Pastoral mobility in the South Andes: an approach through stable isotope analysis

MARYAÑSKI, JUAN; TESSONE, AUGUSTO; NIELSEN, AXEL

San Rafael

Conferencia; 12da Conferencia Internacional ICAZ.; 2014

International Council for Archaeozoology

Demographic clustering and agropastoral intensification were key rocesses of late pre-Hispanic (AD 900-1550) societies in the South Andes. Based on ethnographic analogy, it is commonly accepted that those processes led to the emergence of some forms of verticality-based economies, which Included specialized areas for camelid pastoralism and the development of large-scale herd mobility. At the same time, recent research shows that Camelid dietary composition in Andean environments (measured through carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios) is strongly correlated with altitude, allowing the archaeological assessment of herd mobility ranges and grazing areas. In this paper, we combine site distribution and isotopic data (d13C and d15N) from archaeological camelid bone collagen (79 samples from three sites) to explore spatio-temporal variations in pastoral land-use patterns in the San Juan River basin (Southwest Bolivia and Northwest Argentina) during the Late Regional Development Period (AD 1200-1450). Our results show that general changes in settlement size and distribution affected pastoral land-use, but they also suggest local variations in herding mobility which indicate more diversity in pastoral practices than assumed by ethnographically based models.