Habitats of ancient hunter-gatherers in the Puna: Resilience and discontinuities during the Holocene

Yacobaccio, Hugo D.; Morales, Marcelo R.; Hoguin, Rodolphe

doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2016.08.004

Cited by 25 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The increasing visibility of cultivated plants in the palaeobotanical record from the mid-Holocene could suggest www.nature.com/scientificreports www.nature.com/scientificreports/ that climate change may have promoted the incorporation of a greater proportion of managed plants into tropical forager subsistence systems 40 . Population recovery during the second half of the mid-Holocene (after 6 k cal BP) is consistent with a florescence linked to a diversified and more stable resource base following climatic stabilisation to a drier yet steady phase 7,[48][49][50][51][52][53] . A possible outcome of these cultural and environmental trajectories was the emergence, in some regions, of population aggregation and social institutions for the coordination and control of previously-unprecedented population densities among South American populations by the Late Holocene 26,47,[50][51][52][53][54][55] .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

Widespread population decline in South America correlates with mid-Holocene climate change

Riris¹,

Arroyo‐Kalin²

2018

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Quantifying the impacts of climate change on prehistoric demography is crucial for understanding the adaptive pathways taken by human populations. Archaeologists across South America have pointed to patterns of regional abandonment during the Middle Holocene (8200 to 4200 cal BP) as evidence of sensitivity to shifts in hydroclimate over this period. We develop a unified approach to investigate demography and climate in South America and aim to clarify the extent to which evidence of local anthropic responses can be generalised to large-scale trends. We achieve this by integrating archaeological radiocarbon data and palaeoclimatic time series to show that population decline occurred coeval with the transition to the initial mid-Holocene across South America. Through the analysis of radiocarbon dates with Monte Carlo methods, we find multiple, sustained phases of downturn associated to periods of high climatic variability. A likely driver of the duration and severity of demographic turnover is the frequency of exceptional climatic events, rather than the absolute magnitude of change. Unpredictable levels of tropical precipitation had sustained negative impacts on pre-Columbian populations lasting until at least 6000 cal BP, after which recovery is evident. Our results support the inference that a demographic regime shift in the second half of the Middle Holocene were coeval with cultural practices surrounding Neotropical plant management and early cultivation, possibly acting as buffers when the wild resource base was in flux.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

Widespread population decline in South America correlates with mid-Holocene climate change

Riris¹,

Arroyo‐Kalin²

2018

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As a measure of relative population, SPDs provide useful insight into pan-regional dynamics over time. The results of the statistical tests argue against purely inductive pattern recognition for assessing population history using archaeological 14 C data (see Rick 1987;Araujo et al 2005;Grosjean et al 2007;Neme and Gil 2009;Mendéz et al 2015;Gayo et al 2015; Barberena et al 2017), particularly where climate change is invoked as a direct causal mechanism (Núñez et al 2002;Yacobaccio et al 2017). Explicit comparisons between theoretical models of population growth and empirical radiocarbon records are necessary, here as in previous work (Rick 1987).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Human societies face a significantly different set of challenges to the successful colonisation of this environment, a montane region of grasslands that begins approximately 3200 metres above sea level, compared to both the coast and the lower reaches of the highlands. These include hypoxic conditions requiring progressive adaptation, as well as patchy water resources (Aldenderfer 2006;Núñez et al 2013;Rademaker et al 2014;Yacobaccio et al 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dates as data revisited: A statistical examination of the Peruvian preceramic radiocarbon record

Riris

2018

Journal of Archaeological Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper adopts a formal model-testing approach to the Peruvian radiocarbon (14 C) record, the site of the first aggregate analysis of this type of archaeological data. Using a large and improved regional dataset of radiometric determinations (n = 1180) from the period 14000-3000 14 C years before present, the study performs a comparative analysis of the demographic trajectories of two subregions, the desert coast and Andean highlands. Against the backdrop of theoretical models of population growth, and controlling for taphonomic factors and sampling biases, the study performs global significance and permutation tests on the data. These provide a necessary measure of statistical confidence that have hereto been absent from the discussion of pre-Columbian demography. Contrary to the findings of prior work, this study of radiocarbon data in Peru reveals that regional trends in the data are statistically indistinguishable. Further testing and comparison to climate archives is able to illustrate sustained population growth over the entire Holocene epoch in this region, with only a few notable exceptions at the end of the mid-Holocene (5000 cal BP). The findings of the analysis are viewed in relation to the cultural and technological changes that indigenous societies experienced in the timeframe in question, and some directions for methodological advances are suggested.

show abstract

“…Such strategies included economic specialization and intensification, as well as storage practices designed to control and mitigate resource variability and broaden the resource base (Escola, ), for instance, the use of ceramic technology and the maintenance of camelid herds as a form of “live storage”. Moreover, in the context of a long‐term trend of reduced residential mobility and intensification in camelid use fostered by mid‐Holocene habitat fragmentation (Yacobaccio, Morales, & Hoguin, ), pastoralism provided an effective mechanism to articulate and increase access to diverse environments and patched resources. The consolidation of the Andean pastoralist way of life could be thus interpreted as the natural corollary of this comprehensive risk‐aversion strategy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The authors wish to thank Hugo Yacobaccio and all our colleagues from the Barrancas Archaeological Project team for their assistance in the field, as well as the two anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly improved the manuscript. This research was funded by ANPCYT (grant PICT 2014-2863, UBACYT (grant 20020130100230BA 2014-2017 and CONICET (grant PIP 0569/ 2014-2017.…”

Section: Acknowledgementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental trends between 2400 and 1200 BP in Barrancas, Argentinean Puna: Impacts on local resource variability and socioeconomic organization

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper presents a multiproxy analysis—geomorphology, organic matter, and carbonate content, diatoms, pollen, and magnetic properties of sediments—of the Barrancas Pueblo profile, located in Barrancas, Jujuy, Argentina (S 23°18′08,7; W 66°05′15,2; 3666 m.a.s.l.) to explore local environmental change over the last few millennia. This study is part of a broader investigation of the environmental conditions that facilitated and/or triggered the development of a mixed herding and hunting economic strategy during the late Holocene. The results suggest ongoing local moisture availability for most of the late Holocene; between 2400 and 1500 BP there was a stable, low energy environment that supported a vegetated floodplain, resulting in high availability of pasture and water. However, throughout most of the studied period, there were punctual arid episodes and erosion of the river catchment. High environmental variability post‐3000 cal BP could have put a premium on strategies to reduce the risk associated with resource unpredictability, such as economic specialization and intensification and storage practices designed to control and mitigate resource variability. This process could have ultimately lead to the consolidation of the Andean pastoralist way of life ca. 3000–2500 BP.

show abstract

Habitats of ancient hunter-gatherers in the Puna: Resilience and discontinuities during the Holocene

Cited by 25 publications

References 42 publications

Widespread population decline in South America correlates with mid-Holocene climate change

Widespread population decline in South America correlates with mid-Holocene climate change

Dates as data revisited: A statistical examination of the Peruvian preceramic radiocarbon record

Environmental trends between 2400 and 1200 BP in Barrancas, Argentinean Puna: Impacts on local resource variability and socioeconomic organization

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About