Browsing by Author "Uribe, Mauricio"
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- ItemActa de Tarapacá: pueblo sin agua, pueblo muerto(2018) Latorre Hidalgo, Claudio; Marquet Iturriaga, Pablo Angel; McRostie, Virginia; Maldonado, Antonio; Santoro, Calogero M.; Valenzuela, Daniela; Jofré, Daniela; Angelo, Dante; Gayo, Eugenia M.; Hamamé, Eva; Correa, Jacqueline; Barraza, José; Capriles, José M.; Porras, María Eugenia de; Uribe, Mauricio; Castro, Victoria; Standen, Vivien G.El “Acta de Tarapacá” constituye un llamado de atención sobre la necesidad de cambiar la manera como las sociedades humanas han estado utilizando el agua en el Desierto de Atacama, mediante una perspectiva histórica a lo largo de milenios. El Acta, una iniciativa que resume los resultados del proyecto CONICYT/PIA Anillo SOC1405 “Cambios Sociales y Variabilidad Climática a Largo Plazo en el Desierto de Atacama”, está dirigida a la sociedad civil y a distintas instancias políticas con miras a que se generen cambios tecnológicos y culturales para detener y mitigar los efectos causados por las actividades antrópicas en uno de los desiertos más antiguos y áridos del mundo. En el transcurso del proyecto se constató la necesidad urgente de sensibilizar a la sociedad acerca del desmesurado y mal uso del agua en el Desierto de Atacama; un recurso no renovable con relación a las escalas económicas de extracción ya que depende, fundamentalmente, de aguas fósiles que fueron acumuladas durante milenios en las zonas altas del desierto. De esta manera queremos evitar que este conocimiento científico se encapsule en las universidades y hacer eco de lo señalado por Victoria Castro (2003): Para crecer hay que educar.
- ItemChallenging the Atacama desert: Agronomic and water conditions for pre-Hispanic maize agriculture in hyper arid environments inferred by 518O isotopes(2024) Vidal-Elgueta, Ale; Luecke, Andreas; Perez, M. Fernanda; Wissel, Holger; Maldonado, Antonio; Uribe, MauricioDuring the Formative Period (ca.2400-950 years BP), pre-Hispanic farmers in Pampa del Tamarugal developed a complex agricultural system in the hyper-arid Atacama Desert in Tarapaca, northern Chile. This system involved numerous agricultural fields congregated near the Tarapaca Valley's perennial stream and the Guatacondo ravine's ephemeral stream. Well-established villages such as Caserones, Pircas, Ramaditas, and Guatacondo accompanied these developments. However, the importance of understanding the water sources has been neglected despite the efforts to understand the relationships between pre-Hispanic agriculture and their living environment. Thus, we presumed the use of local water sources without a clear understanding of their exploitation methods or the associated technological implications. Furthermore, there is limited research on groundwater use in Tarapaca. This research aims to understand water sources used in the cultivation of maize (Zea mays) using 518O isotope values obtained from pre-Hispanic maize kernels in Tarapaca. We compared these values with published 518O values of water sources and applied a generalized linear model (GLM) with a Gaussian distribution, performing a Tukey's post hoc test for multiple comparisons of means with heteroscedasticity-consistent covariance estimation. The best-fit model was identified using a stepwise model selection procedure based on the Bayesian information criterion (BIC). Our results indicate that mean 518O values of organic matter from maize kernels range from 24.73 %o to 31.65 %o. The best performing model on 518O only included Group (BIC=298.2) as the explanatory variable as Period, Site, and Weight had no effects. These findings point towards a significant statistical relationship between the 518O values of organic matter derived from maize kernels and the specific geographic regions they originate from. These values also show an enrichment of 518O isotope in Tarapaca samples, except for Pica 8. These results indicate diverse agricultural strategies that utilized different water sources including perennial flow in the Tarapaca River, ephemeral runoff at Guatacondo, and groundwater in the Pampa del Tamarugal. Also, due to the enrichment of 518O, we suggest that the circular structures found among the fields were used as water reservoirs leading to the observed enrichment of 518O isotope values. We discuss the role of ancient agriculture technology in water management, the role of maize, cultural strategies, and the relationships with their environment. In conclusion, pre-Hispanic farmers managed limited water sources successfully despite intermittent drought for hundreds of years until the 1970 s, when agriculture was abandoned due to multiple factors.
- ItemContinuities and discontinuities in the socio-environmental systems of the Atacama Desert during the last 13,000 years(2017) Santoro, Calogero M.; Capriles, José M.; Gayo Hernández, Eugenia Monserrat; De Porras, María Eugenia; Maldonado, Antonio; Standen, Vivien G.; Latorre H., Claudio; Castro, Victoria; Marquet, P. A. (Pablo A.); Mc Rostie Bustamante, Virginia Bernardita; Uribe, Mauricio; Valenzuela, Daniela; Ugalde, Paula C.; Angelo, Dante
- ItemFormative Period in Tarapaca (3000-1000 BP): Archeology, nature and culture in the Pampa del Tamarugal, Atacama Desert, northern Chile(CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2020) Uribe, Mauricio; Angelo, Dante; Capriles, Jose; Castro, Victoria; Eugenia de Porras, Maria; Garcia, Magdalena; Gayo, Eugenia; Gonzalez, Josefina; Jose Herrera, Maria; Izaurieta, Roberto; Maldonado, Antonio; Mandakovic, Valentina; Mcrostie, Virginia; Razeto, Jorge; Santana, Francisca; Santoro, Calogero; Valenzuela, Jimena; Vidal, AlejandraIn this article, we illustrate the relationships that human societies established with their environment during the Formative period in the Pampa del Tamarugal (3000-1000 BP), Atacama Desert, Chile. We employed a theoretical-methodological perspective that emphasizes the explanatory potential of ecofacts. By mediating between humans and environment, this perspective provides a better understanding of how these societies constructed nature and culture. The purpose is to show that this process was part of a long history of rationalization of the desert, its resources, and the lived experience of the Formative communities that occupied that landscape. Therefore, we propose that this human intervention in Pampa del Tamarugal can be understood not only as an ecological and economic change but also a "cosmological" one.
- ItemIntegration of Near-Surface Complementary Geophysical Techniques for the Study of Ancient Archaeological Areas in the Atacama Desert (Pampa Iluga, Northern Chile)(2023) Gallegos-Poch, Fernanda; Viguier, Benoit; Menanno, Giovanni; Mandakovic, Valentina; Yanez, Gonzalo; Gutierrez, Sergio; Lizarde, Catalina; Araya, Jaime Vargas; Lopez-Contreras, Camila; Mendez-Quiros, Pablo; Maldonado, Antonio; Uribe, MauricioNear-surface geophysical techniques are useful for the characterization of archaeological areas because of their ability to rapidly cover wide extensions and obtain high-resolution data to identify the location for archaeological excavations. However, in hyperarid environments usual geophysical techniques may fail to obtain the expected results due to the dry near surface. This study proposes an integration of ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electromagnetic induction (EMI) techniques, to elucidate the origin of thousands of aligned circular features located at the Iluga archaeological area emplaced on one of the driest places on Earth (Pampa del Tamarugal, Atacama Desert). The GPR was useful to recognize alluvial deposits, sandy aeolian filling in pre-existing holes and roots right underneath circular features. Magnetic susceptibility data derived from the EMI in-phase component, usually considered a complementary result, were useful to identify fireplaces in the vicinity of the alignments. These geophysical findings were verified with an archaeological excavation. It has been found that circular features resulted from an extensive deforestation process in the Pampa del Tamarugal, consisting in the extraction of both trunk and roots of algarrobos (Prosopis chilensis) or tamarugos (Prosopis tamarugo), likely for recent charcoal production. The proposed methodology delivers promising results for archaeological and shallow geological studies in hyperarid and dry environments.
- ItemMODELING LONG-TERM HUMAN POPULATION DYNAMICS USING KERNEL DENSITY ANALYSIS OF 14C DATA IN THE ATACAMA DESERT (18°-21°S)(2023) Mendez-Quiros, Pablo; Barcelo, Juan A.; Santana-Sagredo, Francisca; Uribe, MauricioFood production is one of the most significant achievements in Andean history. The domestication of plants and animals presented an enormous challenge, relating to changing technologies, settlement patterns, and social organization. This paper aims to assess Atacama Desert population dynamics and their relationship to the domestication of plants and animals through chronological modeling using kernel density estimation on radiocarbon (C-14) dates, assuming that a higher C-14 probability density is related to more intense human occupation. The analysis is based on a C-14 dataset comprising 1003 C-14 dates (between 11,000 and 150 BP) from 243 archaeological sites in the Arica and Tarapaca regions of northern Chile, collected from published data. We observed two population-dynamics inflection points for these regions. First, starting at ca. 3000 BP, constant population growth occurred, which was related to horticulture in the Arica region and to agriculture in the Tarapaca region. Second, between ca. 1000 and 400 BP, a general population rise occurred due to the consolidation of intensive agriculture in the lowlands and precordillera altitudinal belts in both regions and the integration of the coast and the altiplano into macro-regional population dynamics.
- ItemPhysical Violence and Social Tension in the Atacama Desert: Osteobiography of a Woman from the Tarapaca 40 Formative Period Cemetery(2024) Herrera-Soto, Maria Jose; Gonzalez-Ramirez, Andrea; Diaz, Pablo; Pacheco, Aryel; Retamal, Rodrigo; Saez, Arturo; Santana-Sagredo, Francisca; Uribe, MauricioPhysical violence and social conflict have been widely studied in the ancient societies of the Andes. However, studies about violence are scarce for the Formative period of northern Chile (1000 BC-AD 900). Evidence from these investigations is generally interpreted as interpersonal violence, whose protagonists are mostly men. Here, we present the case of an adult female recovered from the Tarapaca 40 cemetery (Tarapaca region, Chile) displaying lesions suggestive of trauma. We reconstruct her life and death in the context of this era's social and political conditions. Results of our bioanthropological characterization, cranial trauma analysis, carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis, and recording of the funerary offerings suggest she was a local member of the Formative community buried in the Tarapaca 40 cemetery and that she suffered intentional lethal lesions. Her death is unusual because there are no previous bioarchaeological records of lethal violence against women in the Tarapaca region. The osteobiography of this woman reflects a context characterized by an increase in inequality and social complexity, whereby physical violence could be used as a mechanism of internal regulation and exercise of power during the Formative period.
- ItemSoil use in pre-Hispanic and historical crop fields in the Guatacondo Ravine, northern Chile (2400 years BP): A geoarchaeological and paleobotanic approach(2022) Segura, Camila; Vidal, Ale; Maldonado, Antonio; Uribe, MauricioIn one of the most arid places on Earth, the Atacama Desert in northern Chile (18-21 degrees S), pre-Hispanic cultures developed different types of tillage and irrigation systems in the Guatacondo Ravine. Their agrarian production, based on a summer precipitation regime, enabled the formative villages of Ramaditas (2300-2600 years BP) and Guatacondo (2400-2800 years BP) to emerge, along with seasonal agriculture. Despite the insight gained into their agricultural technology, we know very little about how this type of soil management affected the soils' plant nutrient status. Thus, our main objective was to determine if the different tillage systems affected the soils' properties. We analyzed the soils and the pollen composition of different tillage systems and carried out direct radiocarbon dating (C-14) of sediments. The soils' chemical properties (total nitrogen, phosphorus, and organic carbon contents) indicate greater nutrient retention in the square bed system, associated with a higher silt content and the use of organic fertilizers. Pollen analyses show the presence of crop, weed, and riparian species. In conclusion, the analysis of ancient soils gives us valuable information about the innovations and changes implemented in ancient times in the Guatacondo Ravine.
- Item'White gold' guano fertilizer drove agricultural intensification in the Atacama Desert from ad 1000(2021) Santana-Sagredo, Francisca; Schulting, Rick J.; Mendez-Quiros, Pablo; Vidal-Elgueta, Ale; Uribe, Mauricio; Loyola, Rodrigo; Maturana-Fernandez, Anahi; Diaz, Francisca P.; Latorre, Claudio; McRostie, Virginia B.; Santoro, Calogero M.; Mandakovic, Valentina; Harrod, Chris; Lee-Thorp, JuliaThe archaeological record shows that large pre-Inca agricultural systems supported settlements for centuries around the ravines and oases of northern Chile's hyperarid Atacama Desert. This raises questions about how such productivity was achieved and sustained, and its social implications. Using isotopic data of well-preserved ancient plant remains from Atacama sites, we show a dramatic increase in crop nitrogen isotope values (delta N-15) from around ad 1000. Maize was most affected, with delta N-15 values as high as +30 parts per thousand, and human bone collagen following a similar trend; moreover, their carbon isotope values (delta C-13) indicate a considerable increase in the consumption of maize at the same time. We attribute the shift to extremely high delta N-15 values-the highest in the world for archaeological plants-to the use of seabird guano to fertilize crops. Guano-'white gold' as it came to be called-thus sustained agricultural intensification, supporting a substantial population in an otherwise extreme environment.