Early to middle holocene climatic change and the use of animal resources by highland hunter-gatherers of the south-central Andes

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to study the relationship between the use of animal resources by hunter-gatherers and the environmental modification that occurred with the onset of Middle Holocene aridity in the southern Altiplano of the Andes. This objective will be pursued taking into account both regional and local spatial scales. In the regional analysis, our purpose is to study relevant changes in animal species’ patterns represented in the archaeological record from both sides of the Andean range. For these reasons some theoretical issues regarding habitat fragmentation and loss are addressed. In order to reach our objective in the local scale we discuss isotopic values (δ13C and δ15N) obtained from archaeofaunas recovered in a rock-shelter, located in the Argentinean slope which presents Early and Middle Holocene human occupations.