Abstract
Although the Archaic Period of the south-central Andes is not well-known beyond Latin America, there is much of interest in it to archaeologists working with foraging populations. Like the North American Archaic and European Mesolithic, the Archaic in the region is characterized by ethnic differentiation, changes in the scale and frequency of residential mobility, resource intensification and specialization, and population growth. The origin and evolutionary trajectory of these trends are discussed within the context of the development of ecological complementarity, a strategy of land use that exploits the vertically stratified distribution of resources in the Andean environment.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aguerre, A., Fernández, A., and Aschero, C. (1985). Comentarios sobre neuvas fechas en la cronológia arqueológica precerámica de la Provencia de Jujuy.Relaciones de la Sociedad Argentina de Antropologia 8: 211–214.
Aldenderfer, M. (1985). Archaic Period settlement patterns from far southern Peru: Preliminary report of the 1984 Field Season of NUAP.Northwestern Archaeological Reports, 7, Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.
Aldenderfer, M. (1988). Middle Archaic Period domestic architecture from southern Peru.Science 241: 1828–1830.
Aldenderfer, M. (1989a). Archaic Period “complementarity” in the Osmore Basin. In Rice, D., and Stanish, C. (eds.), Ecology, History and Settlement in the Osmore Basin,British Archaeological Reports, International Series, Oxford.
Aldenderfer, M. (1989b). Archaic Period settlement patterns in the sierra of the Osmore basin. In Rice, D., and Stanish, C. (eds.), Ecology, History, and Settlement in the Osmore Basin,British Archaeological Reports, International Series, Oxford.
Aldenderfer, M. (1989c). Late Archaic ceremonial architecture from southern Peru.Antiquity (in press).
Aldunate, C., Berenguer, J., Castro, V., Cornejo, L., Martinez, J., and Sinclaire, C. (1986). Sobre la cronológia del Loa superior.Chungara 16: 333–346.
Allison, M., Foccaci, G., Arriaza, B., Standen, V., Rivera, M., and Lowenstein, J. (1984). Chinchorro, momias de preparación complicada: Metodos de momificación.Chungara 13: 155–174.
Arriaza, B., Allison, M., Standen, V., Focacci, G., and Chacama, J. (1986). Peinados precolombinos en momias de Arica.Chungara 16: 353–375.
Aschero, C. (1984). El sitio ICC-4: Un asentamiento preceramico en la Quebrada de Inca Cueva (Jujuy, Argentina).Estudios Atacameños 7: 62–72.
Barfield, E. (1961). Recent discoveries in the Atacama Desert and the Bolivian altiplano.American Antiquity 27: 93–100.
Binford, L. (1983).In Pursuit of the Past, Thames and Hudson, London.
Bird, J. (1943). Excavations in northern Chile.American Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Papers 38: 171–318.
Bird, J. (1946). The cultural sequence of the North Chilean coast. InHandbook of South American Indians, Vol. 2, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, D.C., pp. 587–594.
Bittmann, B. (1982). Revisión del problema Chinchorro.Chungara 9: 46–79.
Bittmann, B., and Munizaga, J. (1984). Evolución de poblaciones precolombinas en la costa del Norte de ChileChungara 13: 109–128.
Browman, D. (1986).Chenopodium Cultivation, Lacustrine Resources, and Fuel Usage at Chiripa, Bolivia, Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.
Brown, J. A. (1985). Long-term trends to sedentism and the emergency of cultural complexity in the American Midwest. In Price, T. D., and Brown, J. (eds.),Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers: The Emergence of Cultural Complexity, Academic Press, Orlando, Fla., pp. 201–234.
Bustos, S. (1974). Chacaya-2, una aldea temprana sin agrcultura y sin ceramica.Serie Arqueologica,2, Universidad del Norte, Antofagasta, pp. 12–36.
Cabrera, A. (1968). Ecologica vegeta de lapuna. In Troll, C. (ed.),Geo-Ecology of the Mountainous Regions of the Tropical Americas, Ferd Dummlers Verlag, Bonn, pp. 91–116.
Cashdan, E. (1983). Territoriality among human foragers: Ecological models and application to four Bushmen groups.Current Anthropology 24: 47–66.
Christenson, A. (1980). Change in the human food niche in response to population growth. In Earle, T., and Christenson, A. (eds.),Modeling Change in Prehistoric Subsistence Economies, Academic Press, New York, pp. 31–72.
Craig, A. (1982). Ambiente costero del norte de Chile.Chungara 9: 4–20.
Custred, G. (1979). Hunting technologies in Andean culture.Journal de la Societe des Americanistes 66: 7–19.
Dauelsberg, P. (1974). Excavaciones arqueológicas en Quiani.Chungara 4: 7–38.
Dauelsberg, P. (1982). Prehistoria de Arica.Diologo Andino 1: 31–82.
Dauelsberg, P. (1983). Tojo-Tojone: Un paradero de cazadores arcaicos.Chungara 11: 11–39.
Dauelsberg, P. (1985). Faldas del Morro: Fase cultural agroalferia temprana.Chungara 14: 7–44.
Dauelsberg, P. (1986). El Valle de Arica. Paper presented at Primer Encuentro de Arqueologia Regional: Los Valles Occidentales del Area Centro-Sur Andina, Ilo, Peru.
Dollfus, O. (1981).El Reto Espacio Andino, Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima.
Druss, M. (1978).Environment, Subsistence Economy, and Settlement Patterns of the Chiu-Chiu Complex (ca. 2700–1600 BC) of the Atacama Desert, Northern Chile, Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University.
Fernandez, A. (1974). Excavaciones arqueológicas en las cuevas de Huachichocana Departmento Tumbaya, Provinica De Jujuy, Argentina.Relaciones VIII (N.S.), Sociedad Argentina de Antropologia, Buenos Aires.
Flannery, K. (1986).Guila Naquitz, Academic Press, Orlando, Fla.
Gambier, M. (1979). Los cazadores del septimo milenio en el extremo sur de los Andes meridionales y sus relaciones con la cultura ayampitin. Publicaciones del Instituo de Investigaciones Arqueológicas y Museo, 5, Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Argentina, pp. 11–22.
Gelling, P. (1972). Excavation of a cave at Los Castillos in the valley of the Rio Huenque in southern Peru.Ñawpa Pacha 5: 17–22.
Graf-Meyer, K. (1977). Nuevos datos palinologicos de cuaternario alto de Bolivia.Boletin de Servicio Geologico de Bolivia 1: 1–14.
Hayden, B. (1981). Subsistence and ecological adaptations of modern hunter-gatherers. In Harding, R., and Teleki, G. (eds.),Omnivorous Primates, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 344–421.
Hesse, B. (1982). Animal domestication and oscilating climates.Journal of Ethnobiology 2: 1–15.
Hesse, B. (1984). The exploitation of small mammals and camelids in northern Chile.Estudios Atacameños 7: 45–65.
Hitchcock, R. (1987). Sedentism and site structure: Organizational changes in Kalahari Basarwa residential locations. In Kent, S. (ed.),Method and Theory in Activity Area Analysis: An Ethnoarchaeological Approach, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 374–423.
Jacobaccio, H. (1984). Aproximación a la función de los asentamientos precerámicos en la puna y su borde oriental (Jujuy, Argentina).Estudios Atacameños 7: 73–84.
Jensen, P. and Kautz, R. (1974). Preceramic transhumance and Andean food production.Economic Botany 28: 43–55.
Johns, T., and Keen, S. (1986). Ongoing evolution of potato on the altiplano of western Bolivia.Economic Botany 40(4): 409–424.
Kent, J. (1982).The Domestication and Exploitation of the South American Camelids: Methods of Analysis and Their Application to Circum-Lacustrine Archaeological Sites in Bolivia and Peru, Ph.D. dissertation, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.
Kolata, A. (1983). The south Andes. In Jennings, J. (ed.),Ancient South Americans, W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, pp. 241–286.
Kuznar, L. (1989). The domestication of camelids in South America: Models and evidence. In Rice, D., and Stanish, C. (eds.), Ecology, Settlement, and History,British Archaeological Reports, International Series, Oxford.
Lanning, E., and Hammel, E. (1961). Early lithic industries of western South America.American Antiquity 27: 139–154.
Llagostera, A. (1979). 9700 years of maritime subsistence on the Pacific: An analysis by means of bioindicators in the north of Chile.American Antiquity 44: 309–324.
Llagostera, A. (1985). Arcaicos pescadores vs. Arcaicos continentales en la dinámica cultural del litoral chileno. Paper presented at X Congreso Nacional de Arqueología Chilena, Arica, Chile.
Lynch, T. F. (1967).The nature of the Central Andean Preceramic. Occasional Papers 21, Idaho State Museum, Pocatello.
Lynch, T. F. (1971). Prehistoric transhumance in the Callejon de Huaylas, Peru.American Antiquity 38: 139–48.
Lynch, T. F. (1973). Harvest timing, transhumance, and the process of domestication.American Anthropologist 75: 1254–1259.
Lynch, T. F. (1980).Guitarrero Cave: Early Man in the Andes, Academic Press, New York.
Lynch, T. F. (1981). Zonal complementarity in the Andes: A history of the concept. In Framcis, P., Kense, F., and Duke, P. (eds.),Networks of the Past, Proceedings of the 12th Annual Chaacmool Conference, University of Calgary, Alberta, pp. 221–231.
Lynch, T. F. (1983a). Camelid pastoralism and the emergence of Tiwanaku civilization.World Archaeology 15: 1–14.
Lynch, T. F. (1983b). The Paleo-Indians. In Jennings, J. (ed.),Ancient South Americans, Freeman, San Francisco.
Lynch, T. F. (1986). Climate change and human settlement around the late-glacial Laguna de Punta Negra, northern Chile: The preliminary results.Geoarchaeology 1: 145–162.
MacNeish, R., Vierra, R., Nelken-Turner, A., Lurie, R., and Cook, A. (1983).Prehistory of the Ayacucho Basin, Vol. 4. The Preceramic Way of Life, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.
Mamai, M. (1981). Elchuño: Preparación, uso, almacenamiento. In Lechtman, H., and Soldi, A. (eds.),La Technología en el Mundo Andino, Universidad Nacional Autonoma, Mexico, pp. 235–246.
Martin, R. (1976).New Archaeological Techniques for the Study of Ancient Root Crops in Peru, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Birmingham, U.K.
Mena, F. (1984). Patrones de movilidad en el Arcaico Tardio: II region.Estudios Atacameños 7: 26–41.
Molina, E., and Little, A. (1981). Geoecology of the Andes: The natural science basis for research planning.Mountain Research and Development 1: 115–144.
Moseley, M. (1975).The Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilizatio, Cummings, Menlo Park, Calif.
Mujica, E. (1985).Altiplano-coast relationships in the south-central Andes: From indirect to direct complementarity. In Masuda, S., Shimada, I., and Morris, C. (eds.),Andean Ecology and Civilization, University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo, pp. 103–142.
Muñoz, I. (1982). Las sociedades costeras en el litoral de Arica durante el Periodo Arcaico Tardio y sus vinculaciones con la costa Peruana.Chungara 9: 124–151.
Muñoz, I. (1986). Patrones habitacionales en el Valle de Azapa. Paper presented at Primer Encuentro de Arqueologia Regional, Ilo, Peru.
Muño, I., and Chacama, J. (1982). Investigaciones arqueologicas en las poblaciones preceramicas de la costa de Arica. Documentos de Trabajo, 2, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica, Chile, pp. 3–97.
Murra, J. (1972). El control “vertical” de un máximo de pisos ecológicos en la economía de las sociedades andinas. InVisita de la Provencia de León de Huánuco en 1562, Universidad Nacional Hermilio Valdizán, Huánuco, Peru, pp. 429–476.
Nuñez, L. (1971). Secuencia y cambio en los asentamientos humanos de la desembocadura del Rio Loa en el norte de Chile.Boletin de la Universidad de Chile 112: 3–25.
Nuñez, L. (1974).La Agricultura Prehistorica en los Andes Meridonales, Editorial Orbe, Santiago, Chile.
Nuñez, L. (1975). Dinamica de grupos preceramicos en el perfil costa-altiplano, norte de Chile.Estudios Atacamenos 3: 59–74
Nuñez, L. (1980). Hipotesis de movilidad trashumantica en la puna de Atacama: Quebrada de Tulan.Actas del V Congreso Nacional de Arqueologia Argentina, San Juan, Argentina, pp. 19–46.
Nuñez, L. (1981). Cazadores tempranos en Andes meridionales.Boletin de Antropologia Americana 2: 87–120.
Nuñez, L. (1982). Asentamiento de cazadores-recolectores tardios de la puna de Atacama: hacia el sedentarismo.Chungara 8: 137–168.
Nuñez, L. (1983). Paleoindian and Archaic cultural periods in the arid and semiarid regions of northern Chile.Advances in World Archaeology 2: 161–203.
Nuñez, L. (1986). Evidencias arcaicas de maices y cuyes en Tiliviche: Hacia el semisedentarismo en el litoral fertil y quebradas del norte de Chile.Chungara 16/17: 25–47.
Nuñez, L., and Moragas, C. (1977). Ocupación arcaica temprana en Tiliviche, norte de Chile (I region).Boletin del Museo Arquelogico de La Serena 16: 53–76.
Nuñez, L., Zlatar, V., and Nuñez, P. (1974). Caleta Huelen-42: Una aldea temprana en el norte de Chile.Hombre y Cultura, 2, Centro de Investigaciones Antropologicas, Universidad de Panama.
Nuñez, L., Zlatar, V., and Nuñez, P. (1975). Un circuito trashumantico entre la costa de Pisagua el borde occidental de la Pampa del Tamarugal.Estudios Atacameños 3: 49–52.
Nuñez, L., Varela, J., and Casmiquela, R. (1983).Ocupación Paleoindio en Quereo (IV Region): Una Reconstrucción Multidiciplinaria en el Territorio Semiarido de Chile, Universidad del Norte, Antofagasta.
O'Connell, J. (1987). Alyawara site structure and its archaeological implications.American Antiquity 52: 74–108.
Olmos, O. (1985). Analisis de fauna arqueología: Un indicator cultural de adaptación humana al desierto.Chungara 15: 45–58.
Olmos, O., and Sanhueza, J. (1984). El precerámico en la costa sur de Iquique.Chungara 13: 143–154.
Palacios Rios, F. (1984). El taller litico de Tumuku.Revista del Museo e Instituto de Arqueologia de la Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad 23: 15–36.
Paskoff, R. (1977). The Quaternary of Chile: The state of research.Quaternary Research 8: 2–31.
Pires-Ferreira, J., Pires-Ferreira, E., and Kaulicke, P. (1976). Preceramic animal utilization in the central Peruvian Andes.Science 194: 483–490.
Pollard, G., and Drew, I. (1975). Llama herding and settlement in prehispanic northern Chile: Application of analysis for determining domestication.American Antiquity 40: 296–305.
Ponce, C. (1980).Panorama de la Arqueología Boliviana, Editorial Juventud, La Paz.
Rafferty, J. (1985). The archaeological record on sedentariness: Recognition, development, and implications.Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory 8: 113–156.
Ravines, R. (1967). El abrigo de Caru y sus relaciones culturales con otros sitios tempranos del sur del Peru.Nawpa Pacha 5: 39–57.
Ravines, R. (1972). Sequencia y cambios en los artefactos liticos del sur del Peru.Revista del Museo Nacional 38: 133–184.
Renfrew, C. (1975). Trade as action at a distance: Questions of integration and communication. In Sabloff, J., and Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. (eds.),Ancient Civilization and Trade, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, pp. 3–95.
Rick, J. (1980).Prehistoric Hunters of the High Andes, Academic Press, New York.
Rick, J. (1988). The character and context of highland Preceramic society. In Keatinge, R. (ed.),Peruvian Prehistory, Cambridge University Press, London, pp. 3–40.
Rindos, D. (1984).The Origins of Agriculture, Academic Press, New York.
Rivera, M. (1984). Altiplano and tropical lowlands contacts in northern Chilean prehistory: Chinchorro and Alto Ramirez revisited. In Browman, D., Burger, R., and Rivera, M. (eds.), Social and Economic Organization in the Prehispanic Americas.British Archaeological Reports, International Series 194: 143–161.
Rivera, M., and Rothhammer, F. (1986). Evaluacion biologia y cultural de poblaciones Chinchorro: Nuevos elementos para la hipotesis de contactos transaltiplanicos, cuenca Amazonas-Costa Pacifico.Chungara 16/17: 295–306.
Salomon, F. (1985). The dynamic potential of the complementarity concept. In Masuda, S., Shimada, I., and Morris, C. (eds.),Andean Ecology and Civilization, University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo, pp. 511–531.
Sandweiss, D., Richardson, J., III, Reitz, E., Hsu, J., and Feldman, R. (1989). Early maritime adaptations at the Ring Site, Peru. In Rice, D., and Stanish, C. (eds.), Ecology, Settlement, and History in the Osmore Basin.British Archaeological Reports, International Series.
Santoro, C., and Chacama, J. (1982). Sequencia cultural de las tierras altas del area centro sur andina.Chungara 9: 22–45.
Santoro, C., and Nuñez, L. (1987). Hunters of the drypuna and saltpuna in northern Chile.Andean Past 1: 57–110.
Schiappacasse, V., and Niemeyer, H. (1984). Descripción y analisis interpretativo de un sito Arcaico temprano en la Quebrada de Camarones. Publicación Ocasional, 41, Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Universidad de Tarapaca, Arica.
Shimada, I. (1985). Perception, procurement, and management of resources: Archaeological perspective. In Masuda, S., Shimada, I., and Morris, C. (eds.),Andean Ecology and Civilization, University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo, pp. 357–400.
Sinclaire, C. (1985). Dos fechas radiocarbonicas del alero Chulqui, Rio Toconoce: noticia y comentario.Chungara 14: 71–80.
Spielmann, K. (1986). Interdependence in egalitarian societies.Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 5: 279–312.
Standen, V., Allison, M., and Arriaza, B. (1985). Osteoma del conducto auditivo externo: Hipotesis en torno a una posible patologia laboral prehispanica.Chungara 15: 197–209.
Tartaglia, L. (1980). A revised C-14 chronology for northern Chile. InPrehistoric Trails of the Atacama: Archaeologu of Northern Chile, Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, pp. 5–22.
Thomas, D. H. (1986). Contemporary hunter-gatherer archaeology in America. In Melzer, D., Fowler, D., and Sabloff, J., (eds.),American Archaeology: Past and Future, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., pp. 237–276.
True, D. (1975). Early maritime cultural orientations in prehistoric Chile. In Casteel, R., and Quimby, G. (eds.),Maritime Adaptations of the Pacific, Mouton, The Hague, pp. 90–143.
True, D., and Crew, H. (1980). Archaeological investigations in northern Chile: Tarapacá 2A. In Meighan, C., and True, D. (eds.),Prehistoric Trails of Atacama, University of California, Los Angeles, pp. 59–90.
True, D., and Gildersleeve, L. (1980). Archaeological investigations in northern Chile: Tarapacá 18. In Meighan, C., and True, D. (eds.),Prehistoric Trails of Atacma, University of California, Los Angeles, pp. 37–58.
True, D., Nuñez, L., and Nuñez, P. (1970). Archaeological investigations in northern Chile: Project Tarapaca-Preceramic resources.American Antiquity 35: 170–184.
Ugent, D. (1970). The potato.Science 170: 1161–1166.
Ugent, D., Pozorski, S., and Pozorski, T. (1982). Archaeological potato tuber remains from the Casma Valley of Peru.Economic Botany 36(2): 182–192.
Wheeler, J. (1984). On the origin and early domestication of camelid pastoralism in the Andes. In Clutton-Brock, J., and Grigson, C. (eds.), Animals and Archaeology.Archaeological Reports, International Series 202: 395–410 (Oxford).
Wheeler, J. (1985). De la chasse a l'elevage. In Lavallee, D. (ed.),Telarmachay: Chasseurs et Pasteurs Prehistoriques des Andes, Institut Francais D'Etudes Andienes, 20, Paris.
Willey, G. (1971).An Introduction to American Archaeology, Vol. 2. South America, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Willey, G., and Sabloff, J. (1980).A History of American Archaeology, 2nd ed., Freeman, San Francisco.
Williams, L. (1980). Analysis of coprolites from six sites in northern Chile. In Meighan, C., and True, D. (eds.),Prehistoric Trails of Atacama: Archaeology of Northern Chile, Monumenta Archaeologica 7, Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, pp. 87–98.
Winterhalder, B., and Thomas, B. (1978). Geoecology of southern highland Peru.Occasional Paper, 27, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Boulder, Colo.
Wise, K. (1989). Archaic Period research in the lower Osmore region. In Rice, D., and Stanish, C. (eds.), Ecology, Settlement and History in the Osmore Basin.British Archaeological Reports, International Series, Oxford.
Wright, H. (1983). Late Pleistocene glaciation and climate around the Junin Plain, central Peruvian highlands.Geografiska Annaler 65: 35–43.
Yellen, J. (1977).Archaeological Approaches to the Present, Academic Press, New York.
Zlatar, V. (1983). Replanteamiento sobre el problema Caleta Huelen-42.Chungara 10: 21–28.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Aldenderfer, M.S. The Archaic Period in the south-central Andes. J World Prehist 3, 117–158 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00975759
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00975759