Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T20:31:03.054Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Eating Fish in the Driest Desert in the World: Osteological and Biogeochemical Analyses of Human Skeletal Remains from the San Salvador Cemetery, North Chile

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Christina Torres-Rouff ,
William J. Pestle  and
Francisco Gallardo
Christina Torres-Rouff
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Museo. Universidad Católica del Norte, Calle Gustavo Le Paige #380, San Pedro de Atacama, 141-0000, Chile; and Department of Anthropology, Colorado College ([email protected])
William J. Pestle
Affiliation:
Department of Oral Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences (MC838), College of Dentistry Room 569E, University of Illinois, Chicago, 801 S. Paulina, Chicago, IL 60612 ([email protected])
Francisco Gallardo
Affiliation:
Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, Bandera 361, Santiago, Chile ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The San Salvador River in northern Chile is a tributary of the Loa, the only river that traverses the Atacama Desert from the mountains to the Pacific. Recent investigations along the San Salvador River revealed the presence of a Formative period village site and associated cemetery approximately 110 km inland from the Pacific Ocean. Bioarchaeological and biogeochemical analyses conducted on human skeletal remains recovered from the San Salvador Cemetery allowed us to better understand the site’s role as an intermediary for coast/interior relations during the Middle Formative (500 B.C.–A.D. 100). Evidence from material culture and human remains at San Salvador suggests that this population was involved in exchange networks that united the oases of the Atacama Desert with the Pacific Ocean. Isotopic data support this notion, as the population demonstrates great variability in both the protein (marine and terrestrial) and carbohydrate components of their diet. During this period, communal economies produced surpluses used in a network of exchange for foods, prestige goods, and ideas. These ties were not coincidental but, rather, part of a regional economic structure that remains only partly explored.

El Río San Salvador del norte de Chile es un afluente del Río Loa, el único curso de agua dulce que atraviesa el desierto de Atacama desde las montañas hasta el Pacífico. Recientes investigaciones en San Salvador revelaron la presencia de una aldea y un cementerio del periodo Formativo emplazados a unos 110 km. de la costa del Pacifico. Análisis bioantropológicos y biogeoquímicos llevados a cabo en restos óseos humanos recuperados del cementerio permitieron comprender el funcionamiento del sitio como intermediario en las relaciones entre la costa y el interior en el Formativo Medio (500 a.C.–100 d.C). La evidencia de la cultura material y de los restos humanos en San Salvador indica que esta población estuvo involucrada en las redes de intercambio que ligaban los oasis del desierto de Atacama y el Océano Pacífico. Los datos isotópicos apoyan esto, pues la población muestra una gran variabilidad tanto en el consumo de proteína (marina y terrestre) como en los componentes de carbohidratos en su dieta. Durante este período las economías comunales produjeron excedentes utilizados en una red de intercambio de alimentos, bienes de prestigio e ideas. Estos lazos no fueron circunstanciales, sino parte de una estructura económica regional que hasta ahora ha sido parcialmente explorada.

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , March 2012 , pp. 51 - 69
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Society for American Archaeology

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Agüero, M. Carolina 2005 Aproximación al asentamiento temprano en los oasis de San Pedro de Atacama. Estudios Atacameños 30:29–60.Google Scholar
Agüero, M. Carolina, Ayala, Patricia, Uribe, Mauricio, Carrasco, Carlos, and Cases, Bárbara 2004 El Período Formativo desde Quillagua. In Esferas de interaccion prehistóricas y fronteras nacionales modernas, edited by Heather Lechtman, pp. 73–120. Institute of Andean Research, New York.Google Scholar
Ambrose, Stanley H. 1990 Preparation and Characterization of Bone and Tooth Collagen for Isotopic Analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science 17:431–451.Google Scholar
Ambrose, Stanley H. 1991 Effects of Diet, Climate and Physiology on Nitrogen Isotope Abundances in Terrestrial Foodwebs. Journal of Archaeological Science 18:293–317.Google Scholar
Ambrose, Stanley H. 1993 Isotopic Analysis of Paleodiets: Methodological and Interpretive Considerations. In Investigation of Ancient Human Tissue Chemical Analyses in Anthropology, edited by Mary K. Sanford, pp. 59–130. Gordon and Breach, Langhorne, Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Ambrose, Stanley H. 2007a Bone/Tooth Collagen Preparation. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Anthropology Department Environmental Isotope Paleobiogeochemistry Laboratory, Urbana-Champaign.Google Scholar
Ambrose, Stanley H. 2007b Sample Preparation for Bone and Tooth Carbonate Analysis. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Anthropology Department Environmental Isotope Paleobiogeochemistry Laboratory, Urbana-Champaign.Google Scholar
Ambrose, Stanley H., and DeNiro, Michael J. 1987 Bone Nitrogen Isotope Composition and Climate. Nature 325:201.Google Scholar
Ambrose, Stanley H., and Norr, Lynette 1993 Experimental Evidence for the Relationship of the Carbon Isotope Ratios of Whole Diet and Dietary Protein to Those of Bone Collagen and Carbonate. In Prehistoric Human Bone, edited by Joseph B. Lambert and Gisela Grupe, pp. 1–37. Springer-Verlag, New York.Google Scholar
Ambrose, Stanley H., Buikstra, Jane E., and Krueger, Harold W. 2003 Status and Gender Differences in Diet at Mound 72, Cahokia, Revealed by Isotopic Analysis of Bone. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 22:217–226.Google Scholar
Baldini, Lidia 2007 Cancha de Paleta, un cementerio del Periodo Formativo en Cachi (Valle Calchaqui, Salta). Cuademos de la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales 32:13–33.Google Scholar
Ballester, Benjamin, and Gallardo, Francisco 2011 Prehistoric and Historic Networks on the Atacama Desert Coast (Northern Chile). Antiquity 85(329):875–889.Google Scholar
Berenguer, José 2004 Caravanas, interacción y cambio en el desierto de Atacama. Sirawi Ediciones, Santiago.Google Scholar
Bösl, Cornelia, Grupe, Gisela, and Peters, Joris 2006 A Late Neolithic Vertebrate Food Web Based on Stable Isotope Analyses. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 16:296–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buikstra, Jane E., and Ubelaker, Douglas H. 1994 Standards for Data Collection from Human Skeletal Remains. Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville.Google Scholar
Buzon, Michele R., Eng, Jacqueline T., Lambert, Patricia M., and Walker, Phillip L. 2005 Bioarchaeological Methods. In Handbook of Archaeological Methods, edited by Herb A. Maschner and Christopher A. Chippendale, pp. 871–918. AltaMira Press, Lanham, Maryland.Google Scholar
Calvin, Melvin, and Benson, Andrew A. 1948 The Path of Carbon in Photosynthesis. Science 107:476–480.Google Scholar
Cases, Bárbara, Rees, Charles, Pimentel, Gonzalo, Labarca, Rafael, and Leiva, Daniela 2008 Sugerencias desde un contexto funeraria en un “espacio vacío” del desierto de Atacama. Boletín del Museo Chileno deArte Precolumbino 13(1):51–70.Google Scholar
Chisholm, Brian S., Earle Nelson, D., and Schwarcz, Henry P. 1982 Stable-Carbon Isotope Ratios as a Measure of Marine Versus Terrestrial Protein in Ancient Diets. Science 216(4550):1131–1132.Google Scholar
Craig, Harmon 1957 Isotopic Standards for Carbon and Oxygen and Correction Factors for Mass-Spectrometric Analysis of Carbon Dioxide. Geochimica et Chosmochimica Acta 12:133–149.Google Scholar
Dembo, Adolfo, and Imbelloni, José 1938 Deformaciones intencionales del cuerpo humano de carácter étnico. J. Anesi, Buenos Aires.Google Scholar
DeNiro, Michael J., and Hastorf, Christine 1985 Alteration of 15N/14N and 13C/12C Ratios of Plant Matter During the Initial Stages of Diagenesis: Studies Using Archaeological Specimens from Peru. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 49:97–115.Google Scholar
de Souza, Patricio, Cartajena, Isabel, Núñez, Lautaro, and Carrasco, Carlos 2010 Cazadores recolectores del Arcaico Tardío y desarrollo de complejidad social en la Puna de Atacama: las evidencias del sitio Tulán-52 (norte árido de Chile). Werken 13:91–118.Google Scholar
de Ugarte, Milagros, and Gallardo, Francisco 2010 Explotación del recurso forestal y vegetal en el Río San Salvador durante el Formativo Medio, desierto de Atacama (norte de Chile). Report submitted to Fondo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Project 1070083. Santiago.Google Scholar
Dillehay, Tom D., Williams, Verónica I., and Santoro, Calogero M. 2006 Areas periféricas y nucleares. Contextos de interacciones sociales complejas y multidireccionales. Chungara 38:249–256.Google Scholar
Falabella, Fernanda, Teresa Planella, M., Aspillaga, Eugenio, Sanhueza, Lorena, and Tykot, Robert H. 2007 Dieta en sociedades Alfareras de Chile Central: aporte de análisis de isótopos estables. Chungara 39(1):5–27.Google Scholar
Finucane, Brian, Agurto, Patricia Maita, and Isbell, William H. 2006 Human and Animal Diet at Conchopata, Peru: Stable Isotope Evidence for Maize Agriculture and Animal Management Practices During the Middle Horizon. Journal of Archaeological Science 33:1766–1776.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuller, Benjamin T., Fuller, James L., Harris, David A., and Hedges, Robert E. M. 2006 Detection of Breastfeeding and Weaning in Modern Human Infants with Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotope Ratios. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 129:279–293.Google Scholar
Gallardo, Francisco 2009 Social Interaction and Rock Art Styles in the Atacama. Antiquity 83:619–633.Google Scholar
Gallardo, Francisco, Cornejo, Luis, Sánchez, Rodrigo, Cases, Bárbara, Román, Alvaro, and Deza, Angel 1993 Una aproximación a la cronología y el asentamiento en el Oasis de Quillagua (Río Loa, II Región). Actas del XII Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena 1:41–60. Temuco.Google Scholar
Gil, Adolfo F., Tykot, Robert H., Neme, Gustavo, and Shelnut, Nicole R. 2006 Maize on the Frontier: Isotopic and Macrobotanical Data from Central-Western Argentina. In Histories of Maize, edited by John E. Staller, Robert H. Tykot, and Bruce Benz, pp. 199–214. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
González, Carlos, and Westfall, Catherine 2006 Cementerio Regimiento Chorrillos de Calama: testimonies funerarios formativos en el Loa Medio, Región de Antofagasta. Actas del XVII Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena: 17–18. Valdivia.Google Scholar
Hatch, Marshall D., and Slack, Charles Roger 1966 Photosynthesis by Sugarcane Leaves. A New Carboxylation Reaction and the Pathway of Sugar Formation. Biochemical Journal 101:103–111.Google Scholar
Hawkey, Diane E., and Merbs, Charles F. 1995 Activity-Induced Musculoskeletal Stress Markers (MSM) and Subsistence Strategy Changes Among Ancient Hudson Bay Eskimos. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 5:324–338.Google Scholar
Horn, Peter, Hölzl, Stefan, Rummel, Susanne, Åberg, Göran, Schiegel, Solveig, Biermann, Daniela, Struck, Ulrich, and Rossman, Andreas 2009 Humans and Camelids in River Oases of the Ica-Palpa-Nazca Region in Pre-Hispanic Times—Insights from H-C-N-O-S-Sr Isotope Signatures. In New Technologies for Archaeology, edited by Markus Reindel and Günther A. Wagner, pp. 173–192. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hückstädt, Luis A., Rojas, C. P., and Antezana, Tarsicio 2007 Stable Isotope Analysis Reveals Pelagic Foraging by the Southern Sea Lion in Central Chile. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 347(1–2):123–133.Google Scholar
Jochim, Michael 2006 The Implications of Inter-Group Food Exchange for Hunter-Gatherer Affluence and Complexity. In Beyond Affluent Foragers, edited by Colin Grier, Jangsuk Kim, and Junzo Uchiyama, pp. 80–89. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Archaeozoology, Durham, England, 2002. Oxbow Books, Oxford.Google Scholar
Judd, Margaret 2008 The Parry Problem. Journal of Archaeological Science 35:1658–1666.Google Scholar
Kellner, Corina M., and Schoeninger, Margaret J. 2007 A Simple Carbon Isotope Model for Reconstructing Prehistoric Human Diet. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 133:1112–1127.Google Scholar
Kellner, Corina M., and Schoeninger, Margaret J. 2008 Wari’s Imperial Influence on Local Nasca Diet: The Stable Isotope Evidence. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 27:226–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koch, Paul L., Tuross, Noreen, and Fogel, Marilyn L. 1997 The Effects of Sample Treatment and Diagenesis on the Isotopic Integrity of Carbonate in Biogenic Hydroxylapatite. Journal of Archaeological Science 24:417–429.Google Scholar
Kortschak, Hugo P., Hart, Constance E., and Burr, George O. 1965 Carbon Dioxide Fixation in Sugarcane Leaves. Plant Physiology 40:209–213.Google Scholar
Lazzari, Marisa 2005a Traveling Objects and Spatial Images: Exchange Relationships and the Production of Social Space. In Global Archaeological Theory: Contextual Voices and Contemporary Thoughts, edited by Pedro P. Funari, Andrés Zarankin, and Emily M. Stovel, pp. 191–210. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Lazzari, Marisa 2005b The Texture of Things: Objects, People, and Landscape in Northwest Argentina (First Millennium A.D.). In Archaeologies of Materiality, edited by Lynn Meskell, pp. 126–161. Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Lazzari, Marisa, Domingorena, Lucas Pereyra, Scattolin, Maria Cristina, Cecil, Leslie, Glascock, Michael D., and Speakman, Robert J. 2009 Ancient Social Landscapes of Northwestern Argentina: Preliminary Results of an Integrated Approach to Obsidian and Ceramic Provenance. Journal of Archaeological Science 36:1955–1964.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee-Thorp, Julia A. 1989 Stable Carbon Isotopes in Deep Time: The Diets of Fossil Fauna and Hominids. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cape Town, Cape Town.Google Scholar
Longin, R. 1971 New Method of Collagen Extraction for Radiocarbon Dating. Nature 230:241–242.Google Scholar
Lumbreras, Luis G. 2006 Un formativo sin cerámica y cerámica preformativa. Estudios Atacameños 32:11–34.Google Scholar
McCormac, F. Gerry, Hogg, Alan G., Blackwell, Paul G., Buck, Caitlin E., Higham, Thomas F. G., and Reimer, Paula J. 2004 SHCal04 Southern Hemisphere Calibration 0–11.0 cal kyr BR Radiocarbon 46:1087–1092.Google Scholar
Malpass, Michael 1993 Provincial Inca: Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Identification of the Impact of the Inca State. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.Google Scholar
Mariotti, André 1983 Atmospheric Nitrogen Is a Reliable Standard for Natural 15N Abundance Measurements. Nature 303:685–687.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martínez, José Luis 1998 Pueblos del Chañar y el Algarrobo: los atacameños en el siglo XVII. Dirección de Bibliotecas, Archivos y Museos, Santiago.Google Scholar
Minagawa, Masao, and Wada, Eitaro 1984 Stepwise Enrichment of 15N Along Food Chains: Further Evidence on the Relation Between δ15N and Animal age. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 48(5): 1135–1140.Google Scholar
Moragas, Cora 1982 Túmulos funerarios en la costa sur de Tocopilla (Cobija), II Región. Chungara 9:152–173.Google Scholar
Murra, John V. 1972 El “Control Vertical” de un máximo de pisos ecológicos en la economía de las sociedades andinas. In Visita de la Provincia de Leon de Huanuco en 1562, edited by John V. Murra, Vol. 2:429–476. Universidad Nacional Hermilio Valdizan, Huánuco, Peru.Google Scholar
Murra, John V. 1985 “El Archipielago Vertical” Revisited. In Andean Ecology and Civilization: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Andean Ecological Complementarity, edited by Shozo Masuda, Izumi Shimada, and Craig Morris, pp. 3–14. University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Nielsen, Axel E. 2004 Estudios internodales e interacción interregional en los Andes Circumpuneños. In Esferas de interacción pre-históricas y fronteras nacionales modemas en los Andes Sur Centrales, edited by Heather Lechtman, pp. 29–62. Institute de Estudios Andinos, Lima.Google Scholar
Niinimäki, Sirpa 2011 What Do Muscle Marker Ruggedness Scores Actually Tell Us? International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 5:324–338.Google Scholar
Núñez, Lautaro, and Dillehay, Tom D. 1995 Movilidad giratoria, armonía social y desarrollo en los Andes Meridionales: patrones de tráfico e interacción económica (Ensayo). Universidad del Norte, Antofagasta.Google Scholar
Núñez, Lautaro, Cartajena, Isabel, Carrasco, Carlos, de Souza, Patricio, and Grosjean, Martin 2006 Emergencia de comunidades pastoralistas formativas en la Puna de Atacama. Estudios Atacameños 32:93–117.Google Scholar
Núñez, Lautaro, Cartajena, Isabel, Carrasco, Carlos, and de Souza, Patricio 2006 El Templete Tulán de la Puna de Atacama: emergencia de complejidad ritual durante el Formativo Temprano (norte de Chile). Latin American Antiquity 17(4):445–473.Google Scholar
Pimentel, Gonzalo, Rees, Charles, de Souza, Patricio, and Ayala, Patricia 2010 Estrategias de movilidad del Período Formativo en la Depresión Intermedia, desierto de Atacama. In Actas del XVII Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena, Vol. 2:1353–1364. Sociedad Chilena de Arqueología, Universidad Austral de Chile. Ediciones Kultrún, Valdivia.Google Scholar
Pollard, Gordon C. 1970 The Cultural Ecology of Ceramic-Stage Settlement in the Atacama Desert. Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Ranson, Stanley L., and Thomas, Meirion 1960 Crassulacean Acid Metabolism. Annual Review of Plant Physiology 11(1):81–110.Google Scholar
Richards, Michael P., Mays, Simon, and Fuller, Benjamin T. 2002 Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Values of Bone and Teeth Reflect Weaning Age at the Medieval Wharram Percy Site, Yorkshire, UK. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 119:205–210.Google Scholar
Schoeninger, Margaret J., and DeNiro, Michael J. 1984 Nitrogen and Carbon Isotopic Composition of Bone Collagen from Marine and Terrestrial Animals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 48(4):625–639.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoeninger, Margaret J., DeNiro, Michael J., and Tauber, Hernrik 1983 Stable Nitrogen Isotope Ratios of Bone Collagen Reflect Marine and Terrestrial Components of Prehistoric Human Diet. Science 220(4604):1381–1383.Google Scholar
Schortman, Edward M., and Urban, Patricia A. 1992 The Place of Interaction Studies in Archaeological Thought. In Resources, Power, and Interregional Interaction, edited by Edward M. Schortman and Patricia A. Urban, pp. 3–15. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Schutkowski, Holger, Herrmann, Bernd, Wiedemann, Felicitas, Bocherens, Herve, and Grupe, Gisela 1999 Diet, Status and Decomposition at Weingarten: Trace Element and Isotope Analyses on Early Mediaeval Skeletal Material. Journal of Archaeological Science 26(6):675–685.Google Scholar
Schwarcz, Henry P., Dupras, Tosha L., and Fairgrieve, Scott I. 1999 l5N Enrichment in the Sahara: In Search of a Global Relationship. Journal of Archaeological Science 26(6):629–6364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sinclaire, Carole 2004 Prehistoria del Periodo Formativo en la Cuenca Alta del Río Salado (Región del Loa Superior). Chungara 36 (Suppl.): 619–639.Google Scholar
Spahni, Jean-Christian 1964 Momie Atacamenienne mutilée du Rio San Salvador (Chili). Bulletin de la Société Suisse des Américanistes 28:9–12.Google Scholar
Spahni, Jean-Christian 1967 Recherches archéologiques a l’embouchure du Rio Loa. Bulletin Société des Americanistes 61:179–239.Google Scholar
Stuiver, Minze, Reimer, Paula J., and Reimer, Ron W. 2005 CALIB 6.0. Electronic document, http://calib.qub.ac.uk/calib/, accessed December 12, 2010.Google Scholar
Thomas, Carlos, Benavente, Antonia, Cartagena, Isabel, and Serracino, George 1995 Topater, un cementerio temprano. Hombre y Desierto 9:159–170.Google Scholar
Tieszen, Larry L., and Chapman, Michael 1992 Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopic Status of the Major Marine and Terrestrial Resources in the Atacama. In Proceedings of the 1st World Congress on Mummy Studies, pp. 409–425. Museo Arqueológico y Etnográfico, Tenerife.Google Scholar
Tieszen, Larry L., Iversen, Elysha, and Matzner, Steven 1992 Dietary Reconstructions Based on Carbon, Nitrogen, and Sulfur Stable Isotopes in the Atacama Desert, Northern Chile. In Proceedings of the 1st World Congress on Mummy Studies, pp. 427–441. Museo Arqueológico y Etnográfico, Tenerife.Google Scholar
Torres-Rouff, Christina 2003 Shaping Identity: Cranial Vault Modification in the Pre-Columbian Andes. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara.Google Scholar
Torres-Rouff, Christina 2007 La deformación craneana en San Pedro de Atacama. Estudios Atacameños 33:25–38.Google Scholar
Trombold Charles, D. 1991 Ancient Road Networks and Settlement Hierarchies in the New World. New Directions in Archaeology. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Trueman, Clive N., Privat, Karen L., and Field, Judith 2008 Why Do Crystallinity Values Fail to Predict the Extent of Diagenetic Alteration of Bone Mineral? Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 266(3–4):160–167.Google Scholar
Upham, Steadman 1992 Interaction and Isolation: The Empty Spaces in Panregional Political and Economic Systems. In Resources, Power, and Interregional Interaction, edited by Edward M. Schortman and Patricia A. Urban, pp. 139–152. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
van Klinken, Gert J. 1999 Bone Collagen Quality Indicators for Palaeodietary and Radiocarbon Measurements. Journal of Archaeological Science 26(6):687–695.Google Scholar