Roads and changing mobility in northwest argentina (AD 1400-1800)

VERONICA I WILLIAMS; KEVIN LANE; CASTELLANOS, MARÌA CECILIA

New Orleans

Congreso; 89th Annual Meeting Society for American Archaeology; 2024

Society for American Archaeology

Mobility defines human behavior; roads make that mobility possible. We study human mobility along route-networks in an area of the Middle Calchaqui Valley, Salta Province, Argentina called La Hoyada Quebrada, a natural connection route to the puna. Archaeological research highlights the fundamental role of high ravines and valleys for communication between different environments, since at least the first millennium of CE. Additionally, historical documents and secondary sources attest to the continued use and importance of this area as a transit zone until well into the Twentieth Century. As such, our case-study focuses on analyzing the development of roads and networks in the La Hoyada at two different contiguous periods in time: The Inka and the Colonial periods. La Hoyada incorporates an important Inka Road segment that connects the Calchaqui Valley with the puna and then into the saltpans, linking this area with the Atacama Desert and northern Chile that included several ancillary structures, such as way-stations (tampu), that were then reused subsequently. With the introduction of the Spanish colonial system, this entire area became part of the Hacienda de Calchaquí, which had land dedicated to agriculture and pastures for the fattening of cattle that was then taken to Upper Peru.