The historical relationship between people and the vicuña

Abstract

The relationship between man and wildlife has changed over time in many ways (Woodroffe et al., 2005). Todays hunter-gatherers have sophisticated management tools, based on detailed knowledge of successional patterns and ecological interrelationships (Nelson, 1982) and many societies have taboos, rules or traditions that prevent overhunting by limiting the practice to certain events or seasons of the year. Restriction of overhunting is common in certain Amazonian peoples (Chicchón, 2000) , although there are cases of species driven to local extinction due to the spatial variation in limits to hunting control (Hitchcock, 1995). Conservation behaviour in hunting societies is often embedded in religious beliefs and ritual practices which act to ensure the continuity of the populations (Loring, 1997). When the process of animal domestication began at the end of the Pleistocene, the level of human intervention of animal populations increased; for example, in the southern Levant (Israel), sex-selective culling of Capra spp. eventually led to their domestication (Tchernov, 1993). The relationship between environment and social sustainability has been studied in complex societies of the Old World (e.g. The Roman Empire, Abbasid Caliphate), and sometimes the demise of these empires has been attributed to unsustainable policies of environmental management (Allen et al., 2003). In complex pre-Hispanic Andean societies, a sophisticated semiotic lexicon for describing wildlife existed; these societies recognized two kinds of animals, domesticated (uywa) and wild (sallka). The Spirit of the Mountain (Mallku) is the owner of the sallka and controls them. People had to make offerings and sacrifices to the Mallku in order to use wild resources properly. The vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) is a highly regarded member of the sallka in the Andean mythological world, and, at least during the Inca Empire, their exploitation was regulated by cultural and religious rules (Dedenbach-Salazar Sáenz, 1990). My aim in this chapter is to analyse the relationship between people and vicuña through time. As with other human/animal interactions, understanding the historical background is useful, not only for increasing our knowledge about the impact of different kinds of management on the wildlife resource, but also in informing guidelines for future management policies (Allen et al., 2003). The data for this chapter is provided by both archaeological and historical sources. A long period of human occupation of the Andes is recorded from archaeological evidence left in the form of material artefacts and ecofacts. After the arrival of Europeans in the mid-fifteenth century, historical accounts are added as a source of knowledge about the relationship between vicuña and people. We will focus on the southern section of the Andes (South of Bolivia, Northern Chile and North-western Argentina). In analysing the exploitation of vicuña in historical times (i.e. ad 1535-1916), we will use data on exports of vicuña skins and fibres from the port of Buenos Aires.