Ancient Hunting Strategies of Wild Camelids Through the Study of Multiple Lines of Archaeological Evidences at Southern Argentine Puna

Abstract

In recent decades, wild camelids hunting strategies have been a topic of interest for several research groups in Argentina’s southern Puna in Northwestern Argentina. In this chapter, we present a synthesis of hunting strategies models that would have been implemented at Antofagasta de la Sierra (Catamarca, Argentina) in a long-lasting account that covers the entire Holocene. The models we will treat were defined for two discrete areas within this Puna environment: Quebrada Seca and the Antofalla ravine. For both areas, different hunting models were postulated based on the combination of a series of variables such as landscape features and weapon systems. They varied in time and space for both areas, although vicuñas were a common factor as hunting prey. Our interest here lies, then, in reflexively evaluating these models in order to form a theoretical, methodological, and technical basis for the study of pre-Hispanic hunting practices in the higher Andes environment.