Se presentan los resultados del análisis de una parte del conjunto cerámico recuperado en el Pucará de Tilcara durante las excavaciones de Ambrosetti y Debenedetti, desarrolladas a inicios del siglo XX. El estudio estilístico de estas piezas, conservadas en las colecciones de dos museos de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, permitió caracterizar la dinámica de los procesos sociopolíticos que llevaron a la intensa circulación de objetos durante la época prehispánica tardía. A su vez, a partir de la contextualización de piezas incaicas, procedentes de distintas provincias del Tawantinsuyu, se determinaron pautas de consumo diferencial. Se plantea que el uso de diversas categorías de bienes estuvo vinculado a la función social y económica que cumplieron distintos grupos de personas en el Pucará.Palabras claves: ocupación inca, colecciones museológicas, distribución cerámica intrasitio, consumo diferencial.This paper presents the results of an analysis of part of the ceramic assemblage found at the Pucará of Tilcara during Ambrosetti's and Debenedetti's excavations, that took place at the beginning of the twentieth century. The stylistic study of this pottery, found in the collections of two museums at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, allows a characterization the dynamics of the social and politic processes that encouraged the circulation of objects during late prehispanic times. The location of inca pieces that came from different provinces of Tawantinsuyu demonstrate different consumption patterns. The paper concludes that the use of special categories of goods was tied to the social and economic role that different human groups had at the Pucará.

No abstract

Atopic asthma results from airway inflammation triggered by an environmental allergen. Symptoms include wheezing, dyspnea and cough, airway narrowing and/or hyperresponsiveness to several inhaled stimuli. Inflammation develops in a two-phase fashion. The first phase after exposure to the allergen consists of degranulation and release of both histamine and other stored preformed inflammatory mediators as well as newly synthesized ones, including cytokines, all of which increase mucus secretion and smooth muscle contraction. The second phase occurs later and lasts longer; it is due to different molecules: several cytokines and chemokines, arachidonic acid derivatives, enzymes such as metalloproteinases and cell adhesion molecules. Cytokines are key players in the chronic inflammation in asthma patients, but details on their role and interactions still remain undetermined. Recent evidence suggests that allergic asthma is a multifaceted condition actively controlled by effector as well as regulatory T cells (Tregs). T helper (Th) 2 cells and Th17 cells increase airway inflammation, while Tregs are anti- inflammatory. Cytokines are involved in the development and activation of all T cell subpopulations. They are also involved directly or indirectly in most approaches to asthma treatment. Several cytokines have been tested as therapeutic targets and some of the currently used therapies like corticosteroids, beta agonists and allergen immunotherapy affect cytokine production. The increased knowledge on cytokine interplay and lymphocyte subsets should generate new therapeutic strategies in the near future.

The region of the Central and South Andes was, in about the ninth and 15th centuries AD, the stage for the development of political systems tending towards demographic centralization in villages with defensive structures, known as Pucará. The chronological accuracy for these phenomena still remains uncertain, mainly because it involves intervals of long and superimposed occupations, masked by the Inca domination. Thus, this paper analyses the history of the occupation at Pucará de Tilcara, one of the biggest populated centres of the Humahuaca Gorge (Quebrada de Humahuaca, Argentina). Twenty-five radiocarbon dates are critically evaluated to judge its reliability. The Bayesian statistics show that all the dated spaces were used on a long-term basis. The most ancient signs are in the middens and relate at least to the 10th century AD, and the occupation of the housing areas could be calculated to the 13th and 16th centuries. A phase of higher intensity of occupation is observed during the Inca period. This redefinition of this site occupation shows the need to statistically analyse the dates in order to differentiate the phases of occupation.

This paper presents a micro-structural analysis from a house of the Pucara de Tilcara, one of the most important archaeological sites of the Argentina northwestern region. These results reconstruct the biography of a dwelling space during the last pre-Hispanic period. Beyond its constitution like a preinca dwell space we identify its reconfiguration to become a house-workshop for the production of luxury goods after Inca domination, and its posterior abandonment and reoccupation as a burial place. We compare this residential unit with another structures excavated in early 20th century, that also had been occupied as house-workshops. Available evidences have allowed us to estimate the social-economic organization of the Pucara de Tilcara and to advance in the characterization of the Inca domination in the region. We suggest that the Pucara de Tilcara was a main production center destined to specifically enlarge some local technology and to develop new production within the lapidary industry.

En este trabajo se presentan los resultados de las investigaciones desarrolladas en los últimos años orientadas al estudio del Qhapaq Ñan en el sector central de la Quebrada de Humahuaca (Jujuy, Argentina). A partir de la identificación de nuevos trayectos de caminos vinculados a tambos, centros administrativos, sitios estratégicos de control, campos agrícolas y un santuario de altura, se propone que el Estado Inca consolidó un nuevo sistema vial con la intención de articular espacios y controlar el tránsito. Las evidencias demuestran que este proceso pudo ser el resultado de la aplicación de políticas versátiles para anexar territorios mediante la incorporación de prácticas religiosas locales al culto estatal y la resignificación de los paisajes locales.Palabras clave: Qhapaq Ñan, inca, control político, waka, paisaje.This paper presents the results of research conducted in recent years on the Qhapaq Ñan in the middle reaches of Quebrada de Humahuaca ravine (Jujuy, Argentina). Based on the identification of new stretches of road linked to tambos, administrative centers, strategic control points, agricultural fields and a high-altitude shrine, the authors propose that the Inca state created a new road system to connect spaces and control transit. The evidence shows that this process may have been the result of versatile policies aimed at annexing territories by incorporating local religious practices into the state religion and the resignification of local landscapes.

En este artículo se discuten las lógicas de movilidad que condicionaron el trazado del qhapaq ñan en el sector central de la Quebrada de Humahuaca. Para ello se presenta un análisis funcional, arquitectónico y de emplazamiento del sistema de caminos poniendo énfasis en las rutas transversales al Río Grande, que bordearon y atravesaron el camino troncal. A este análisis se suma la identificación de numerosos tambos que articularon las redes viales para conectar la quebrada con otros ambientes y facilitar el flujo de recursos y bienes. Los resultados sugieren que parte de la adecuación de las arterias transversales estuvo condicionada por la producción agrícola intensiva y de objetos suntuarios en el Pucará de Tilcara, considerado la capital de la wamani de Humahuaca. Además, estos ramales habrían tenido un rol preponderante en la promulgación de las bases religiosas a partir de su configuración en torno al culto a las wakas. Proponemos a la quebrada como un caso particular de provincialismo inca en el que una región próxima a la frontera estatal y distante del centro del Imperio tuvo un alto grado de intervención y control directo sobre las poblaciones locales. Palabras claves: vialidad incaica, producción artesanal, tambos, Quebrada de Humahuaca, control estatal. In this article, we discuss the rationales behind the mobility that determined the layout of the qhapaq ñan in the central area of Quebrada de Humahuaca. We present a functional, architectural and site analysis of the road system, with an emphasis on the routes crossing to Río Grande, where the main road was located. In addition to this analysis is the identification of numerous tambos articulating the road networks to connect the quebrada with other environments and to facilitate the flow of resources and goods. The results suggest that the layout of the main roads crossing the Inca route was shaped by the intensive production of agricultural resources and sumptuous objects in the Pucará de Tilcara, considered the capital of the wamani of Humahuaca. Furthermore, these branches may have had a principal role in the enactment of religious principles based on their configuration around the worship of the wakas. We propose that the quebrada was a particular case of Inca provincialism, where a region near the state border and distant from the center of the Empire had a high degree of intervention and direct control over local populations.

En los Andes surandinos, las prácticas funerarias incluyeron una diversidad de actos rituales en torno a los restos de los difuntos que iban más allá de la preparación del cuerpo y el lugar de depósito. El desarrollo y las características de estos actos dependían principalmente de la condición social que tenían los muertos en vida. En el Pucará de Tilcara, definido como capital de la provincia incaica de Omaguaca, se detectan una amplia variedad de formas de inhumación, pero en este trabajo abordamos el caso de un contexto mortuorio de una mujer, cuya muerte se estima ocurrió hacia el final del período Incaico o inicios de la época Hispano-Indígena. Análisis interdisciplinarios del contexto arqueológico y, particularmente, los estudios entomológicos de la fauna cadavérica y bioantropológicos permitieron determinar que esta mujer estuvo expuesta antes de quedar sepultada por procesos naturales. Proponemos que esta exposición ocurrió en el marco del culto a los ancestros difundido por todo el imperio, y sirvió para remarcar su estatus social. El acompañamiento mortuorio y los análisis de estroncio sugieren que la mujer formó parte de un grupo de elite oriundo de otra región del Tawantinsuyu, que pudo trasladarse y asentarse en la Quebrada durante la caída del Imperio inca, buscando refugio ante la inminente envestida española.