Scale of human mobility in the southern Andes (Argentina and Chile): a preliminary framework based on strontium and oxygen isotopes

RAMIRO BARBERENA; VICTOR DURAN; PAULA NOVELLINO.; DIEGO WINOCUR; ANAHÍ BENITEZ; AUGUSTO TESSONE; MARÍA QUIROGA; ERIK MARSH; ALEJANDRA GASCO; VALERIA CORTEGOSO; GUSTAVO LUCERO; CARINA LLANO; KELLY KNUDSON

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

WILEY-LISS, DIV JOHN WILEY & SONS INC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2017

0002-9483

Objectives: The goal of this paper is to assess the scale of human paleomobility and ecological complementarity between the lowlands and highlands in the southern Andes during the last 2300 years. By providing isotope results for human bone and teeth samples, we assess a hypothesis of ?high residential mobility? suggested on the basis of oxygen isotopes from human remains. Methods: We develop an isotopic assessment of human mobility in a mountain landscape combining strontium and oxygen isotopes. We analyze bone and teeth samples as an approach to life-history changes in spatial residence. Human samples covering the main geological units and periods within the last two millennia are selected. Results: We present a preliminary framework for the analysis of bioavailable strontium based on the combination of the geological data with isotope results for rodent, soil, and plant samples. The 87Sr/86Sr values from human samples indicate residential stability within geological regions along life history. When comparing strontium and oxygen values for the same human samples, we record a divergent pattern: there is a wide overlap of18O values for samples from distant regions, while 87Sr/86Sr values allow discriminating them.Conclusions: Despite the large socio-economic changes recorded for the last 2300 years, 87Sr/86Sr values indicate a persisting scenario of low systematic mobility between the different geological regions. Our results suggest that strontium isotope values provide the most germane means to track patterns of human occupation of distinct regions in complex geological landscapes, offering a much higher spatial resolution than oxygen isotopes in the Andes.