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Food production is one of the most significant achievements in Andean history. The domestication of plants and animals presented an enormous challenge, relating to changing technologies, settlement patterns, and social organization. This paper aims to assess Atacama Desert population dynamics and their relationship to the domestication of plants and animals through chronological modeling using kernel density estimation on radiocarbon (14C) dates, assuming that a higher 14C probability density is related to more intense human occupation. The analysis is based on a 14C dataset comprising 1003 14C dates (between 11,000 and 150 BP) from 243 archaeological sites in the Arica and Tarapacá regions of northern Chile, collected from published data. We observed two population-dynamics inflection points for these regions. First, starting at ca. 3000 BP, constant population growth occurred, which was related to horticulture in the Arica region and to agriculture in the Tarapacá region. Second, between ca. 1000 and 400 BP, a general population rise occurred due to the consolidation of intensive agriculture in the lowlands and precordillera altitudinal belts in both regions and the integration of the coast and the altiplano into macro-regional population dynamics.

The archaeological record shows that large pre-Inca agricultural systems supported settlements for centuries around the ravines and oases of northern Chile’s hyperarid Atacama Desert. This raises questions about how such productivity was achieved and sustained, and its social implications. Using isotopic data of well-preserved ancient plant remains from Atacama sites, we show a dramatic increase in crop nitrogen isotope values (δ15N) from around ad 1000. Maize was most affected, with δ15N values as high as +30‰, and human bone collagen following a similar trend; moreover, their carbon isotope values (δ13C) indicate a considerable increase in the consumption of maize at the same time. We attribute the shift to extremely high δ15N values—the highest in the world for archaeological plants—to the use of seabird guano to fertilize crops. Guano—‘white gold’ as it came to be called—thus sustained agricultural intensification, supporting a substantial population in an otherwise extreme environment. The source of pre-Inca agriculture in the Atacama Desert of Chile has been the subject of multiple theories, but this Article uses preserved maize remains to deduce that coastal guano deposits were utilized in an impressive display of social and ecological sophistication.

Pre-European Plant Consumption and Cultural Changes in the Coastal Lluta Valley, Atacama Desert, Northern Chile (Ca. 5140–390 Cal Yr BP). The introduction of domesticated plants into ancient hunting and gathering economic systems expanded and transformed human societies worldwide during the Holocene. These transformations occurred even in the oases and hyperarid environments of the Atacama Desert along the Pacific coast. Human groups inhabiting this desert incorporated adjacent habitats to the semi-tropical valleys through transitory or logistic camps like Morro Negro 1 (MN-1), in the Lluta valley (~12 km from the littoral in northernmost Chile), into their settlement patterns. During the earliest occupation (Late Archaic period, 5140–4270 cal yr BP) people collected and consumed wild plants, although crops such as Lagenaria were present. Following a gap of more than 2000 years between 4270 and 1850, people returned and introduced new domesticated plants at the site (Gossypium, Zea mays, Capsicum), which displaced the use of wild reed (Schoenoplectus) rhizomes as the chief staple during the first occupation. This change in food consumption was linked to the transformations that took place during the Archaic-Formative transition, but did not entirely shift the ways of life of these coastal marine hunter-gatherers.

El juego de datos (sitios y caminos) está disponible en el repositorio público Digital.CSiC, accesible en la siguiente URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/217541., [ES] Haciendo eco de las crónicas coloniales sobre el sistema vial imperial andino, la mayoría de las investigaciones sobre caminos incaicos se han centrado en su planificación y tecnología monumental como las principales características de esta infraestructura prehispánica tardía. Mediante un estudio regional en los valles de Arica (18° S), abordamos, en este trabajo, una investigación del Qhapaq Ñan (sistema vial incaico) desde una perspectiva de redes. Analizamos un palimpsesto de 13.000 km de vías, producido por la acumulación de sistemas viales de distintos períodos cronológicos. Este es relacionado con el patrón de asentamiento prehispánico tardío para modelizar los flujos de movimiento durante los siglos quince y dieciséis: mediante análisis espaciales, delineamos las estructuras más probables de las redes viales local e imperial. Finalmente, consideramos medidas de centralidades y acumulación de flujo para discutir la hipótesis del control del movimiento como estrategia imperial. Los resultados muestran que la hegemonía incaica se pudo relacionar con el control espacial de los flujos de las interacciones, y también que el enfoque de red aplicado a los palimpsestos viales reviste gran potencial para la arqueología del movimiento en regiones desérticas y montañosas., [EN] Echoing colonial chronicles about the imperial Andean road system, most research on Inca roads has focused on monumental technology and planning as the main characteristics of this late prehispanic infrastructure. Through a regional case study of the Arica valleys (18° S), we show that the Qhapaq Ñan (Inca road system) research may also be understood by considering network dynamics, and not necessarily centered on an exclusive monumental road. We analyze a palimpsest composed of around 13,000 km of roads and paths (extending through deserts, valleys, and mountains) produced by the accumulation through time of road systems of distinct chronological periods. Here, we connect this palimpsest to the late prehispanic settlement pattern to model the flows of movement in the region during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Spatial analyses allow us to identify the most likely structure of local and imperial networks. Finally, we use measurements of centralities and flow accumulation to address the hypothesis that the control of movement was an imperial strategy. The results show that Inca hegemony may have been related to the spatial control of the interaction flows within the region, and also that the palimpsest-based network approach has great potential for the archaeological study of roads in desert and mountain regions., Aportaron financiamientos ANID BecasChile, CONICYT/PIA Anillo SOC1405 y el Ministerio de Europa y relaciones exteriores de Francia: proyectos Altos Arica y Redes Andinas. Además, este proyecto ha recibido financiación del programa de investigación e innovación Horizon 2020 de la Unión Europea según el convenio de subvención Marie Skłodowska-Curie N° 800617 RoadNet_Andes.

International audience; In archaeology, movement is often studied on the basis of evidence for specific roads, which implicitly structures our understanding of the settlement system. Conversely, spatial analysis of regional settlement systems, based on locations, also tends to structure our understanding of movement. However, when it comes to studying the development or transformation of a landscape, this dichotomy makes our reasoning circular. Does a crossroads emerge from the habitat or is the habitat located at the crossroads because it is an opportunity for development? By favouring an approach to mobility that is based on the analysis of movement practices of human or non-human agents, two international projects, MoveScape and Redes andinas, work on a methodological approach in which various conceptions of space experienced by societies can be associated to movement, and that incorporates material traces that are traditionally not integrated into the study of movement.; La arqueología de los antiguos sistemas de movilidad se basa generalmente en el estudio de vías específicas, las cuales son relacionadas implícitamente al patrón de asentamiento regional. Recíprocamente, la aproximación a partir de los patrones de asentamiento tiende a condicionar a priori nuestra visión de los flujos de movilidad. Esta dicotomía tiende a producir razonamientos circulares que no contribuyen al estudio de la morfogénesis de los territorios. Este problema puede resumirse en una simple pregunta: los cruces de caminos se desarrollan en función de los sistemas de asentamiento, o bien condicionan la estructuración de estos sistemas? À partir de protocolos de análisis de vestigios arqueológicos de prácticas de movilidad de agentes (humanos y no-humanos) en distintas regiones, los proyectos MoveScape y Redes andinas están desarrollando una metodología para modelizar los procesos de estructuración entre sistemas de movilidad y asentamiento, en el tiempo largo.; En archéologie, la mobilité est souvent étudiée à partir de voies spécifiques structurant implicitement notre compréhension du système de peuplement. À l’inverse, l’approche spatiale des systèmes de peuplement régionaux, fondée sur les lieux, tend à structurer notre vision des flux de circulation. Or, lorsqu’il s’agit de comprendre comment un paysage s’est développé ou transformé, cette dichotomie rend notre raisonnement circulaire. Le carrefour se développe-t-il à partir de la distribution de l’habitat ou l’habitat choisit-il le carrefour comme opportunité de développement ? En privilégiant une approche de la mobilité basée sur l’analyse des pratiques de déplacement des agents humains ou non humains, deux projets internationaux, MoveScape et Redes andinas, travaillent sur une approche méthodologique visant à associer au mouvement différentes conceptions de l’espace vécu par les sociétés et mobilisant des traces matérielles, classiquement non intégrées dans l’étude des flux de circulation.

Paleoparasitological studies have demonstrated that changes in environment or culture are reflected in the patterns of parasitic infection diseases in populations worldwide. The advent of agriculture and animal domestication, with its accompanying reduction in human mobility and expanding population involves changes in or emergence of, parasites, the so-called first epidemiological transition. Cultural processes related to territory occupation contribute to both loss and acquisition of parasites. The archaeological site Lluta 57 in the Lluta Valley, Chile, provides a chronology of the transition from the pre-Inca or Late Intermediate Period (LIP), through the Late or Inca Period (LP), to the Hispanic Contact Period (HCP), providing the possibility of evaluating this epidemiological transition. The aim of this study was to conduct a paleoparasitological investigation of to gain insight into the dynamics of parasitism in Lluta people throughout the Inca expansion. Fourteen human coprolites from the three periods were rehydrated, submitted to spontaneous sedimentation, and examined by light microscopy for the presence of intestinal parasite eggs, pollen grains, and micro-remains. Eggs of four parasites: Enterobius vermicularis, Trichostrongylus sp., Trichuris sp., and Eimeria macusaniensis were recovered. Frequency, diversity, and number of parasite eggs per sample increased over the studied time period. Trichostrongylus sp. and E. macusaniensis were recorded in the region for the first time. Enterobius vermicularis eggs, absent in the LIP, were present as a hyper-infection in LP. The presence of E. macusaniensis is likely related to exploitation of llamas, which were used for food and transport and as sacrificial offerings. The paleobotanical analysis revealed ten families of pollen grains, as well as phytoliths and floral remains. In contrast to parasitological results, a diachronic pattern was not detected. Evolution of the settlements, with the advent of larger, more densely populated, villages, could have influenced the emergence and intensification of transmission of parasites in the region. The study showed that the Inca expansion influenced host-parasite-environment relationships in the Lluta Valley.