The timing and mode of southern Andean human migrations

RAMIRO BARBERENA; LORENA BECERRA-VALDIVIA; DANIELA GUEVARA; PAULA NOVELLINO

RADIOCARBON

UNIV ARIZONA DEPT GEOSCIENCES

Lugar: Arizona; Año: 2024

0033-8222

While recent genomic and isotopic information show that migration has been pervasive along humanhistory, southern Andean archaeology has largely overlooked its importance in shaping humantrajectories of sociocultural change. Building on previous isotopic research that identified the presenceof migrant farmers in the Uspallata Valley (Mendoza, Argentina), we present chronological andbioarchaeological results that help to characterize the timing and mode of human migrations in thesouthern Andes. The burials with migrants show the representation of the different age classes,including a high abundance of children, as well as both men and women, suggesting that familygroups were likely involved. The Bayesian modeling of 16 direct dates for migrants indicates thatthese migrations started between 1210-1275 CE (median 1255 CE) and finished at 1320-1425 CE(median 1360 CE), indicating that there is nearly no overlap between the commencement of thismigration phase and the southwards expansion of the Inka Empire. The model defines a diachronicprocess that lasted between 55 and 195 years, implying that migration to Uspallata was a multigenerational process that involved between two and eight generations (median of four generations). Our contextual, bioarchaeological and chronological evidence indicates that the conditions fostering migration to Uspallata were sustained through time, inviting to explore persisting push-pull dynamics acting during this period. 87Sr/86Sr results show that migration occurred across the daily territories of these groups and may have involved movement across social or ethnic frontiers.