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Copyright of Intersecciones en Antropología is the property of Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper explores how significant are the ecological and climatic variables to influence the stable isotopes of guanacos. Lama guanicoe bone collagen carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios are assumed as a macro regional average value in west Argentina, mostly as a baseline to model archaeological human diet. If stable isotopes on mammals reflex ecology and climate, we need to know how those variables influence mammals bone stable isotope ratio. This paper analyses the 13C/12C and 15 N/14N ratio on bone collagen on 122 guanacos from Northwest Patagonia during the Holocene. The results confirm significant variation in both isotopes between Monte and Andean-Patagonian specimens. Guanacos from Monte shows higher δ13C and δ15N than those from Andean-Patagonian. Temporal trends indicate variation through Holocene but this variation is not spatially homogeneous. In this paper we suggest that Medieval Climatic Anomaly had stronger effect in Monte desert than in Patagonia desert, generating driest and/or hottest conditions between 1250 and 600 years BP. Those variations need to be considered to reconstruct human diet at least during the second part of the Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Camelids are among the largest wild and domestic faunas in South America and represent one of the most important taxa to pre-hispanic South America human populations. Stable isotope data from these animals play an important role in improving our understanding of human paleodiet, past human-animal interactions, Holocene environmental change, and modern camelid management. This paper presents δ 13 C and δ 15 N values taken from 91 camelid specimens distributed across western Argentina between 30° and 37° S. These samples come from three desert environments (Andean, Patagonia, and Monte) and include both modern and prehistoric samples. Camelid δ 13 C values range between −20.3‰ and −10.7‰, while δ 15 N values vary between 2‰ and 10.2‰. Mean isotope values differ by environmental context, with significant difference in δ 13 C and δ 15 N between Patagonian and Monte or Andean deserts. Camelid isotope values also vary with latitude, altitude and longitude, though differences in δ 15 N are weak, and these geographic differences are tied to climatic variables such as annual mean temperature, annual precipitation, and season of precipitation. When comparing camelid δ 13 C values from Central-western Argentina with those from Northwest Argentina and Patagonia, we see a latitudinal trend of decreasing δ 13 C values, with the most negative values occurring in southern Patagonia and the most positive values in Northwest Argentina. Variation in camelid stable isotope values and their association with particular environmental contexts shows their value as a geographic marker and possibly as a paleoecological proxy. These results highlight the need to consider the geographic origin of camelid isotope values when using them to reconstruct human diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores variation in maize consumption among human societies in arid environments of central-western Argentina over the last 2500 years. Increasingly positive human d 13 C signatures suggest a high intake of C 4 resources (maize) until ca . A.D. 1400. After this time, the importance of maize in the diet drops and never reaches pre-Hispanic consumption rates, despite the known importance of maize to Inka and other late-prehistoric societies in the region. This decline appears to be related to colder temperatures during the Little Ice Age from the beginning of the 15th to the mid19th centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Espanola de Antropologia Americana is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including history of landscapes in Andes, prehispanic period during the late Holocene and horticulture in Central Chile.

This paper presents the archaeofaunal analysis from the archaeological site Agua de la Cueva (south sector), between ca. 11,000 and 5000 BP. The results show scant taxonomic diversity with a strong predominance of Lama guanicoe in every analyzed component. The main differences between the human occupations belonging to the Terminal Pleistocene-Early Holocene and those from the Mid Holocene are related to the significant diminution of the deposition rate of bone specimens trough lime and the absence of Vicugna vicugna from ca.9000 B.P. With respect to this last point, the morphometric analysis argues strongly against the possibility that the bone specimens belong to the extinct sub species Lama(Vicugna) gracilis. On the contrary, these specimens appear to correspond to the extant Vicugna vicugna, whose modern southern distribution is located about 600 km. north of the site under study, finally, the data presented allow us to discuss aspects of human subsistence in the west-central portion of the south American continent during the first stages of human occupation in the region and how humans reacted to the main environmental changes that occurred during the first half of the Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]