Atacama Desert

In this paper we present an overview of the process of mapping and field surveying of an area of ancient fields and irrigation canals around the pre-Hispanic sites of Topaín, Paniri and Turi, in the Andean highlands of northern Chile. As opposed to the usual conditions for prospection in temperate or tropical regions, where the surface visibility of archaeological features is often poor and confusing, here the extreme aridity of the landscape has permitted an extraordinary degree of both preservation and visibility of the fields, canals and other constructions. A field methodology based on a combination of an aerial approach (with relatively low-cost resources: high resolution satellite images, GIS, UAV) and field survey has allowed us not only to document the sites but to inject some order into a large assembly of archaeological features: to understand how the system as a whole was built, and how it evolved and changed in time, thus allowing for the proposal of a sound hypothetical sequence of the use and transformation of this area before and after the Inka period.

This volume contains the following articles and obituary: "Editor's Preface" by Daniel H. Sandweiss; "Gary S. Vescelius (1930-1982)" by Richard L. Burger and Thomas F. Lynch; "A Nasca 8 Occupation at an early Nasca Site: The Room of the Posts at Cahuachi" by Helaine Silverman; "Hunters of the Dry Puna and the Salt Puna in Northern Chile" by Calogero M. Santoro and Lautaro Nnez; "Reconstructing the Evidence for Cerro Blanco and Punkuri" by Richard Daggett with an appendix, "The Tello Material from El Comercio"; "Bats in South American Iconography" by Elizabeth F. Benson; "The Iconography of the Prehispanic Snuff Trays from San Pedro de Atacama, Northern Chile" by Constantino M. Torres; "Digging Sticks or Daggerboards? A Functional Analysis of Wooden Boards from the Ica Region" by D. Peter Kvietok; "Manufacture of Beads and Spindle Wholes in Prehispanic Peru" by Stuart V. Arnold.

Hunter-gatherers collected and used various woody species depending on the landscape, availability of plant communities, and sociocultural considerations. With extensive paleo-wetlands and groundwater-fed oases, the Atacama Desert was interspersed with riparian woodlands that provided vital resources (fuel, water, and game) at the end of the Pleistocene in areas such as the Pampa del Tamarugal (PdT) basin. We use anthracological analyses to determine the fuel management strategies of hunter-gatherer societies in this hyperarid environment and explore whether the " Principle of Least Effort " applies. First, we present the combustion qualities and characteristics of woody taxa from the Atacama and analyze possible exploitation strategies. Second, we use anthracological analyses from Quebrada Maní 12 (QM12), a late Pleistocene archaeological site (dated from 12,750 to 11,530 cal B.P.) located in the PdT basin, to show the prevalence of two woody species that were either freshly collected or gathered (very likely on purpose) from subfossil wood. Our results suggest that fuel selection strategies were based on prior knowledge of the qualities of these woody taxa and how they burned. Thus we conclude that fuel management was part of a number of social and economic decisions that allowed for effective colonization of this region. Furthermore, we stress the need for caution when using charcoal to exclusively date archaeological sites located in desert environments. Las sociedades de cazadores-recolectores del Cono Sur recolectaron y utilizaron diversas especies leñosas dependiendo de las condiciones del paisaje, las comunidades de plantas disponibles y consideraciones socio-culturales. Las cuencas hidrográficas, como Pampa del Tamarugal (PdT) en el Desierto de Atacama, contaban con extensos paleo-humedales y oasis sustentados con aguas subterráneas, intercalados con bosques ribereños que proporcionaron recursos vitales (combustible, agua y caza) hacia finales del Pleistoceno. Este estudio utiliza análisis antracológicos para definir las estrategias empleadas por los grupos de cazadores-recolectores para la gestión del combustible en este ambiente híper árido y explorar si dicho comportamiento social puede ser explicado por el " principio del menor esfuerzo ". En primer lugar, se presentan las cualidades y características de quema de los taxones leñosos del Desierto de Atacama y un análisis de sus estrategias de explotación. En segundo lugar, se utilizan los resultados de análisis antracológicos de muestras de carbones y maderas del sitio arqueológico Quebrada Maní 12 (QM12), ubicado en la PdT y asignado al Pleistoceno tardío (datado entre 12.750 y 11.530

–We describe the geological, morphological, and climatic settings of two new meteorite collections from Atacama (Chile). The " El M edano collection " was recovered by systematic on-foot search in El M edano and Caleta el Cobre dense collection areas and is composed of 213 meteorites before pairing, 142 after pairing. The " private collection " has been recovered by car by three private hunters and consists of 213 meteorites. Similar to other hot desert finds, and contrary to the falls and Antarctica finds, both collections show an overabundance of H chondrites. A recovery density can be calculated only for the El M edano collection and gives 251 and 168 meteorites larger than 10 g km À2 , before and after pairing, respectively. It is by far the densest collection area described in hot deserts. The Atacama Desert is known to have been hyperarid for a long period of time and, based on cosmic-ray exposure ages on the order of 1–10 Ma, to have been stable over a period of time of several million years. Such a high meteorite concentration might be explained invoking either a yet unclear concentration mechanism (possibly related to downslope creeping) or a previously underestimated meteorite flux in previous studies or an average terrestrial age over 2 Myr. This last hypothesis is supported by the high weathering grade of meteorites and by the common terrestrial fragmentation (with fragments scattered over a few meters) of recovered meteorites.

Northern Chile’s Atacama Desert is one of the most unfor- giving landscapes on the planet; however, a variety of complex risk-mitigation strategies facilitated long-term human occu- pation of the region. Using a burgeoning corpus of human, floral, and faunal stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data, the present work examines patterns of mobility, exchange, and social interaction in northern Chile’s Formative Period (1500 BC–AD 400). While the geographic barriers and harsh cli- matic conditions of the Atacama Desert, in concert with sub- stantial logistic considerations, established constraints on hu- man diet at the site and local levels, regional dietary variation speaks to frequent and possibly even regular interzonal move- ments of people and/or foodstuffs. Through isotopic analysis of the remains of 86 individuals, we examine regional patterns of dietary variation in light of recently advanced hypotheses concerning the nature of mobility, exchange, and social in- teraction in Formative Period northern Chile. These data in- dicate both systematic regional exchange in foods and other goods and the central role of sites in the Calama oases in facilitating this exchange and movement.