Browsing by Author "Calas, Elisa"

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    HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY IN REY DON FELIPE (PORT FAMINE): 50 YEARS AFTER ORTIZ-TRONCOSO
    (2023) Urbina, Simon; Adan, Leonor; Sierralta, Simon; Cortes, Constanza; Prieto, Alfredo; Gonzalez, Soledad; Calas, Elisa; Labarca, Rafael; Massone, Mauricio; Naranjo, Natalia; De la Calle, Felipe; Roman, Alvaro
    This article presents new archaeological research at Rey Don Felipe (Port Famine), thus continuing the pioneering works by Omar Ortiz-Troncoso half a century ago. We first summarize the historical and archaeological knowledge about the colonial settlement, and then the new excavation carried out between 2019-2022 are described. Finally, we discuss the main results of the chronological, faunal and lithic studies as well as other significant cultural findings. Different interpretations regarding the relevance of the settlement, cultural materials and different occupations identified are evaluated. Progress is made regarding four principal occupational the potential of new analyzes and the emergence of novel perspectives to study colonial processes from an archaeological point of view.
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    Silvopastoralism and the shaping of forest patches in the Atacama Desert during the Formative Period (ca. 3000-1500 years BP)
    (2022) McRostie, Virginia; Babot, Pilar; Calas, Elisa; Gayo, Eugenia; Gallardo, Francisco; Godoy-Aguirre, Carolina; Labarca, Rafael; Latorre, Claudio; Nunez, Lautaro; Ojeda, Karla; Santoro, Calogero M.; Valenzuela, Daniela
    During the Formative period by the Late-Holocene (ca. 3000-1500 BP), semi-sedentary and sedentary human occupations had emerged in the oases, salares, and riverine systems in the central depression (2400-1000 masl) of the Atacama Desert, northern Chile (19-25 degrees S). This hyperarid core was marginally occupied during the post-Pleistocene and middle Holocene droughts. Settlement on these lower belts was accompanied by a rise in humidity, the introduction of Andean crops, flourishment of Prosopis spp. (algarrobo) forests, and increasing integration of domestic camelid caravans. Here, we explore lowland husbandry within risk-spreading strategies, focusing on silvopastoralism and endozoochory between camelids and algarrobos. Analysis of camelid coprolites from seven archeological sites located in the Pampa del Tamarugal, Loa River, and Salar de Atacama found intense grinding from camelid chewing and indicated a ruminal digestive system. Abundant macro and microremains in the form of tissues, phytoliths, crystals, cell structures, and others, were identified as Prosopis, Atriplex, Schoenoplectus, Distichlis, and Phragmites. We conclude that camelids were foraging for Prosopis, although the rather low number of entire seeds preserved in the coprolites leads us to think that these herbivores might not have been the main vectors for the spread and germination of algarrobos. More samples and interdisciplinary studies are needed to comprehend the complex socioecological web in the shaping of these forests and the management of the Atacama Desert landscapes.
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    The ways of fish beyond the sea: fish circulation and consumption in the Atacama desert, northern Chile, during the Formative period (500 cal BC-700 cal AD.)
    (2019) Ballester, Benjamin; Calas, Elisa; Labarca, Rafael; Pestle, William; Gallardo, Francisco; Castillo, Claudia; Pimentel, Gonzalo; Oyarzo, Cristobal
    Along the Atacama Desert coast, fish has always been a staple food and by the Formative period (500 cal B.C.-700 cal A.D.) it had become a product in high demand by the inhabitants of the inland valleys, oases and ravines of the desert. In this paper we explore the technologies used in coastal fishing activities, the diverse species caught, and fish processing and preserving techniques. We further examine the circulation routes of the product through the desert and associated strategies, the agents involved in transporting it and consumption levels in inland villages. Our study employs a multivariate analysis that includes evidence from zooarchaeology, stable isotope analysis of deceased individuals, and the composition of human coprolites, all of which were recovered from domestic waste, funerary contexts, and rest stops associated with the circulation routes running between the coast and the inland desert regions. Our results suggest that in this ancient social context, food was not only used to quell hunger, but through its associated economic cycles of production, circulation and consumption, was part of a complex and extended web of social relations. Within that network, food functioned as material culture, and as such enabled social distinctions to emerge within local groups and cultural negotiations to be conducted among different localities. Fish circulation and consumption played an active role in the reproduction of a social structure characterized by dose and firm ties between marine hunter-fisher-gatherers and agropastoral communities, despite their long distance from each other.
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    Vivir en la costa: El sitio Cueva La Capilla 1 en el contexto de transición Arcaico-Formativo en el extremo norte de Chile
    (Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Catholic University of Temuco, 2023) Calas, Elisa; Sepulveda, Marcela; Silva-Pinto, Verónica; Alday, Camila; Garcia, Magdalena; Labarca Encina, Rafael Osvaldo; Valenzuela, Jimena; Osorio, Daniela; Valenzuela, Daniela
    El sitio Cueva La Capilla 1 es un contexto clave para entender los procesos de cambio social que vivieron las comunidades cazadoras, recolectoras y pescadoras costeras hacia fines del período Arcaico en la costa exorreica del extremo norte de Chile, Desierto de Atacama. Presentamos el análisis de múltiples evidencias provenientes de excavaciones realizadas a principios de la década 2010 asociadas justamente al lapso temporal de la transición Arcaico-Formativo. A partir de la presencia de materiales relacionados con distintos ámbitos de la vida social de estos grupos, como son la alimentación, tecnología y funebria, discutimos el tipo de actividades desarrolladas en su interior. El origen de los recursos asociados a cada ámbito permite profundizar aspectos vinculados con la movilidad de sus ocupantes e interacción con otras comunidades. En síntesis, con toda la nueva información disponible, incluyendo nuevas dataciones, ampliamos el conjunto de actividades identificadas previamente en el sitio, junto con ahondar en la relevancia de la costa y litoral para las poblaciones locales en el lapso conocido como de transición del Arcaico al Formativo en cuanto a su movilidad y/o redes de interacción con otras poblaciones asentadas en ambientes interiores de la región.