Valentina Figueroa

Cronología y organizaCión eConómiCa de las poblaCiones arCaiCas de la Costa de taltal

This study is a reassessment of the chronological and cultural sequence of the Archaic Period in Taltal, in an attempt to document the continuities and transformations in the economic organization of local populations who inhabited this area. We base our understanding of this process on new data generated by our project in recent years, as well as previously published studies in the area. This research has been mainly directed towards the understanding of three variables in the economic organization of Taltal’s hunter-gatherer-fisher communities: mobility systems, subsistence practices and technology.

MINERÍA Y METALURGIA EN LA COSTA ARREICA DE LA REGIÓN DE ANTOFAGASTA, NORTE DE CHILE

Este trabajo da cuenta de los resultados de un proyecto aun en curso acerca de la historia de la mineria y la metalurgia de la zona de Taltal y Paposo. Se presentan datos sobre San Ramon 15, la primera mina prehispanica de oxidos de hierro conocida en Chile, y datada en el Periodo Arcaico. Se plantea que su data indica que la actividad minera en el norte de Chile tendria su origen en la extraccion de pigmentos rojos, antecediendo en varios milenios a la mineria del cobre. Asimismo, se sintetizan diversos datos recopilados con relacion a los objetos metalicos prehispanicos de Taltal y Paposo, centrandose en sus caracteristicas morfologicas y analisis preliminares de composicion quimica, los cuales sustentan la existencia de una metalurgia de caracter local, ademas de la existencia de bienes metalicos importados.

Metalurgia prehispánica en las sociedades costeras del norte de Chile (quebrada Mamilla, Tocopilla)

We present direct and indirect evidences of metallurgical activities by hunter-gatherer and fishers populations of the arid coast of Northern Chile during Late Intermediate and Late periods. We discuss these evidences and propose the existence of a local metallurgical tradition with particular characteristics for the coastal societies in this region. This tradition complements current knowledge about the use and significance of metals in the Andes.

Pigmentos y pinturas de mineral de cobre en la región de Tarapacá, norte de Chile: Nuevos datos para una tecnología pigmentaria prehispánica

La explotacion de los recursos minerales de cobre en el norte de Chile implico la produccion de pigmentos azules y verdes identificados, hasta ahora, en pintura rupestre, en nodulos y en estado de polvo al interior de contenedores de cuero provenientes de distintos cementerios de la cuenca del rio Loa, region de Antofagasta, desierto de Atacama. En este articulo se presentan los primeros resultados de analisis fisico-quimicos de pintura verde aplicada sobre distintos soportes de cuero: mascaras, tocado y carcajes, de la region de Tarapaca, situada mas al norte. Comparados a nuestros resultados previos, estos nuevos analisis nos permiten ampliar la discusion relativa a la produccion e intercambio de estos pigmentos a base de minerales de cobre para periodos tardios en el norte de Chile. The extraction and use of copper ore in northern Chile enabled the production of blue and green pigments identified to date in rock paintings. These pigments have also been found as nodules and in powdered form inside leather pouches that were discovered in several cemeteries in the Loa River basin in the Antofagasta region of the Atacama Desert. This article presents the initial results of physical-chemical analyses performed on selected samples of green paint found further north, in the Tarapaca region. The paint had been applied to different supports made of animal hide, including masks, headdresses and quivers. When compared to our previous results, these new analyses allow us to expand the discussion of the production of these copper-ore based pigments during late periods in northern Chile and the interactions their presence implies.

Middle Holocene Production of Mussel Shell Fishing Artifacts on the Coast of Taltal (25° Lat South), Atacama Desert, Chile

ABSTRACT Shell fishhooks have been found in several sites along the Pacific Coast of the Americas, but little is known about prehistoric workshops of these tools and the socio-economic context of their production and distribution. The present study provides new data about the production of mussel (Choromytilus chorus) shell fishing tools (MSFT) at Morro Colorado and Zapatero, two Middle Holocene sites on the coast of Taltal, northern Chile. The MSFT assemblages of the two sites suggest the existence of workshop areas and a specialized manufacture of C. chorus fishhooks associated with an increased dependence on fishing in local subsistence practices. Abundance and type of mussel shell fishing artifacts, preforms, and shell debris at these two shell midden sites are discussed to better understand Prehispanic workshops, the techniques used to work C. chorus shells, and the possible relationship between raw material acquisition, technological change and overall transformations in subsistence practices and levels of social complexity among Middle Holocene coastal groups along the northern coast of Chile.

Hunter–Gatherer–Fisher Mining During the Archaic Period in Coastal Northern Chile

In the following chapter, we discuss new data from the San Ramon 15 site, an Archaic Period iron oxide mine located off the coast of Taltal, in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Two periods of mining have been identified from stratigraphic and chronological evidence dating to the Early Archaic and the Late Archaic. In both cases, the miners were hunter–gatherer–fisher groups with residential mobility patterns across the arid coast of northern Chile. This site contains the oldest primary evidence of mining in the New World and regional archaeological information suggests that this early mining activity was primarily driven by social and ceremonial demands. We will review the importance of iron oxides in human prehistory, present the San Ramon 15 site in the context of the few archaeological mining sites known to date, and explore the role of this site within local settlement systems.

Radiocarbon Dating of Atacama (Chile) Snuff Trays: An Update on Stylistic and Chronological Correlations

The Atacama region of Chile has the highest concentration of hallucinogenic paraphernalia from prehistoric cemeteries on the planet. These artifacts have been studied since the late 19th century, primarily from the perspective of stylistic classification, which has been used to infer their temporal assignation. However, direct chronological dating of the snuff trays has not been addressed until now, through an interdisciplinary study conducted in San Pedro de Atacama on the psychotropic paraphernalia collection of the Instituto de Investigaciones Arqueologicas y Museo R.P. Gustavo Le Paige S.J. (IIAM), part of the Universidad Catolica del Norte. In this study, samples were taken from eight snuff trays for radiocarbon dating and to develop a suitable procedure and protocol for sample extraction and handling of wooden archaeological pieces. This article provides the results of these activities by establishing the existence of a sequence of styles in the hallucinogenic paraphernalia that goes from the Middle to Late Intermediate period (about AD 300 to 1400), which shows that in this timespan there were two styles (Tiwanaku and local), and then both were replaced by a macroregional style. DOI: 10.2458/azu_rc.57.18318