From weed to wheat: a diachronic approximation to crop production and food consumption in the Santa Maria valley (Argentinean Northwest)

PETRUCCI, NATALIA; LEMA, VERONICA; POCHETTINO, MARIA LELIA; PALAMARCZUK VALERIA; SPANO, ROMINA; TARRAGO MYRIAM

Paris

Congreso; 17th Conference of the International Work Group for Palaeoethnobotany; 2016

International Working Group for Palaeoethnobotany

In this presentation we bring together knowledge concerning crop production and food consumption in the Santa Mar´ıa Valley, Argentinean Northwest, in a time span ranging from the first Millennium of the Era up to the first centuries after the Spanish Conquest. Plant production is evaluated together with the postharvest system through the analysis of plant macrorremains obtained in four archaeological sites (Rincon Chico 1, Rincon Chico 15, Soria 2, El Colorado). As a result of our research we suggest changes through time considering the predominance of weeds in the earliest of the archaeological sites, maize in those corresponding to the Late Period (1000- 500 BP) and wheat in the latter one. Bringing together archaeobotanical analysis with other archaeological studies developed in these archaeological sites, we reflect on the possibilityof evaluate changes in crop assemblages, processing and food consumption from a diachronic perspective considering the continuities, breaks and overlaps in the valley ?s history.