The study of human-driven processes is useful to gain a better understanding of the long-term evolution of land degradation, soil erosion, and geomorphology as well as resource availability for human settlement. The objective of this paper is to identify the long-term results of human impact on the vulnerable dryland ecosystems in Northwest Argentina, specifically to analyze the consequences of the spread and consolidation of the agricultural way of life on the landscape. To reach this objective, a multiproxy interdisciplinary geoarchaeological study was conducted to link an evolutionary geomorphological model with the soil development and degradation, peopling, and land use change during the Upper Holocene and integrate distinct areas of the Tafí Valley region, which is the most studied area, other neighbouring valleys, and the Puna. The analyses identified positive human-driven impacts that led to a general degradation of the landscape during the agricultural Prehispanic Period, dated between ca. 2000 and 500 BP. This degradation is manifested by accelerated morphogenesis, mainly fine-grained accumulated sediments, thick deposits, and the presence of human debris interbedded with the natural sediments. The success of the productive agricultural systems that expanded during the Formative Period led to a gradual increase in the demographic density, resulting in extensive environmental degradation due to overexploitation of the drylands of Northwest Argentina, in some cases increased by adverse climatic changes.
Landscapes represent a dynamic point of articulation between humans and the environment. While often dichotomized, humans are active participants in the environment and often play a pivotal role in its transformation over time. In this paper, we use case studies from western South America and Australia to illustrate the importance of studying long-term dynamics between humans and the environment. Such investigations can bring significant historical depth to environmental change and the role humans have played in altering courses of landscape evolution and species biodiversity. Humans comprise a critical element in environmental change, and collectively, our results hold strong implications for issues related to sustainability and effective management of our planet's desert resources.
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.
Our study area is from an early agricultural archaeological site named “El Tolar” (1st to 9th century AD), located in Tafí Valley (Tucumán, northwest Argentina). The objective was to identify geochemical signatures generated by the sustained agrarian use of soils. Chemical and pedological studies were made in different archaeological contexts. Physical and chemical features, such as bulk density, pH, organic and inorganic phosphorus, and available copper, manganese and iron, were taken into account. The results suggested that a buried paleosol identified was contemporary with the occupation of the site. It also showed characteristics clearly related to pre-Hispanic agrarian production. The concentrations of organic phosphorus and iron in agricultural soils probably reflect the use of fertilizers. The application of geoscience techniques allowed us to obtain important information on their behaviour and socio-economic development. This paper constitutes the first pedogeochemical approach to the study of Argentinean pre-Hispanic agricultural soils.
Recibido: 5 de abril de 2010 Aceptado: 26 de marzo de 2011 RESUMEN En la región del Campo del Pucará (Catamarca, Argentina) se localiza un centro ceremonial que perteneció a la cultura formativa Condorhuasi, denominado Condorhuasi-Alamito. En él se manufacturaban objetos VXQWXDULRV \ VH R¿FLDEDQ ULWXDOHV GRQGH VH SUDFWLFDED HO VDFUL¿FLR \ SRVWHULRU GHVPHPEUDPLHQWR GH VHUHV KXPDQRV &RPR UHVXOWDGR GH HOOR FDGD SDUWH GHO FXHUSR VH UHVLJQL¿FDED DOJXQDV SLH]DV VH HQWHUUDEDQ o se descartaban en basureros ceremoniales y otras, como los cráneos, recibían un trato especial y se transformaban en «cráneos o cabezas trofeo». La forma de obtención de esos cráneos y el constante uso GH ORV PLVPRV HQ WLHPSR \ HVSDFLR GRQGH OR TXH FDPELDED HUD HO VLJQL¿FDGR TXH VH OHV DGVFULEtD VRQ características que las culturas del NOA comparten con culturas de otras regiones de los Andes centrosur.
ABSTRACTIn the region called «Campo del Pucará (Catamarca, Argentina)» where was located a ceremonial place which belonged to the Condorhuasi Formative culture, under the name of Condorhuasi-Alamito, VDQFWXDU\ REMHFWV ZHUH PDQXIDFWXUHG DQG ULWXDOV ZHUH FHOHEUDWHG ZKHUH KXPDQ EHLQJV VDFUL¿FHV DQG subsequent bodies dismembered were common practices. As a result of, each part of the body were re-VLJQL¿HG VRPH SDUWV RI LW ZHUH EXULHG RU GLVSRVDO DV FHUHPRQLDO WUDVK DQG RWKHUV OLNH KHDGV UHFHLYHG a special treatment and were transformed into «trophy heads or skulls». The way in which they were obtained, as well as the constant use of them, in time and space, where what changed was the meaning ascribed to it. Those are characteristics aspects that the NOA cultures shared with other cultures in southcentral Andean regions.
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