Gonzalo Pimentel G. is archaeologist and graduate in Social Anthropology, Doctor in Anthropology. Specialist in internodal archeology, rock art and late prehispanic societies of the Atacama Desert. President of the Atacama Desert Foundation, Chile.
Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, 2020
Los geoglifos y petrogligos en el sendero entre Tamentica y Quebrada de Los Pintados (Guatacondo,... more Los geoglifos y petrogligos en el sendero entre Tamentica y Quebrada de Los Pintados (Guatacondo, Tarapacá), nos invitan a formular algunas hipótesis etnohistóricas y arqueológicas sobre cómo los pueblos prehispánicos andinos inscribían su política de la memoria en los senderos. Aunque con influjos europeos, las técnicas nemónicas y representativas andinas empleadas en su composición sirvieron para activar las geografías de la memoria y las huacas, en términos propiamente andinos, que los últimos constructores de geoglifos apenas alcanzaron a re-adaptar al canon estético y religioso del renacimiento europeo, legándonos la memoria de los senderos. Palabras clave: Huaca, Geoglifos y petroglifos, Tunupa, Senderos de la Memoria, Conquista española. The geoglyphs and petroglyphs on the trail between Tamentica and Quebrada de Los Pintados (Guatacondo Tarapacá), suggest a few ethno-historical and archaeological hypotheses on how in the Andes, the prehispanic politics of memory were written into pathways. Albeit with European influence, geoglyphs activate the geographies of memory and huacas in Andean terms, that the last geoglyph builders barely had the chance to readapt to the aesthetic and religious canons of European renaissance, leaving the memory of the path as their lasting bequest.
We present a synthesis of our investigation into pre-Hispanic pathways of the Atacama Desert Pamp... more We present a synthesis of our investigation into pre-Hispanic pathways of the Atacama Desert Pampa-one of the driest and harshest environments on our planet-where we have identified a variety of mobility strategies and dynamics deployed by the different communities that inhabited both the Pacific coast and the inland oases of this region. Specifically, we focus on the inter-nodal archaeological and biogeochemical data that provides direct evidence of the presence of individuals from myriad regions traversing this area from the Middle Archaic to Late periods (c. 7000 BP-400 BP). Moreover, we analyze how, beginning in the Formative Period, this multiplicity of peoples employed different mobility systems, circulation, relationships, and social exchanges to integrate this apparent "empty space". In doing so, we discuss and reformulate the classic highland caravanning model of the Andes, which considered highland caravanning groups as the only agents promoting long-distance mobility and exchange.
La apuesta es por una historia de las sociedades vista desde el Viaje, a través de sus distintas ... more La apuesta es por una historia de las sociedades vista desde el Viaje, a través de sus distintas dimensiones, bajo una mirada simétrica, lineológica e interdisciplinar. Desde la historia del viaje hasta el viaje como historia, desde la economía política del tráfico hasta las prácticas sociales vinculadas a la circulación y la movilidad internodal. Desde los intercambios y agenciamientos societales, hasta las relaciones con otros seres no humanos. El viaje como praxis y cuerpos en movimiento, pero también como ontologías, metáforas y poesía.
ABSTRACTThe San Pedro de Atacama oases, located in northern Chile’s hyperarid Atacama Desert, hav... more ABSTRACTThe San Pedro de Atacama oases, located in northern Chile’s hyperarid Atacama Desert, have been occupied for at least 3000 years. Here, we examine cemetery use in the oases, with emphasis on the Middle Period (ca. AD 400–1000). By modeling of a large corpus (n=243) of radiocarbon dates, over 90% of which are direct AMS assays of human bone collagen, we attempt to establish a temporal framework by which to explore the establishment of formalized social inequality in this period. Modeling of these dates at three locally defined scales (all ayllus, inter-ayllu, and intra-ayllu) permit heretofore unavailable insights into the chronological and spatial dimensions of life and mortuary activity in the oases and allow us to better contextualize patterns of social inequality during the dynamic Middle Period. The results of this modeling indicate two distinct peaks of occupation during the Middle Period in San Pedro and document significant temporal variability in cemetery use pattern...
The paper presents the results of the analyses of perforated objects found on pre-Hispanic intern... more The paper presents the results of the analyses of perforated objects found on pre-Hispanic internodal roads related to the localities of Calama, Chuquicamata, Quillagua and Caleta Huelen, in the Antofagasta Region, Chile. This paper introduces a typological classification of the group of perforated objects, in which differences and similarities are evidenced associated to specific periods. We discuss the correspondence of the materials with the typologies for different periods in Atacama, the circulation dynamics of these objects and the role they played in the context of the studied roads.
Camelid pastoralism, agriculture, sedentism, surplus production, increasing cultural complexity, ... more Camelid pastoralism, agriculture, sedentism, surplus production, increasing cultural complexity, and interregional interaction during northern Chile's Late Formative period (AD 100-400) are seen in the flow of goods and people over expanses of desert. Consolidating evidence of material culture from these interactions with a bioarchaeological dimension allows us to provide details about individual lives and patterns in the Late Formative more generally. Here, we integrate a variety of skeletal, chemical, and archaeological data to explore the life and death of a small child (Calate-3N.7). By taking a multiscalar approach, we present a narrative that considers not only the varied materiality that accompanies this child but also what the child's life experience was and how this reflects and shapes our understanding of the Late Formative period in northern Chile. This evidence hints at the profound mobility of their youth. The complex mortuary context reflects numerous interactions and long-distance relationships. Ultimately, the evidence speaks to deep social relations between two coastal groups, the Atacameños and Tarapaqueños. Considering this suite of data, we can see a child whose life was spent moving through desert routes and perhaps also glimpse the construction of intercultural identity in the Formative period.
Peer Review History: PLOS recognizes the benefits of transparency in the peer review process; the... more Peer Review History: PLOS recognizes the benefits of transparency in the peer review process; therefore, we enable the publication of all of the content of peer review and author responses alongside final, published articles. The editorial history of this article is available here:
Along the Atacama Desert coast, fish has always been a staple food and by the Formative period (5... more Along the Atacama Desert coast, fish has always been a staple food and by the Formative period (500 cal B.C.-700 cal A.D.) it had become a product in high demand by the inhabitants of the inland valleys, oases and ravines of the desert. In this paper we explore the technologies used in coastal fishing activities, the diverse species caught, and fish processing and preserving techniques. We further examine the circulation routes of the product through the desert and associated strategies, the agents involved in transporting it and consumption levels in inland villages. Our study employs a multivariate analysis that includes evidence from zooarchaeology, stable isotope analysis of deceased individuals, and the composition of human coprolites, all of which were recovered from domestic waste, funerary contexts, and rest stops associated with the circulation routes running between the coast and the inland desert regions. Our results suggest that in this ancient social context, food was not only used to quell hunger, but through its associated economic cycles of production, circulation and consumption, was part of a complex and extended web of social relations. Within that network, food functioned as material culture, and as such enabled social distinctions to emerge within local groups and cultural negotiations to be conducted among different localities. Fish circulation and consumption played an active role in the reproduction of a social structure characterized by close and firm ties between marine hunter-fisher-gatherers and agropastoral communities, despite their long distance from each other.
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Intitute, 2022
Social worlds are constituted by movement. Mobility entails the circulation not only of people, b... more Social worlds are constituted by movement. Mobility entails the circulation not only of people, but also of material goods, imaginaries, experiences, flows of information, and knowledge. In this article, we examine different forms of movement in the Atacama Desert during the Formative Period (c. 2500-1500 cal BP), such as pedestrian travels, llama caravans, and navigation on sea lion-skin vessels along the Pacific, incorporating various material means and encompassing a wide array of
incentives. We present different case studies that challenge monolithic assumptions about mobility in the South-Central Andes, commonly understood through the lens of ecological complementarity and primarily driven by economic exchange. Extending Binford’s classic distinction between residential and logistical mobility as two ideal types of hunter-gatherers’ settlement systems to include groups of early farmers, in combination with the territorial categories of local and extra-local, we interrogate the spatial and temporal scale of these journeys – from daily to seasonal, from short to long distance – and its materialization. In these examples, we approach movement and travel as a way of life, expanding the traditional view of mobility through an exploration of the varied ways in which it was practised and integrated into the social lives of desert dwellers.
Boletín Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino 25(1): 201-225, 2020
Los geoglifos y petrogligos en el sendero entre Tamentica y Quebrada de Los Pintados (Guatacondo,... more Los geoglifos y petrogligos en el sendero entre Tamentica y Quebrada de Los Pintados (Guatacondo, Tarapacá), nos invitan a formular algunas hipótesis etnohistóricas y arqueológicas sobre cómo los pueblos prehispánicos andinos inscribían su política de la memoria en los senderos. Aunque con influjos europeos, las técnicas nemónicas y representativas andinas empleadas en su composición sirvieron para activar las geografías de la memoria y las huacas, en términos propiamente andinos, que los últimos constructores de geoglifos apenas alcanzaron a re-adaptar al canon estético y religioso del renacimiento europeo, legándonos la memoria de los senderos. Palabras clave: Huaca, Geoglifos y petroglifos, Tunupa, Senderos de la Memoria, Conquista española. The geoglyphs and petroglyphs on the trail between Tamentica and Quebrada de Los Pintados (Guatacondo Tarapacá), suggest a few ethno-historical and archaeological hypotheses on how in the Andes, the prehispanic politics of memory were written into pathways. Albeit with European influence, geoglyphs activate the geographies of memory and huacas in Andean terms, that the last geoglyph builders barely had the chance to readapt to the aesthetic and religious canons of European renaissance, leaving the memory of the path as their lasting bequest.
Crónicas sobre la Piedra. Arte Rupestre de las Américas, editado por M. Sepúlveda, L. Briones y J.Chacama. Ediciones Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica. , 2009
The potential of an "internodal archaeology" is illustrated through research conducted in three i... more The potential of an "internodal archaeology" is illustrated through research conducted in three internodal areas along the "Andes of Capricorn" (Figure 1), to wit, the Coastal Range and Intermediate Depression of the Atacama Desert (Calate, 700 masl), the Upper Loa River (Santa Bárbara, 3000-3200 masl), and the High Andean Lakes region (4200-4500 masl). Taking advantage of internodal evidence, our goal is to establish the different forms of interregional mobility that coexisted in this area during the Late Intermediate Period or LIP (ca. 1000-1450 C.E.), assessing their respective contributions to the circulation of various kinds of goods. It will be argued that, during this period, interregional mobility at this latitude involved at least three strategies characterized by different agents, goals, and organizing principles. The concatenation of these and other practices to be identified resulted in a complex circulation system that allowed objects to travel long distances through multiple traffic chains involving sequential movements and exchanges of different sorts.
Exchange goods contribute to social complexity and identity construction, but our knowledge of pa... more Exchange goods contribute to social complexity and identity construction, but our knowledge of past practices associated with the circulation and consumption of such goods is limited. We explore the polished black ceramics of the San Pedro de Atacama oasis in northern Chile, which were widely traded during the first seven centuries A.D. In particular, we consider the relationships established between the agricultural and pastoral communities of the highland oases and the marine hunter-gatherers who inhabited the Pacific coast in order to examine the circulation and consumption of exotics as prestige goods. Sabemos que en la prehistoria los bienes de intercambio contribuyeron a la complejidad social y a la construcción de identidades; sin embargo, tenemos conocimientos limitados acerca de las prácticas humanas asociadas al ciclo de la producción, circulación y consumo de este tipo de bienes. En el presente artículo analizamos artefactos que durante los primeros siete siglos de nuestra era fueron un bien de intercambio a nivel interregional: las cerámicas negras pulidas del oasis de San Pedro de Atacama, en el norte de Chile. Nos enfocamos en las relaciones establecidas entre las comunidades agrícolas y pastoriles de los oasis del Salar de Atacama y aquellas de cazadores-recolectores marinos que habitaban la costa del océano Pacífico. Indagamos el rol de los bienes de prestigio como expresión de ese sistema de preferencias simbólicas y sociales que define los valores de uso, en particular aquellos relacionados con los bienes exóticos.
"Study of internodal spaces and their contribution to the history, nature and dynamics of human o... more "Study of internodal spaces and their contribution to the history, nature and dynamics of human occupations in arid zones"
This issue of Estudios Atacameños presents the results of the symposium referred to in the title of this Introduction. The symposium took place on October 8, 2015 in the city of Concepción during the XX National Conference of Chilean Archaeology, and was organized by the Universidad de Concepción Anthropology Program and the Chilean Archaeology Society. On that occasion, 16 papers were presented by more than 30 researchers from Chile, Argentina and the United States. Axel Nielsen provided comments at the end of the symposium.
El sector de Chug Chug destaca arqueológicamente por ser un espacio de gran relevancia para el es... more El sector de Chug Chug destaca arqueológicamente por ser un espacio de gran relevancia para el estudio de la movilidad internodal en el desierto de Atacama. Lo que conocemos como Ruta de Chug-Chug correspondió a una de las principales vías interregionales que conectaba el norte del desierto de Atacama con el sur de los Andes occidentales, siendo uno de los corredores longitudinales más usados para activar las conexiones entre las sociedades tarapaqueñas y atacameñas desde el período Formativo en adelante. En el presente artículo damos cuenta de los resultados generales de nuestras investigaciones en el sector desde el año 2008, evaluando y discutiendo su relevancia macrorregional en la comprensión de las dinámicas de movilidad e intercambio entre las sociedades prehispánicas que cohabitaron las regiones de Tarapacá y el área atacameña en los últimos 2.500 años de la historia prehispánica (ca. 1000 a.C.-1550 d.C.). Palabras claves: Chug-Chug, movilidad internodal prehispánica, intercambio interregional, geoglifos, desierto de Atacama. The Chug-Chug area stands up in archaeological terms because it is highly relevant for the study of internodal mobility in the Atacama Desert. What is known as the Chug-Chug Route was one of the main interregional caravan roads connecting the north of the Atacama Desert with the southern part of the western Andes. It was one of the most frequently used longitudinal corridors to activate connections, particularly between the Tarapaqueña and Atacameña societies, from the Formative Period onwards. The present article reports the general results of our research in the area since 2008, assessing and discussing its macro-regional importance for understanding the dynamics of mobility and exchange between the pre-Hispanic societies which co-existed in the Tarapacá and Atacama regions in the last 2,500 years of pre-Hispanic history (ca. 1000 BC-1550 AD).
Este artículo es la introducción al compilado de trabajos resultantes del simposio referido en e... more Este artículo es la introducción al compilado de trabajos resultantes del simposio referido en el título, el que se realizó en 2015, dentro del marco del XX Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena efectuado en Concepción. Después de una breve historia del término “internodal”, los autores analizan la manera en que este ha ido evolucionando desde sus comienzos como concepto hasta su estado actual, donde ha pasado a convertirse en un nuevo enfoque de la arqueología. El artículo concluye con una serie de perspectivas que proyectan al enfoque internodal hacia sus posibles futuros.
This article is the introduction to the compilation of works resulting from the symposium referre... more This article is the introduction to the compilation of works resulting from the symposium referred to in the title, which was held in 2015, within the framework of the XX National Congress of Chilean Archeology held in Concepción. After a brief history of the term "internodal", the authors analyze the way in which it has evolved from its beginnings as a concept to its current state, where it has become a new focus of archeology. The article concludes with a series of perspectives that project the internodal approach towards its possible futures.
Calate is one of the spaces in the Atacama desert that has passed unnoticed in archaeological res... more Calate is one of the spaces in the Atacama desert that has passed unnoticed in archaeological research, most likely because it appears to be a wasteland, devoid of basic resources and therefore of no apparent interest for humans. However, as we elaborate here, this view is very far removed from the actual archaeological potential afforded by the zone, which has revealed itself as a privileged place to study human mobility and pre-Hispanic social relations. We have chosen it as a case study following a research strategy that initially hypothesized Calate as a space of socially dense mobility and today stands out as a true archaeological laboratory for understanding the archaeology of internodal movement in the southern Andes.
Boletín del Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, 2020
Los geoglifos y petrogligos en el sendero entre Tamentica y Quebrada de Los Pintados (Guatacondo,... more Los geoglifos y petrogligos en el sendero entre Tamentica y Quebrada de Los Pintados (Guatacondo, Tarapacá), nos invitan a formular algunas hipótesis etnohistóricas y arqueológicas sobre cómo los pueblos prehispánicos andinos inscribían su política de la memoria en los senderos. Aunque con influjos europeos, las técnicas nemónicas y representativas andinas empleadas en su composición sirvieron para activar las geografías de la memoria y las huacas, en términos propiamente andinos, que los últimos constructores de geoglifos apenas alcanzaron a re-adaptar al canon estético y religioso del renacimiento europeo, legándonos la memoria de los senderos. Palabras clave: Huaca, Geoglifos y petroglifos, Tunupa, Senderos de la Memoria, Conquista española. The geoglyphs and petroglyphs on the trail between Tamentica and Quebrada de Los Pintados (Guatacondo Tarapacá), suggest a few ethno-historical and archaeological hypotheses on how in the Andes, the prehispanic politics of memory were written into pathways. Albeit with European influence, geoglyphs activate the geographies of memory and huacas in Andean terms, that the last geoglyph builders barely had the chance to readapt to the aesthetic and religious canons of European renaissance, leaving the memory of the path as their lasting bequest.
We present a synthesis of our investigation into pre-Hispanic pathways of the Atacama Desert Pamp... more We present a synthesis of our investigation into pre-Hispanic pathways of the Atacama Desert Pampa-one of the driest and harshest environments on our planet-where we have identified a variety of mobility strategies and dynamics deployed by the different communities that inhabited both the Pacific coast and the inland oases of this region. Specifically, we focus on the inter-nodal archaeological and biogeochemical data that provides direct evidence of the presence of individuals from myriad regions traversing this area from the Middle Archaic to Late periods (c. 7000 BP-400 BP). Moreover, we analyze how, beginning in the Formative Period, this multiplicity of peoples employed different mobility systems, circulation, relationships, and social exchanges to integrate this apparent "empty space". In doing so, we discuss and reformulate the classic highland caravanning model of the Andes, which considered highland caravanning groups as the only agents promoting long-distance mobility and exchange.
La apuesta es por una historia de las sociedades vista desde el Viaje, a través de sus distintas ... more La apuesta es por una historia de las sociedades vista desde el Viaje, a través de sus distintas dimensiones, bajo una mirada simétrica, lineológica e interdisciplinar. Desde la historia del viaje hasta el viaje como historia, desde la economía política del tráfico hasta las prácticas sociales vinculadas a la circulación y la movilidad internodal. Desde los intercambios y agenciamientos societales, hasta las relaciones con otros seres no humanos. El viaje como praxis y cuerpos en movimiento, pero también como ontologías, metáforas y poesía.
ABSTRACTThe San Pedro de Atacama oases, located in northern Chile’s hyperarid Atacama Desert, hav... more ABSTRACTThe San Pedro de Atacama oases, located in northern Chile’s hyperarid Atacama Desert, have been occupied for at least 3000 years. Here, we examine cemetery use in the oases, with emphasis on the Middle Period (ca. AD 400–1000). By modeling of a large corpus (n=243) of radiocarbon dates, over 90% of which are direct AMS assays of human bone collagen, we attempt to establish a temporal framework by which to explore the establishment of formalized social inequality in this period. Modeling of these dates at three locally defined scales (all ayllus, inter-ayllu, and intra-ayllu) permit heretofore unavailable insights into the chronological and spatial dimensions of life and mortuary activity in the oases and allow us to better contextualize patterns of social inequality during the dynamic Middle Period. The results of this modeling indicate two distinct peaks of occupation during the Middle Period in San Pedro and document significant temporal variability in cemetery use pattern...
The paper presents the results of the analyses of perforated objects found on pre-Hispanic intern... more The paper presents the results of the analyses of perforated objects found on pre-Hispanic internodal roads related to the localities of Calama, Chuquicamata, Quillagua and Caleta Huelen, in the Antofagasta Region, Chile. This paper introduces a typological classification of the group of perforated objects, in which differences and similarities are evidenced associated to specific periods. We discuss the correspondence of the materials with the typologies for different periods in Atacama, the circulation dynamics of these objects and the role they played in the context of the studied roads.
Camelid pastoralism, agriculture, sedentism, surplus production, increasing cultural complexity, ... more Camelid pastoralism, agriculture, sedentism, surplus production, increasing cultural complexity, and interregional interaction during northern Chile's Late Formative period (AD 100-400) are seen in the flow of goods and people over expanses of desert. Consolidating evidence of material culture from these interactions with a bioarchaeological dimension allows us to provide details about individual lives and patterns in the Late Formative more generally. Here, we integrate a variety of skeletal, chemical, and archaeological data to explore the life and death of a small child (Calate-3N.7). By taking a multiscalar approach, we present a narrative that considers not only the varied materiality that accompanies this child but also what the child's life experience was and how this reflects and shapes our understanding of the Late Formative period in northern Chile. This evidence hints at the profound mobility of their youth. The complex mortuary context reflects numerous interactions and long-distance relationships. Ultimately, the evidence speaks to deep social relations between two coastal groups, the Atacameños and Tarapaqueños. Considering this suite of data, we can see a child whose life was spent moving through desert routes and perhaps also glimpse the construction of intercultural identity in the Formative period.
Peer Review History: PLOS recognizes the benefits of transparency in the peer review process; the... more Peer Review History: PLOS recognizes the benefits of transparency in the peer review process; therefore, we enable the publication of all of the content of peer review and author responses alongside final, published articles. The editorial history of this article is available here:
Along the Atacama Desert coast, fish has always been a staple food and by the Formative period (5... more Along the Atacama Desert coast, fish has always been a staple food and by the Formative period (500 cal B.C.-700 cal A.D.) it had become a product in high demand by the inhabitants of the inland valleys, oases and ravines of the desert. In this paper we explore the technologies used in coastal fishing activities, the diverse species caught, and fish processing and preserving techniques. We further examine the circulation routes of the product through the desert and associated strategies, the agents involved in transporting it and consumption levels in inland villages. Our study employs a multivariate analysis that includes evidence from zooarchaeology, stable isotope analysis of deceased individuals, and the composition of human coprolites, all of which were recovered from domestic waste, funerary contexts, and rest stops associated with the circulation routes running between the coast and the inland desert regions. Our results suggest that in this ancient social context, food was not only used to quell hunger, but through its associated economic cycles of production, circulation and consumption, was part of a complex and extended web of social relations. Within that network, food functioned as material culture, and as such enabled social distinctions to emerge within local groups and cultural negotiations to be conducted among different localities. Fish circulation and consumption played an active role in the reproduction of a social structure characterized by close and firm ties between marine hunter-fisher-gatherers and agropastoral communities, despite their long distance from each other.
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Intitute, 2022
Social worlds are constituted by movement. Mobility entails the circulation not only of people, b... more Social worlds are constituted by movement. Mobility entails the circulation not only of people, but also of material goods, imaginaries, experiences, flows of information, and knowledge. In this article, we examine different forms of movement in the Atacama Desert during the Formative Period (c. 2500-1500 cal BP), such as pedestrian travels, llama caravans, and navigation on sea lion-skin vessels along the Pacific, incorporating various material means and encompassing a wide array of
incentives. We present different case studies that challenge monolithic assumptions about mobility in the South-Central Andes, commonly understood through the lens of ecological complementarity and primarily driven by economic exchange. Extending Binford’s classic distinction between residential and logistical mobility as two ideal types of hunter-gatherers’ settlement systems to include groups of early farmers, in combination with the territorial categories of local and extra-local, we interrogate the spatial and temporal scale of these journeys – from daily to seasonal, from short to long distance – and its materialization. In these examples, we approach movement and travel as a way of life, expanding the traditional view of mobility through an exploration of the varied ways in which it was practised and integrated into the social lives of desert dwellers.
Boletín Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino 25(1): 201-225, 2020
Los geoglifos y petrogligos en el sendero entre Tamentica y Quebrada de Los Pintados (Guatacondo,... more Los geoglifos y petrogligos en el sendero entre Tamentica y Quebrada de Los Pintados (Guatacondo, Tarapacá), nos invitan a formular algunas hipótesis etnohistóricas y arqueológicas sobre cómo los pueblos prehispánicos andinos inscribían su política de la memoria en los senderos. Aunque con influjos europeos, las técnicas nemónicas y representativas andinas empleadas en su composición sirvieron para activar las geografías de la memoria y las huacas, en términos propiamente andinos, que los últimos constructores de geoglifos apenas alcanzaron a re-adaptar al canon estético y religioso del renacimiento europeo, legándonos la memoria de los senderos. Palabras clave: Huaca, Geoglifos y petroglifos, Tunupa, Senderos de la Memoria, Conquista española. The geoglyphs and petroglyphs on the trail between Tamentica and Quebrada de Los Pintados (Guatacondo Tarapacá), suggest a few ethno-historical and archaeological hypotheses on how in the Andes, the prehispanic politics of memory were written into pathways. Albeit with European influence, geoglyphs activate the geographies of memory and huacas in Andean terms, that the last geoglyph builders barely had the chance to readapt to the aesthetic and religious canons of European renaissance, leaving the memory of the path as their lasting bequest.
Crónicas sobre la Piedra. Arte Rupestre de las Américas, editado por M. Sepúlveda, L. Briones y J.Chacama. Ediciones Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica. , 2009
The potential of an "internodal archaeology" is illustrated through research conducted in three i... more The potential of an "internodal archaeology" is illustrated through research conducted in three internodal areas along the "Andes of Capricorn" (Figure 1), to wit, the Coastal Range and Intermediate Depression of the Atacama Desert (Calate, 700 masl), the Upper Loa River (Santa Bárbara, 3000-3200 masl), and the High Andean Lakes region (4200-4500 masl). Taking advantage of internodal evidence, our goal is to establish the different forms of interregional mobility that coexisted in this area during the Late Intermediate Period or LIP (ca. 1000-1450 C.E.), assessing their respective contributions to the circulation of various kinds of goods. It will be argued that, during this period, interregional mobility at this latitude involved at least three strategies characterized by different agents, goals, and organizing principles. The concatenation of these and other practices to be identified resulted in a complex circulation system that allowed objects to travel long distances through multiple traffic chains involving sequential movements and exchanges of different sorts.
Exchange goods contribute to social complexity and identity construction, but our knowledge of pa... more Exchange goods contribute to social complexity and identity construction, but our knowledge of past practices associated with the circulation and consumption of such goods is limited. We explore the polished black ceramics of the San Pedro de Atacama oasis in northern Chile, which were widely traded during the first seven centuries A.D. In particular, we consider the relationships established between the agricultural and pastoral communities of the highland oases and the marine hunter-gatherers who inhabited the Pacific coast in order to examine the circulation and consumption of exotics as prestige goods. Sabemos que en la prehistoria los bienes de intercambio contribuyeron a la complejidad social y a la construcción de identidades; sin embargo, tenemos conocimientos limitados acerca de las prácticas humanas asociadas al ciclo de la producción, circulación y consumo de este tipo de bienes. En el presente artículo analizamos artefactos que durante los primeros siete siglos de nuestra era fueron un bien de intercambio a nivel interregional: las cerámicas negras pulidas del oasis de San Pedro de Atacama, en el norte de Chile. Nos enfocamos en las relaciones establecidas entre las comunidades agrícolas y pastoriles de los oasis del Salar de Atacama y aquellas de cazadores-recolectores marinos que habitaban la costa del océano Pacífico. Indagamos el rol de los bienes de prestigio como expresión de ese sistema de preferencias simbólicas y sociales que define los valores de uso, en particular aquellos relacionados con los bienes exóticos.
"Study of internodal spaces and their contribution to the history, nature and dynamics of human o... more "Study of internodal spaces and their contribution to the history, nature and dynamics of human occupations in arid zones"
This issue of Estudios Atacameños presents the results of the symposium referred to in the title of this Introduction. The symposium took place on October 8, 2015 in the city of Concepción during the XX National Conference of Chilean Archaeology, and was organized by the Universidad de Concepción Anthropology Program and the Chilean Archaeology Society. On that occasion, 16 papers were presented by more than 30 researchers from Chile, Argentina and the United States. Axel Nielsen provided comments at the end of the symposium.
El sector de Chug Chug destaca arqueológicamente por ser un espacio de gran relevancia para el es... more El sector de Chug Chug destaca arqueológicamente por ser un espacio de gran relevancia para el estudio de la movilidad internodal en el desierto de Atacama. Lo que conocemos como Ruta de Chug-Chug correspondió a una de las principales vías interregionales que conectaba el norte del desierto de Atacama con el sur de los Andes occidentales, siendo uno de los corredores longitudinales más usados para activar las conexiones entre las sociedades tarapaqueñas y atacameñas desde el período Formativo en adelante. En el presente artículo damos cuenta de los resultados generales de nuestras investigaciones en el sector desde el año 2008, evaluando y discutiendo su relevancia macrorregional en la comprensión de las dinámicas de movilidad e intercambio entre las sociedades prehispánicas que cohabitaron las regiones de Tarapacá y el área atacameña en los últimos 2.500 años de la historia prehispánica (ca. 1000 a.C.-1550 d.C.). Palabras claves: Chug-Chug, movilidad internodal prehispánica, intercambio interregional, geoglifos, desierto de Atacama. The Chug-Chug area stands up in archaeological terms because it is highly relevant for the study of internodal mobility in the Atacama Desert. What is known as the Chug-Chug Route was one of the main interregional caravan roads connecting the north of the Atacama Desert with the southern part of the western Andes. It was one of the most frequently used longitudinal corridors to activate connections, particularly between the Tarapaqueña and Atacameña societies, from the Formative Period onwards. The present article reports the general results of our research in the area since 2008, assessing and discussing its macro-regional importance for understanding the dynamics of mobility and exchange between the pre-Hispanic societies which co-existed in the Tarapacá and Atacama regions in the last 2,500 years of pre-Hispanic history (ca. 1000 BC-1550 AD).
Este artículo es la introducción al compilado de trabajos resultantes del simposio referido en e... more Este artículo es la introducción al compilado de trabajos resultantes del simposio referido en el título, el que se realizó en 2015, dentro del marco del XX Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena efectuado en Concepción. Después de una breve historia del término “internodal”, los autores analizan la manera en que este ha ido evolucionando desde sus comienzos como concepto hasta su estado actual, donde ha pasado a convertirse en un nuevo enfoque de la arqueología. El artículo concluye con una serie de perspectivas que proyectan al enfoque internodal hacia sus posibles futuros.
This article is the introduction to the compilation of works resulting from the symposium referre... more This article is the introduction to the compilation of works resulting from the symposium referred to in the title, which was held in 2015, within the framework of the XX National Congress of Chilean Archeology held in Concepción. After a brief history of the term "internodal", the authors analyze the way in which it has evolved from its beginnings as a concept to its current state, where it has become a new focus of archeology. The article concludes with a series of perspectives that project the internodal approach towards its possible futures.
Calate is one of the spaces in the Atacama desert that has passed unnoticed in archaeological res... more Calate is one of the spaces in the Atacama desert that has passed unnoticed in archaeological research, most likely because it appears to be a wasteland, devoid of basic resources and therefore of no apparent interest for humans. However, as we elaborate here, this view is very far removed from the actual archaeological potential afforded by the zone, which has revealed itself as a privileged place to study human mobility and pre-Hispanic social relations. We have chosen it as a case study following a research strategy that initially hypothesized Calate as a space of socially dense mobility and today stands out as a true archaeological laboratory for understanding the archaeology of internodal movement in the southern Andes.
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Papers by Gonzalo Pimentel
incentives. We present different case studies that challenge monolithic assumptions about mobility in the South-Central Andes, commonly understood through the lens of ecological complementarity and primarily driven by economic exchange. Extending Binford’s classic distinction between residential and logistical mobility as two ideal types of hunter-gatherers’ settlement systems to include groups of early farmers, in combination with the territorial categories of local and extra-local, we interrogate the spatial and temporal scale of these journeys – from daily to seasonal, from short to long distance – and its materialization. In these examples, we approach movement and travel as a way of life, expanding the traditional view of mobility through an exploration of the varied ways in which it was practised and integrated into the social lives of desert dwellers.
This issue of Estudios Atacameños presents the results of the symposium referred to in the title of this Introduction. The symposium took place on October 8, 2015 in the city of Concepción during the XX National Conference of Chilean Archaeology, and was organized by the Universidad de Concepción Anthropology Program and the Chilean Archaeology Society. On that occasion, 16 papers were presented by more than 30 researchers from Chile, Argentina and the United States. Axel Nielsen provided comments at the end of the symposium.
incentives. We present different case studies that challenge monolithic assumptions about mobility in the South-Central Andes, commonly understood through the lens of ecological complementarity and primarily driven by economic exchange. Extending Binford’s classic distinction between residential and logistical mobility as two ideal types of hunter-gatherers’ settlement systems to include groups of early farmers, in combination with the territorial categories of local and extra-local, we interrogate the spatial and temporal scale of these journeys – from daily to seasonal, from short to long distance – and its materialization. In these examples, we approach movement and travel as a way of life, expanding the traditional view of mobility through an exploration of the varied ways in which it was practised and integrated into the social lives of desert dwellers.
This issue of Estudios Atacameños presents the results of the symposium referred to in the title of this Introduction. The symposium took place on October 8, 2015 in the city of Concepción during the XX National Conference of Chilean Archaeology, and was organized by the Universidad de Concepción Anthropology Program and the Chilean Archaeology Society. On that occasion, 16 papers were presented by more than 30 researchers from Chile, Argentina and the United States. Axel Nielsen provided comments at the end of the symposium.