Liliana del Valle Neder

Mother Earth: soil and people relationships during the prehispanic period (Northwest Argentina)

Abstract The objective of this paper is to explore the relationship between agricultural soils, land and cult behaviour. We consider that soils, as they were modified by humans, contain key information for the reconstruction of past behaviour linked to super-structural beliefs, not necessarily visible through the conventional material record. In this sense, the manipulation of lands and soils in the Andean region represents the unification of ritual activities and beliefs focused on the Pachamama (Mother Earth). We present the results of a study to examine soil management at a prehispanic agricultural settlement in Northwest Argentina, together with other evidence related to the agricultural symbolic universe, which reveals evidence of land categorization and land use preferences.

Quaternary landscape evolution and human occupation in northwestern Argentina

Abstract Our study area is located in northwestern Argentina. It is a semiarid valley in which developed agricultural pre-Columbian settlements were located. The objectives of our research were to establish the geomorphological characteristics of the area, its relative chronological development, and the relationships between geomorphological development and pre-Columbian settlements. Pre-Quaternary lithologies are represented by a metamorphic basement that is commonly exposed on slopes and belongs to the Precambrian and Cambrian periods. Tertiary sediments from several formations are exposed over an extensive surface forming cuesta relief landforms. Quaternary landscape units were classified according to their genesis into structural–denudational landforms (denudational slopes and structural scarps), denudational landforms (covered glacis), fluvio-alluvial landforms (alluvial fans, fluvial fans, and fluvial terraces) and aeolian forms (stabilized dunes). Archaeological sites belonging to the Formative (500 BC–AD 1000) and Regional Development (AD 1000–1500) periods were identified. The main archaeological sites are located on the surfaces of debris-flow deposits and some covered glacis. They are characterized by the presence of residential units together with agricultural structures (terraces and irrigation channels). The earlier settlements (Formative period) are restricted to alluvial fan landforms (debris-flow deposits), where present hydrological supply is lower than in the rest of the study area. Later settlements (Regional Development period) are juxtaposed with earlier settlements in the south of the area, where present hydrological supply is higher owing to larger river catchments and moisture-laden winds from the SE.

EFECTOS ANTROPICOS DE USO DE SUELOS DURANTE EL FORMATIVO EN EL VALLE DE TAFÍ (TUCUMÁN-ARGENTINA)

espanolLas escasas evidencias sobre la economia de subsistencia de la cultura Tafi (siglos I al IX d.C.) condujeron a la utilizacion de metodos provenientes de las ciencias geologicas, de limitada aplicacion en el campo de la arqueologia andina. Con el fin de determinar indicadores geoquimicos generados por el uso agrario sostenido de los suelos, se realizaron estudios quimicos y pedologicos en paleosuelos prehispanicos (habitacionales y agricolas) en el sitio Formativo El Tolar ubicado en el valle de Tafi (Tucuman-Argentina). Los resultados obtenidos muestran que dicho paleosuelo, contemporaneo a la ocupacion del sitio, presenta diferencias claras entre los suelos sometidos a actividades agricolas y aquellos propios de estructuras residenciales. Los analisis efectuados en los primeros senalan suelos bien desarrollados para la produccion agricola. Las concentraciones edaficas de fosforo organico y cobre indican la probabilidad del uso de fertilizantes EnglishThe scarcity of evidence about the subsistence economy of Tafi culture (I to IX century A.D.) indicated geochemical analyses, derived from pedological and geological science, which had previously seen little use in the archaeology of the Southern Andes. To identify geochemical signatures resulting from cultivation of Formative fields, at the site of El Tolar in the Tafi valley (Tucuman- Argentina), comparative chemical and pedological analyses were made of the agricultural and residential soils. The results show that agrarian and residential soils, from the same periods of use, differed markedly. Paleosols from the agricultural fields were well developed. High levels of organic phosphorous and iron probably reflect the deliberate application of fertilizers