Farmers and herders in the high quebradas of the valle Calchaquí medio (Salta, Argentine) between the 11th and early 17th century.

VERÓNICA I. WILLIAMS

Washington DC

Congreso; 83 th Annual Meeting Society for American archaeology; 2018

Society for American Archaeology

For Northwestern Argentina (NWA) the period between AD 1000 and 1400 represented a state of political fragmentation, conflict situations, and the emergence of hierarchies materialized in the presence of defensive settlements, iconography, war paraphernalia, and evidence of trauma on human remains. Climatic change that occurred in the Andes starting in the 13th century is one of the main causes of this regional disruption. The archaeological data from the high quebradas (ravines) of the Valle Calchaquí Medio, in the present-day Province of Salta, NWA between the 11th and 17th century, allows us to hypothesize about a continuity in the occupation of this area. This occupation, presented a continuum of social logic and practices from earlier Prehispanic periods linked to subsistence strategies and social reproduction, such as seasonal and altitudinal management by farmers and herders.