COMPOSITION OF PREHISPANIC DIETS FROM STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS IN HUMAN REMAINS OF THE SOUTHERN CALCHAQUÍES VALLEYS, NORTHWEST ARGENTINA (3,600-1,300 BP)

KILLIAN GALVÁN, V. A.; CORTÉS, LETICIA I. ; RABUFFETTI, NADIA

Latin American Antiquity

Cambridge University Press

Año: 2021

1045-6635

The present paper discusses the composition of prehispanic diets based on the isotopic composition (ẟ13C, ẟ15N) of 10 human samples dated between 3,600 and 1,300 BP from the Cajón valley, Northwest Argentina. The sample is the only one available for the time and region considered. It covers a 2,300-year range showing long term tendencies in the consumption of food resources during the time of experimentation with and domestication of plants and animals in the high altitude valleys of the Southern Calchaquíes valleys. Results indicate that diets included a substantial contribution of the animal component in relation to the plant component. This proportion was maintained even during the human occupations associated with the agropastoral villages of Cardonal and Bordo Marcial (ca. 2,000 BP), when a major contribution of plant resources, in particular, maize, was expected. This new evidence demonstrates the diversity of productive strategies that would have been used by the societies of Northwest Argentina at the beginning of the Formative period, when a variety of resources supported the daily alimentation, minimizing the importance of maize in the diets.