An early Hispanic-Indigenous contact event at the Los Viscos archaeological site in the South‐Central Andes: a zooarchaeological perspective

MARÍA FLORENCIA ARIAS; MARIANA MONDINI; MARÍA ALEJANDRA KORSTANJE

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Springer

Año: 2021

1092-7697

Los Viscos is a multicomponent rockshelter located in El Bolsón, a high‐altitude valley in theSouth‐Central Andes. It contains occupations spanning the last 1200 years and includes anepisode dated to the early Hispanic‐Indigenous contact period (c. 400 BP, 1450‐1630 calAD), when European fauna was already present in the region but Hispanic political controlwas not yet established. A zooarchaeological analysis of the archaeofaunal assemblagecorresponding to this occupation event is presented (NSP=230; NISP=80). Camelids werethe main exploited resource, with a focus in their primary resources, and minor wild taxawere also processed marginally. This implies major continuity with the previous, lateprehispanic occupations, although some discontinuities are noted, including the lack of theexploitation of camelid secondary products and of meat delayed consumption in this latestoccupation. A multiproxy approach to the record of human‐animal interactions allows todeeply understand these tiny but highly significant deposits. The one presented here isunique in that these earliest interactions between indigenous and global populations arerarely documented.