Fire Events, Violence and Abandonment Scenarios in the Ancient Andes: The Final Stage of the Aguada Culture in the Ambato Valley, Northwest Argentina

HENRIK B. LINDSKOUG

JOURNAL OF WORLD PREHISTORY

Springer US

Año: 2016 vol. 29 p. 155 - 214

0892-7537

Understanding how archaeological sites are abandonedis a vital part of archaeology. This paper explores abandonment as a phenomenonin a worldwide context, particularly in relation to sites with evidence of fire,and with a special focus on the South-Central Andes. I evaluate the patternsfrom an area of the Argentinian Andes and discuss the disappearance of theAguada Culture, one of the central cultures in Argentinian prehistory, usingevidence from the core area the Ambato Valley. I conclude that environmentalfactors were not the sole or determining source of stress, but rather part of asocial? environmental dimension in which severalfactors combined to push a society into a vulnerable situation. In terms of theabandonment of the Aguada settlements in the Ambato Valley, the study showsthat frequent forest fires might have played a role, but based upon theregularity of such events as seen in the sediment history, it is unlikely thatthese were the only factor in the process of abandonment of the valley.