Resource intensification and zooarchaeological record in the southern margins of pre-Hispanic Andean agriculture

Abstract

Central Western Argentina is an area archeologically defined as one of the southernmost limits of farming in the pre-Hispanic Americas. Optimal foraging models help to predict important changes in faunal use prior to the adoption of agriculture related to resource depression and environmental changes. This paper evaluates changes in pre-Hispanic human subsistence from a zooarchaeological perspective and explores archeological record trends from the northern area of Central Western Argentina. Using zooarchaeological information in Northern Mendoza (Central Western Argentina), trends related to the human exploitation of faunal resources were explored in connection with time and space. Two high-ranked resource indexes were calculated: the artiodactyl index and a high-ranked resources index. The results show a decrease in the dependence on high-ranked resources by human groups after ca. 2000 bp and an increase in richness, indicating a diet breath expansion. Long-term trends in the density of radiocarbon dates suggest a considerable population growth after ca. 2000 bp. These trends are consistent with the contemporary changes reported by other archaeological proxies in Northern Mendoza. The results of the zooarchaeological analysis confirm changes in human organization around 2000 years bp that reflect an intensification process.