Procurement of camelid fiber in the hyperarid Atacama Desert coast: Insights from stable isotopes

Gayó, Eugenia M.; Martens, Tracy; Stuart-Williams, Hillary; Fenner, Jack N.; Santoro, Calógero M.; Carter, Christopher; Cameron, Judith

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2019.12.008

Cited by 14 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 62 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Similar to modern studies, paleontological and archaeological studies have reported high dietary plasticity, in which populations oscillate between C 3 and C 4 feeders (MacFadden and Schockey 1997;Feranec 2003;Gil et al 2016;Yann et al 2016;González-Guarda et al 2017;Domingo et al 2020;Gayo et al 2020;Szpak and Valenzuela 2020). Given their opportunistic behavior, the feeding habits of southern Brazilian camelids may have been the result of forage availability, ecological opportunity, and intra-and interspecific competition, as discussed in the following paragraphs.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 66%

Paleodiet of Lamini camelids (Mammalia: Artiodactyla) from the Pleistocene of southern Brazil: insights from stable isotope analysis (δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O)

Carrasco¹,

Scherer²,

Ribeiro³

et al. 2022

Paleobiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Camelids (Camelidae) were a diverse and widely distributed group in South America during the Pleistocene. According to the fossil record, three species inhabited southern Brazil in the recent past: Hemiauchenia paradoxa, Lama guanicoe, and Vicugna vicugna. The analysis of carbon and oxygen stable isotope ratios in bioapatite provides insight into the paleobiology of nonliving animals and the environment they used to inhabit. We applied this tool to investigate the diet of camelids from two geological localities in southern Brazil: Touro Passo and Santa Vitória Formations (H. paradoxa, n = 7; L. guanicoe, n = 6; V. vicugna, n = 4). Carbon stable isotopes from enamel, dentin, and bone indicated that H. paradoxa and L. guanicoe had diets comprising mostly C3 grasses, but the latter showed a broader diet due to one individual with a mixed diet, whereas V. vicugna had a mixed C3–C4 diet. These different foraging behaviors may have minimized interspecific competition and favored niche partitioning and the coexistence of related species. Combined oxygen and carbon isotope data showed a consistent diet according to climate, probably due to the greater availability in glacial periods of cool-season grasses, which mainly use the C3 photosynthetic pathway. Given their adaptations to grazing, the climate amelioration, followed by the loss of grasslands, likely had a great impact on camelid populations, leading to their extinction in southern Brazil. These results, therefore, contribute to the understanding of the dynamics of paleocommunities in this region.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 66%

Paleodiet of Lamini camelids (Mammalia: Artiodactyla) from the Pleistocene of southern Brazil: insights from stable isotope analysis (δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O)

Carrasco¹,

Scherer²,

Ribeiro³

et al. 2022

Paleobiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This encouragement probably also attracted wild fauna, reproducing hunting gathering strategies within the context of these new economies. Most of the ultimately stable isotopic studies carried out to gain insights into lowland husbandry have shown a diverse set of strategies to feed and maintain these herds (Gayo et al, 2020; Mader et al, 2018; Szpak and Valenzuela, 2020; Tomczyk et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Silvopastoralism and the shaping of forest patches in the Atacama Desert during the Formative Period (ca. 3000–1500 years BP)

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

During the Formative period by the Late-Holocene (ca. 3000–1500 BP), semi-sedentary and sedentary human occupations had emerged in the oases, salares, and riverine systems in the central depression (2400–1000 masl) of the Atacama Desert, northern Chile (19–25°S). This hyperarid core was marginally occupied during the post-Pleistocene and middle Holocene droughts. Settlement on these lower belts was accompanied by a rise in humidity, the introduction of Andean crops, flourishment of Prosopis spp. (algarrobo) forests, and increasing integration of domestic camelid caravans. Here, we explore lowland husbandry within risk-spreading strategies, focusing on silvopastoralism and endozoochory between camelids and algarrobos. Analysis of camelid coprolites from seven archeological sites located in the Pampa del Tamarugal, Loa River, and Salar de Atacama found intense grinding from camelid chewing and indicated a ruminal digestive system. Abundant macro and microremains in the form of tissues, phytoliths, crystals, cell structures, and others, were identified as Prosopis, Atriplex, Schoenoplectus, Distichlis, and Phragmites. We conclude that camelids were foraging for Prosopis, although the rather low number of entire seeds preserved in the coprolites leads us to think that these herbivores might not have been the main vectors for the spread and germination of algarrobos. More samples and interdisciplinary studies are needed to comprehend the complex socioecological web in the shaping of these forests and the management of the Atacama Desert landscapes.

show abstract

“…We should emphasize that engagement with food production and domesticated species was a heterogenous non-linear process that was shaped by various factors such as environmental conditions and population dynamics. The process of adopting agriculture in many valleys of the Peruvian central coast seems to have been facilitated by the development of agricultural infrastructure including irrigation canals opened upon extensive alluvial plains of rivers that continuously flow into the Pacific Ocean (Sotomayor Melo and Jiménez Milón, 2008;Beresford-Jones et al, 2015, 2018Baitzel and Rivera Infante, 2019;Gayo et al, 2020).…”

Section: Early Food Production East and West Of The Andesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pre-Columbian cultivation of vegetatively propagated and fruit tree tropical crops in the Atacama Desert

Capriles

García²,

Valenzuela³

et al. 2022

Front. Ecol. Evol.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

South America is a megadiverse continent that witnessed the domestication, translocation and cultivation of various plant species from seemingly contrasting ecosystems. It was the recipient and supplier of crops brought to and from Mesoamerica (such as maize and cacao, respectively), and Polynesia to where the key staple crop sweet potato was exported. Not every instance of the trans-ecological expansion of cultivated plants (both domesticated and wild), however, resulted in successful farming. Here, we review the transregional circulation and introduction of five food tropical crops originated in the tropical and humid valleys of the eastern Andes—achira, cassava, ahipa, sweet potato, and pacay—to the hyper-arid coastal valleys of the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, where they have been found in early archeological sites. By means of an evaluation of the contexts of their deposition and supported by direct radiocarbon dating, stable isotopes analyses, and starch grain analysis, we evaluate different hypotheses for explaining their introduction and adaptation to the hyper-arid soils of northern Chile, by societal groups that after the introduction of cultigens still retained a strong dependence on marine hunting, gathering and fishing ways of life based on wide variety of marine coast resources. Many of the studied plants were part of a broader package of introduced goods and technological devices and procedures, linked to food, therapeutic medicine, social and ritual purposes that transformed previous hunter-gatherer social, economic, and ideological institutions. Based on archeological data, we discuss some of the possible socio-ecological processes involved in the development of agricultural landscapes including the adoption of tropical crops originated several hundred kilometers away from the Atacama Desert during the Late Holocene.

show abstract

Procurement of camelid fiber in the hyperarid Atacama Desert coast: Insights from stable isotopes

Cited by 14 publications

References 62 publications

Paleodiet of Lamini camelids (Mammalia: Artiodactyla) from the Pleistocene of southern Brazil: insights from stable isotope analysis (δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O)

Paleodiet of Lamini camelids (Mammalia: Artiodactyla) from the Pleistocene of southern Brazil: insights from stable isotope analysis (δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O)

Silvopastoralism and the shaping of forest patches in the Atacama Desert during the Formative Period (ca. 3000–1500 years BP)

Pre-Columbian cultivation of vegetatively propagated and fruit tree tropical crops in the Atacama Desert

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Procurement of camelid fiber in the hyperarid Atacama Desert coast: Insights from stable isotopes

Cited by 14 publications

References 62 publications

Paleodiet of Lamini camelids (Mammalia: Artiodactyla) from the Pleistocene of southern Brazil: insights from stable isotope analysis (δ13C, δ18O)

Paleodiet of Lamini camelids (Mammalia: Artiodactyla) from the Pleistocene of southern Brazil: insights from stable isotope analysis (δ13C, δ18O)

Silvopastoralism and the shaping of forest patches in the Atacama Desert during the Formative Period (ca. 3000–1500 years BP)

Pre-Columbian cultivation of vegetatively propagated and fruit tree tropical crops in the Atacama Desert

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Paleodiet of Lamini camelids (Mammalia: Artiodactyla) from the Pleistocene of southern Brazil: insights from stable isotope analysis (δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O)

Paleodiet of Lamini camelids (Mammalia: Artiodactyla) from the Pleistocene of southern Brazil: insights from stable isotope analysis (δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O)