People and plants in the South-Central Andes of Argentina: The case of Antofagasta de la Sierra, Southern Argentinean Puna (ca. 5000-1000 years BP)

BABOT, MARÍA DEL PILAR; HOCSMAN, SALOMÓN

Dublin (Irlanda)

Congreso; Sixth World Archaeological Congress; 2008

World Archaeological Congress-University College Dublin

In this paper we discuss the role of plant resources for the human groups that occupied Antofagasta de la Sierra, in the Argentinean portion of South-Central Andes, between ca. 5000-1000 years BP. These groups were considered as hunter-gatherer-pastoralists with a later adoption of horticulture-agriculture, but the focus was traditionally sent on the hunting resources instead of de plant ones (wild or domestic). Nevertheless, in the last years, the discussion around the role of useful plants had gained a central place and it is currently a main topic. In this frame, we explore the importance of these resources around the entire lapse of study, by using the intensification concept, and assess the way in which different practices related with the use of plants for food and other purposes impacted in the physiognomy of Punean flora.