The Use of Hunting and Herding Spaces: Stable Isotope Analysis of Late Archaic and Early Formative Camelids in the Tulan Transect (Puna de Atacama, Chile)

Abstract

We present the results of analysing stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in camelid remains found at the LateArchaic site TU-52 (ca. 5000–3800BP), the Tarajne Phase site TU-94 and the Early Formative sites TU-54,TU-85 and TU-122 (ca. 3100–2400BP). All of the sites are located in the Puna de Atacama (Northern Chile)along the 14 km Tulan transect, between the head of Tulan ravine (ca. 3000 m.a.s.l.) and the border of theSalar de Atacama (2317 m.a.s.l.). Our aim is to understand how the space was used by hunter-gatherersand early herders from the beginning of camelid domestication to the consolidation of herding practices.Isotopic analyses were complemented with osteometric data in order to correlate changes in animal sizeand isotopic values with the initiation of animal husbandry. Isotopic and osteometric results show lessvariability ofδ13C andδ15N values during the Late Archaic and Tarajne Phase, whereas variability is higherduring the Early Formative. We postulate that during the latter period, there was more widespread use ofhunting and herding spaces along the Tulan ravine, including areas above 3000 m.a.s.l. as result of moreconsolidated herding practices, while the highlands were used as a complementary space to hold livestocknear ritual sites and residential settlements.