Browsing by Author "Santana Sagredo, Francisca"

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    A chronology for the earliest human burials at Cuchipuy, central Chile
    (2022) Becerra-Valdivia, Lorena; Eyquem, Andrea; Santana Sagredo, Francisca; Mendez, Cesar
    Cuchipuy is an archaeological site within the ancient Laguna de Tagua Tagua area (O'Higgins Region, central Chile; known for containing the remains of extinct fauna), with evidence for cultural activity spanning most of the Holocene, including over 50 human burials. The bulk of chronometric work at Cuchipuy was carried out in the 1980s, where a discrepancy within the radiocarbon dating results raised questions on the antiquity of the oldest funerary deposits (Stratum 4). Given the importance of both the site and area in prehistoric studies, this analysis aimed to reassess the chronology of Stratum 4 through the production of new radiocarbon dates on human remains and the application of Bayesian modelling. When combined with previously published ages, results place the commencement of Stratum 4 at 7320-7160 cal BP, within the early-mid Holocene. This is later than previous conclusions based on the discrepant dataset, refuting a temporal connection to Paleoindian deposits within the region. In addition, stable light isotope results suggest that human diet during the period was diverse, relying on both terrestrial and freshwater aquatic resources. This pattern changes with later populations, however, where the isotopic signal reflects the consumption of mainly terrestrial resources.
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    Agrobiodiversity in mountain territories: family farming and the challenges of social-environmental changes
    (Springer, 2023) Ibarra Eliessetch, Jose Tomas; Marchant, Carla; Olivares, Fernanda; Caviedes, Julián; Santana Sagredo, Francisca; Monterrubio-Solís, Constanza; Sarmiento, Fausto O.; Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile
    Family farming plays a fundamental role in food production. However, it faces rapid processes of social-environmental change, such as the application of hegemonic agrarian modernization policies and restrictions on the circulation of traditional seeds. Institutional changes are also altering practices and social relations, while climate change is the main factor in biodiversity loss and increased human vulnerability and the threat to livelihoods. The negative effects of these processes are particularly alarming in mountain territories. These systems are considered “biocultural refuges” since they often contain high levels of agrobiodiversity, complex systems of knowledge, and unique agricultural practices with identity value for local communities and indigenous peoples. This chapter examines the role of mountain family farming as a biocultural refuge and discusses the challenges it faces in a context of social-environmental crises, describing cases of mountain agricultural systems in nine of the world’s main mountain territories and showing that they are fragile spaces and highly vulnerable to certain processes of social-environmental change. For this reason, we urge the identification and promotion of strategies to foster the adaptation and resilience of mountain family farming as a way of contributing to the food security and sovereignty of the communities that inhabit these territories.
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    Bioavailable Strontium, Human Paleogeography, and Migrations in the Southern Andes: A Machine Learning and GIS Approach
    (2021) Barberena, Ramiro; Cardillo, Marcelo; Lucero, Gustavo; le Roux, Petrus J.; Tessone, Augusto; Llano, Carina; Gasco, Alejandra; Marsh, Erik J.; Nuevo-Delaunay, Amalia; Novellino, Paula; Frigole, Cecilia; Winocur, Diego; Benitez, Anahi; Cornejo, Luis; Falabella, Fernanda; Sanhueza, Lorena; Santana Sagredo, Francisca; Troncoso, Andres; Cortegoso, Valeria; Duran, Victor A.; Mendez, Cesar
    The Andes are a unique geological and biogeographic feature of South America. From the perspective of human geography, this mountain range provides ready access to highly diverse altitudinally arranged ecosystems. The combination of a geologically and ecologically diverse landscape provides an exceptional context to explore the potential of strontium isotopes to track the movements of people and the conveyance of material culture. Here we develop an isotopic landscape of bioavailable strontium (87Sr/86Sr) that is applied to reconstruct human paleogeography across time in the southern Andes of Argentina and Chile (31 degrees-34 degrees S). These results come from a macro-regional sampling of rodents (N = 65) and plants (N = 26) from modern and archeological contexts. This "Southern Andean Strontium Transect" extends over 350 km across the Andes, encompassing the main geological provinces between the Pacific coast (Chile) and the eastern lowlands (Argentina). We follow a recently developed approach to isoscape construction based on Random Forest regression and GIS analysis. Our results suggest that bioavailable strontium is tightly linked with bedrock geology and offers a highly resolved proxy to track human paleogeography involving the levels of territories or daily mobility and anomalous events that disrupt home ranges, such as migration. The southern Andes provide an ideal geological setting to develop this approach, since the geological variation in rock age and composition produces distinctive isotopic signatures for each main biogeographical region. Finally, we apply this framework to a set of results from human remains from the Uspallata Valley in Mendoza (Argentina), to assess the incidence of migration in the key period of the consolidation of agropastoral economies between AD 800 and 1400. The application of the isoscape to the values from human remains confirms the persistence of human groups with relatively restricted territories encompassing Uspallata and the adjacent Precordillera between AD 800 and 1500. We also identify a pulse of human migration between AD 1280 and 1420, shortly preceding the Inka conquest. Looking forward, we expect to converge with ongoing efforts in South America to build a continental research framework to track the movement of people, animals, and artifacts across space and time.
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    Huentelauquén coastal groups in the Andean highlands? An assessment of human occupations of the Early Holocene in Salar de Pedernales, Chile (26°S, 3356 masl)
    (2022) López, Patricio; Carrasco, Carlos; Loyola, Rodrigo; Flores-Aqueveque, Valentina; Maldonado, Antonio; Santana Sagredo, Francisca; Méndez, Víctor; Díaz, Pablo; Varas, Daniel; Soto, Angélica
    We present new evidence obtained in archaeological surveys in Quebrada Pedernales (3356 masl), in the southern puna of Chile (26°S; 69°W). A series of surface findings such as large lanceolate stemmed projectile points and geometric stones, together with chronostratigraphic and artifactual data recovered in excavations at the Pedernales-38 site, suggest that the coastal Huentelauquén groups explored and inhabited the Andean highlands between 10,151 and 9695 cal yr BP. The archaeological record is discussed as it relates to the known evidence for this cultural complex, recognized principally on the Pacific coast. The archaeological findings allow us to broaden the diversity of environments exploited by coastal populations of the Early Holocene, and provide new data on their mobility and settlement strategies.
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    Pedernales-5: An enclave for flamingo (Phoenicopteridae) exploitation during the Early Holocene in the Chilean southern Puna (26°S-69°W)
    (SAGE Publications, 2024) López, Patricio; Loyola, Rodrigo; Carrasco, Carlos; Roa Solís, Constanza; Varas, Daniel; Santana Sagredo, Francisca; Méndez Muñoz, Víctor Andrés; Bravo, Gabriela; Latorre, Elvira; Sáez, Alina; Orrego, Vanessa; Sperling, Ariel
    We present the results of an interdisciplinary study conducted at the Pedernales-5 site, situated in the Salar de Pedernales basin (26°S; 3356 masl), dated from 10,510−10,749 to 11,201−11,612 cal. BP. Unlike other Late Pleistocene and Holocene sites in the Andean Puna, where vicuñas (Vicugna vicugna) were the primary prey, at Pedernales-5, the zooarcheological assemblage consists almost exclusively of flamingo (Phoenicopteridae) and bird remains. Through the analysis of lithic and bone artifacts, archeobotanical remains, pigment composition, and paleoenvironmental data, we propose that the emphasis on flamingo exploitation cannot be solely explained by alimentary consumption but also served cultural and symbolic purposes related to the acquisition of feathers, hides, and bones. The unique archeological context of Pedernales-5 offers a distinctive perspective on human dynamics in the Andean highlands during the Early Holocene.
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    SEXUAL POLITICS AND SOCIAL REPRODUCTION IN THE PAMPA DEL TAMARUGAL: SEX-AGE STRUCTURE IN THE TARAPACA 40 CEMETERY (BC 1000-600 AD)
    (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) Gonzalez Ramirez, Andrea; Saez, Arturo; Herrera Soto, Maria Jose; Leyton, Lia; Miranda, Felipe; Santana Sagredo, Francisca; Uribe Rodriguez, Mauricio
    In this paper we propose explanatory hypotheses about the sexual politics that were from time to time implemented in the configuration of the Pampa del Tamarugal formative community, with the aim to contribute to the archaeological study of social reproduction. The bioanthropological collections of the Tarapaca 40 Cemetery underwent an osteological survey, designed to identify their sexual and age structure. A significant number of contextual references were recovered, and an exploratory analysis of the variation in the sex-age structure of some cemeteries in the region was carried out. The results show a cemetery with all age ranges and a 1:1 sex ratio. On a regional scale, a dichotomous distribution was observed between archaic and formative cemeteries, based on the ratio between adult women and non-adults. We propose that social relations of reproduction and sexual division of labor between the late archaic and the formative society underwent radical transformations, the most direct impact of which could be the social control of female sexuality through the establishment of a kinship-based socio-political regime.
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    Technological and Protein Residue Analysis on Ancient Stemmed Projectile Points of the Southern Andes Highlands
    (2024) Loyola, Rodrigo; López-Mendoza, Patricio; Carrasco, Carlos; Walker, Cam; Fagan, John; Méndez Muñoz, Víctor Andrés; Santana Sagredo, Francisca; Flores Aqueveque, Valentina; Soto, Angélica
    We present the results of technological and protein residue analyses of the lithic assemblagesrecovered at the Pedernales-38 site (26.5°S; 69°W), located in the highlands of the southernAndes (3380 masl). Based on a reconstruction of the operational chains and the differentialrepresentation of their phases, we suggest that the final production, use, maintenance, anddiscard of large stemmed projectile points occurred at the site. Of the assemblage studied, nine(9) projectile points and one end-scraper were subjected to residue analysis using cross-overimmunoelectrophoresis (CIEP). Four positive reactions to antisera of human, camelid (guanacoor vicuña) and canid (Andean fox) were recorded. The results are discussed based on thedepositional context and the structure of the archeological record. We propose that Pedernalesprojectile points were mainly used in hunting weapons to capture wild camelids during theseasonal occupation of the Andes highlands
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    Traffic, mobility and diet between the Pica oasis and the arid coast of the Atacama Desert during the Late Intermediate period (northern Chile)
    (2021) Nunez, Lautaro; Santana Sagredo, Francisca
    We present the results of interdisciplinary research on the topic of diet and mobility in the arheic zone of northern Chile during the Late Intermediate period (AD 900-1450), based on the study of the Pica-8 cemetery. A strategic location between the Altiplano and the coast, Pica-8 was used by an agrarian population that grew tropical and semitropical species of plants, especially maize, and engaged in highly sophisticated craft production. During the development of the Pica-Tarapaca complex, resources moved between inland oases and the coast, based on the evidence of marine species found in the valleys and vice versa. We describe the Pica-8 population using radiocarbon dates and stable isotope analysis to gain insight into diet and mobility. We also consider the relationship between diet, mobility, and funerary contexts. Results demonstrate that diet was quite variable, with groups eating a mix of marine and terrestrial resources, as well as maize. The presence of nonlocal objects suggests that Pica acted as a contact point between the coast and the Altiplano. No relationship was found between funerary context and diet. We conclude that coastal and Pica oasis populations were in permanent contact and that their relations were characterized by social harmony.
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    Unveiling Terra Incognita. An archaeological search for the first human occupations of Infieles and Pedernales salt flats (3000-4100 masl, 25 degrees-26 degrees S), Atacama Region, Chile
    (2021) Lopez Mendoza, Patricio; Carrasco Gonzalez, Carlos; Loyola Munoz, Rodrigo; Flores Aqueveque, Valentina; Santana Sagredo, Francisca; Maldonado Castro, Antonio; Martinez Rivera, Ismael
    The results of archaeological surface surveys carried out on Infieles (25 degrees 58'39' S-69 degrees 03'25 '' W) and Pedernales (26 degrees 13'59 '' S-69 degrees 07' 16 '' W) salt flats, Atacama, Chile, located at an altitude from 3000 to 4100 mast are presented. Both surveys were carried out in areas that directly connect the Arid North with the Semiarid. The surveys are part of a project that investigates areas with potential human occupations during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition and are targeted at specific sectors such as river terraces, alluvial fans, wetlands, and salt flats. The variability of the archaeological record is discussed within the framework of the regional pre-Hispanic and historic sequence, and especially within the context of the first human occupations of the salt flats.