Understanding how human societies interacted with environmental changes is a major goal of archaeology and other socio-natural sciences. In this paper, we assess the human-environment interactions in the Pampa del Tamarugal (PDT) basin of the Atacama Desert over the last 13,000 years. By relying on a socioenvironmental model that integrates ecosystem services with adaptive strategies, we review past climate changes, shifting environmental conditions, and the continuities and discontinuities in the nature and intensity of the human occupation of the PDT. As a result we highlight the importance of certain key resources such as water, an essential factor in the long-term trajectory of eco-historical change. Without water the outcome of human societies becomes hazardous.

En este trabajo se describen las relaciones que las sociedades humanas establecieron con su entorno durante el período Formativo (3000-1000 aP) en la Pampa del Tamarugal, Desierto de Atacama, desde una perspectiva teórico-metodológica que pone el acento en el potencial del registro ecofactual. Éste, al mediar entre lo cultural y lo ambiental, proporciona información vital para una mejor comprensión de la relación entre naturaleza y cultura construida por estas sociedades. Queremos demostrar que este proceso forma parte de una larga historia de racionalización del desierto y de sus recursos silvestres, locales e introducidos, así como de la vivencia particular que tuvieron estas comunidades andinas. Por consiguiente, proponemos que la intervención humana en la Pampa del Tamarugal puede ser entendida como un cambio no sólo ecológico y económico, sino también cosmológico.

Recent social violence in Bolivia is examined in the context of that country's dominant historical narratives. The practice of archaeology in Bolivia is intimately tied to the development of nationalism and a history of colonialism. While the history of Bolivian archaeology has seen multiple interpretations of the past, the dominant voices have consistently emphasized understandings of the past that legitimize and bolster Bolivian nationalism and contemporary social politics. In particular, theAltiplano site ofTiwanaku has been formulated as a locus of Bolivian national patrimony, while other regions have been marginalized as ‘peripheries’ or ‘frontiers’. This understanding of history is not simply a matter of debate for archaeologists, but has very real consequences in present-day geopolitics and the lives of individuals.

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In this article, I advance understanding of the political dimensions of ritual in archaeology. Ritual practice has been commonly identified within a dualistic schema in which common or everyday activities are set against (and apart from) those practices that have special significance. Conventionally, the latter belong to the realm of ritual in which the sacred, the mysterious, the symbolically significant and the uncommon become institutionalized. Such a rationale constrains ritual within the core economic, social and ideological mechanisms that constitute social structures. After a brief discussion of traditional approaches to ritual in the Andes, I present an alternative interpretation grounded in a relational approach to ritual. Exploring contemporary archaeological contexts in Andean north-west Argentina, I attempt to bridge this divide by emphasizing that ritual is part of social performance.

The last few decades have witnessed the emergence of an unprecedented interest in the archaeology of the contemporary past. Here, building on that scholarship, I present a diachronic analysis of a fire that partially destroyed a late nineteenth-or early twentieth-century house in the city of Arica, Chile. Combining historical, archaeological, and ethnographic methods, I produce the frame for a biographic storytelling that lets the house tell about its life and take center stage in the fabrication of notions like morality and belonging, attesting to the production of social space. I contend that the house and its materiality have historically played a decisive role in the production of the mechanisms of dispossession and the displacement of its inhabitants through a negative portrayal. I conclude with some thoughts about how archaeology's privileged viewpoint of contextual historical scrutiny provides nuanced insights about the repercussions of current phenomena of gentrification and heritage making. [historical archaeology, nationalism, squatters, contemporary past, dispossession] RESUMEN En lasúltimas décadas se ha presenciado el surgimiento de un interés sin precedentes en la arqueología del pasado contemporáneo. Aquí, basado en la investigación, presento un análisis diacrónico de un incendio que destruyó parcialmente una casa de fines del siglo XIX o principios del XX en la ciudad de Arica, Chile. Combinando métodos históricos, arqueológicos, y etnográficos, planteo el marco para una narración biográfica que permite a la casa contar acerca de su vida y tomar protagonismo en la fabricación de nociones como moralidad y pertenencia, dando testimonio de la producción del espacio social. Afirmo que la casa y su materialidad han jugado históricamente un papel decisivo en la producción de los mecanismos de desposesión y desplazamiento de sus habitantes a través de una representación negativa. Concluyo con algunas ideas sobre cómo el punto de vista privilegiado de la arqueología del escrutinio histórico contextual provee una comprensión más aguda acerca de las repercusiones de los actuales fenómenos de aburguesamiento y producción de patrimonio. [arqueología histórica, nacionalismo, ocupantes, pasado contemporáneo, despojo] RESUMO Nasúltimas décadas, assistimosà emergência de um interesse sem precedentes pela arqueologia do passado contemporâneo. Com base nessa produção académica, apresentaremos neste artigo a análise diacrónica dos efeitos do incêndio que destruiu parcialmente uma casa do final do século XIX/início do século XX em Arica, no Chile. Através da articulação de métodos históricos, arqueológicos e etnográficos, pretendemos dar enquadramento a uma narrativa biográfica, deixar que a casa nos conte sobre a sua própria trajetória e que assuma o papel central na definição de noções de moralidade e de pertenç a, atestando a construção social do espaç o. Defendemos que a casa e a sua materialidade jogaram, através de representações negativas, uma função decisiva na produção de mecanismos de desapropriação...

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Humanos de las Naciones Unidas reconoció y ratificó que el acceso al agua potable y su saneamiento constituye un derecho humano fundamental, esencial para todas las personas, lo que debe ser garantizado por los Estados (Cáceres 2013).