THE 2004 FIELDSEASON
This field season proved to be very
fruitful. After 5 weeks of intense work, we had excavated approximately
15 m2 of the cave, and reached sterile sand beneath all prehistoric occupations
(at least in the NW corner of the cave). Our excavation yielded many
organic and inorganic remains, including wood, charcoal, sticks, leaves,
flowers, straw, hide with hair, cactus needles, Chusquea canes, camelid
bones, animal hair and vegetal cordage, beads, and thousands of lithic (stone)
artifacts (see some photos below). Together with an Argentine team of
zooarchaeologists, palynologists, archaeobotanists, animal fiber specialists,
phytolith specialists and lithic technology specialists our research aims at
establishing the timeframe for the initial occupations in this area and to
gaining an understanding of the strategies used to colonize this area of
Antofagasta de la Sierra potentially during the Pleistocene-Holocene
transition. What kinds of resources
were available to humans and other predators? How stable were these environments that
enabled human occupation during all the Holocene, including the mid-Holocene
when other areas in the Puna were mostly abandoned? What were the cultural mechanisms for
buffering the fluctuating climatic conditions of the Holocene, and how did
hunter-gatherers cope from and economic and social perspective?
To
date there are four radiocarbon dates on charcoal from hearths at
Lanceolate projectile points found in
levels dated between ca. 7400 and
7600 B.P. had dented edges and
would have been used as hand held spears in situations where hunters and their
prey were at close range. These
projectile points were probably shot from behind stone parapets [3]. However, several fragments of
intermediate sections of spear-throwers made of Chusquea lorentziana were recovered indicating that long-distance hunting was practiced with the
spear-throwers or “atlatls”.
Botanical remains found at the cave belong to
the following species: Adesmia horrida (edible plant), Fabiana bryoides, Baccharis
incarum (used for fuel) Sisymbrium
philippianum (used for fuel), Deyeuxia
eminens y Festuca sp, Hoffmansegia eremophila (edible tubers), Chusquea lorentziana (cane shafts), and
cactus thorns of Trichocereus pasacana [4].
A period of aridization, known as the
Altithermal, would have begun in this area around 8500 years ago (and lasting
until ca. 6000 B.P.), and would have
resulted in a less predictable environment. Consequently, the availability of
resources as measured by their frequency, duration and predictability would
have surely caused groups of hunter-gatherers living in this area to
incorporate strategies that enabled them to adapt to their changing
environment:
a-
Diversification: one alternative would have been to widen their resource
base by exploiting a larger number of animal and plant species, such as small
animals (rodents) and through the consumption of insects and edible seeds and
roots [5].
b-
Reduction in their residential mobility[6]
and intensification[7]:
increasing the production and productivity of resources at hand would have lead
to an integral use of camelids (bone, skin, wool, dung, blood, fat, veins, tendons,
etc.) which in turn would have impacted their social organization and the
coordination of activities, and a reorganization in the way men, women and
children carried out their work.
Eventually, certain goods would have been manufactured of leather and
wool (clothing, bags, baskets, traps, sling-shots), seeds would have been
gathered and ground, pits for storing food and goods, and stone parapets would
have been built – all requiring coordination and organization[8].
In addition, the presence of non-local plants
used for making tools such as shafts (C. lorentziana), containers (L. siceraria), and needles (T.
pasacana), and even palm leaves of Acrocomia
sp. (perhaps for construction materials) reveal the use of resources from
over 200 km away, suggesting a high degree of logistical mobility [9].
A result of these strategies
(diversification, reduction in mobility, and intensification) could have
resulted in the establishment of some kind of leadership which in turn would
have enabled these hunter-gatherers to solve problems/conflicts, make decisions
in reference to hunting, residential moves and alliances, and to organize the
production of goods to be exchanged.
Future work at
L.P.
Figure1: The green ribbon of vegetation along the
Figure 2: Staking out the excavation area.
Figure 3: A cane fragment which would have been used as a projectile point shaft (ca. 7500 BP).
Figure4: Stone flakes and fragment of a tool (ca. 7500 BP).
Figure 5: Stone flakes, charcoal and bone fragments (ca. 7500 BP).
Figure 6: A cache with three unfinished projectile points (note the obsidian one in the middle).
Figure 7: A stone feature made of white tainted rocks.
Figure 8: Projectile point made of vulcanite (ca. 8000 BP).
Figure 9: The second youngest member of the expedition screening the sediment from the excavation.
Figure 10: Member of the excavation mapping the stone feature (Fig. 9).
Figure 11: Students Tatiana A. (
Figure 12: Flake and bone fragments retrieved in the screen.
Figure 13: Student Alison D. (
Figure 14: Last day in the field – note the stone and adobe house we lived in during Nov. and Dec. in the background.
Figure 15: One of many sunsets.