new insights into the livelihoods and subsistence practices of the peoples who inhabited this mountainous region from c. 3,000–250 bp. Significantly, the plant macro- and microbotanical remains, identified as primarily fruit from wild trees, crops and weeds, provide evidence for a continuation in the consumption and manipulation of plant resources. During the late pre-Hispanic period (1,500–350 bp) people used domesticated plants such as maize, as well as new types of plant processing techniques that permitted the consumption of otherwise inedible wild seeds such as chenopods. The introduction of cultivated plants through contact with agricultural societies at around 1,000 bp was slow and did not substantially change the existing foraging way of life. Instead, crop plants were added to the existing, highly diversified subsistence systems in use in the Sierras de Cordoba, rather than replacing wild plant gathering.

Anthropogenic pollen, foraging, and crops during Sierras of Córdoba Late Prehispanic Period (Argentina)

The palynological study carried out in seven archaeological sites from Sierras of Córdoba Late Prehispanic Period (ca. 1500–360 yr BP) is presented in this article. The fossil pollen was used to assess the late prehispanic subsistence and mobility patterns based on their impact on local vegetation. Analogues obtained from modern vegetation and human-induced cultivation settings were used as a guideline for interpreting the ancient pollinic spectra. Results showed that anthropogenic pollen dominated by chenopod-amaranth plants occurred during a period of increased moisture and significant cultural change, where on-site farming and increasing occupation redundancy were identified. Thus, human disturbance and cultivation are thought to be the probable cause for elevated Chenopodiaceae–Amaranthaceae percentage in fossil assemblages. Consequently, the late prehispanic societies were likely modifying vegetation more extensively than had been previously assumed and the composition of ‘pristine’ landscape was not only altered by climate change or after the Europeans’ arrival. The ancient clearing of the forest for farming, housing, and/or other activities played a dynamic role in land cover conformation. So, the archaeological study of mixed foraging and cultivation economies needs to encompass human–plant–landscape interaction, leaving behind the concept of small-scale societies as passive foragers exploiting the ecosystem.

Domestic textile production in the Late Prehispanic period of the Nasca area (south coast of Peru) : A view from Huayuri, Palpa

El área de Nasca es una de las regiones del Perú que nos ha proveído con innumerables ejemplos arqueológicos de la destreza textil de los antiguos peruanos. Aunque ahora sabemos mucho acerca de las técnicas involucradas en la manufactura de estos mantos y túnicas, sin embargo poco sabemos de los contextos en los que se dio su producción. Menos aún es lo que sabemos de la producción de ejemplares de uso doméstico, y del rol que esta producción jugo en estas sociedades a través del tiempo. Este trabajo intenta contribuir con información sobre la producción de textiles domésticos proveyendo una mirada desde los contextos excavados en Ciudad Perdida de Huayuri, un asentamiento prehispánico localizado en la parte norte de la cuenca del Rio Grande de Nasca (Perú) y ocupado durante el Período Intermedio Tardío y el Horizonte Tardío (1100-1470 AD/1470-1532 AD). Aquí se reconstruye la cadena productiva en base a herramientas y deshechos de producción de tres unidades residenciales aledañas dentro del sitio para entender qué se producía y cuál era el rol de las unidades domésticas en esta producción.

The first quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) macrobotanical remains at Sierras del Norte (Central Argentina) and their implications in pre-Hispanic subsistence practices

This paper presents a study of the first quinoa macrobotanical remains from the late pre-Hispanic site Quebrada Norte 7 (ca. 700 to 300 BP, Sierras of Norte, Córdoba, Argentina). The genus Chenopodium have been recorded since c. 7000 BP in several archaeological sites in Andean South America, from the Middle Holocene to the era of the Inca empire, suggesting that this plant has been used in multiple ways and has had economic and social importance continuing into the present time. Quinoa has been considered one of the primary subsistence resources available to societies in the sierras of Córdoba during the late Pre-Hispanic Period (800–1500CE), but this inference was drawn from indirect data, such as Spanish documents and archaeological starch, grains, and pollen. The identification of Chenopodium quinoa was made via macrobotanical remains (achenes), examining quantitative and qualitative features. The presence of both quinoa and ajara, or quinoa negra, remains suggests that the Andean crop/weed complex was part of subsistence system in Central Argentina.

Architectural space in the Muisca settlement of La Maria (Chia, Colombia) during the Prehispanic and Colonial periods

Archaeological fieldwork conducted on a plot of land near the town of Chia (Colombia, South America) uncovered the remains of a small Muisca settlement occupied from the late Prehispanic period to the colonial period. The excavation program documented particular sets of features including postholes, pits, colored floors, and a burial. These elements provided a baseline for reconstructing the ground plans of perishable structures and architectural spaces. The components of built areas were key cultural referents for the peoples who lived in La Maria during the Prehispanic period. Important changes in the arrangement of the elements that comprise architectural space are observed during the colonial period, arguably as the result of important transformations in native culture.

The archaeological landscape of Late Prehispanic mixed foraging and cultivation economy (Sierras of Córdoba, Argentina)

A short review of current data regarding the landscape use in the Sierras of Córdoba Late Prehispanic Period (ca. 1500–300BP) is presented in this article. Resulting expectation about residential mobility and subsistence are analyzed in light of new evidence and interpretative framework. The lack of substantial middens, few evidences of year-round residence and the low investment in farming fields support the inadequacies of the assumption that the agriculture led to the sudden dependence of crops and to the sedentary way of life in pit-house villages. Other archaeological indicators as the intensity of landscape use, the taxonomic richness of food residues, the abundance of projectile point-types and isotopic evidence reinforce these arguments. However, the evidence suggests that the Late Prehispanic peoples showed flexible subsistence and mobility patterns as one of their defining traits, where nuclear families moved around the landscape to take advantage of both agricultural and wild resources as available. Thus, farming was a fluctuating component in a mixed foraging and cultivation economy where wild animals and plants were intensively exploited through seasonal co-residential group fission–fusion mechanisms that follow the pre-existing Middle Holocene forager lifeways. Nevertheless, many variables can affect this equation, including regional population densities, social boundaries or annual variation in foraging opportunities and a mosaic of strategies combination is also predicted.