Erosion control in Prehispanic agrarian landscapes from North-western Argentina: El Alto-Ancasti Highlands case-study (Catamarca, Argentina).

MELISA RODRIGUEZ OVIEDO; VERÓNICA ZUCCARELLI FREIRE; MARCOS. N. QUESADA; ANA SOLEDAD MELÉNDEZ

Geoarchaeology: An International Journal

Geoarchaeology: An International Journal- Wiley Online Library

Año: 2021

Recent research in the El Alto-Ancasti Highlands (North-western Argentina),have identified an extensive agricultural system distributed in between residential sites.These agricultural systems seem to have been vulnerable to a gullying system that causederosion and soil surface loss. The existence of check-dams along the inside of thesegullies, places the beginning of this erosion process at least during its Prehispanicoccupation, between 600 and 1000 A.D. when the agricultural system was active.Here we characterize the Prehispanic construction of the agricultural landscape,its impact on soil formation and the interaction established by Prehispanic farmers in thearea with the local erosive dynamics along the eastern frontier of North-westernArgentina. Our study indicates the need to pursue further research into runoff agriculturein these environments and its potential contribution for the mitigation of long-termerosive processes and risks, as well as elucidating strategies towards sustainable soilmanagement by modern-day local communities.