Mobility And Commensality in Early Agropastoral Societies of the Argentine Puna: Faunal, Pottery and Architectural Approaches

Summary

This is an abstract from the "A Movable Feast: Mobility and Commensalism in the Andes" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The circulation of goods over medium and long distances in the Prehispanic Andean agropastoral societies, and its connection to caravan practices, has been a topic of interest for generations of archaeologists. However, the link between mobility patterns and feasting has been less explored, particularly in the southernmost region of the South-Central Andes. The aim of this paper is to detect commensality and mobility practices in early agropastoral societies (500 BC to 1000 AD) of the Antofagasta de la Sierra region (Southern Argentine Puna) through an analysis of animal bones, stable isotopes, pottery, and architectural data, using Corral Grande 1 as case study, and comparing it with other archaeological sites from the region with similar chronology. Preliminarily results suggest that Corral Grande 1 may have functioned as an aggregation site where feasts were held to foster a sense of community and solidarity, providing a gathering space to facilitate interaction among groups that share a common way of life but are dispersed across the landscape.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• A Movable Feast: Mobility and Commensalism in the Andes

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 52471