Azul Pampa in Productive Stages

Abstract

The research problem addressed here concerns the origin and development of an increasingly sedentary and food-producing way of life in the Azul Pampa microregion, Humahuaca Department, Jujuy Province.

This paper reports on a survey carried out throughout the Sapagua gorge, which connects the Inca Cueva gorge with the Humahuaca gorge, within the Azul Pampa microregion. The survey was conceived on the assumption that the area might contain sites complementary to the caves and rock shelters of the Inca Cueva gorge, within a model established through local ethnoarchaeological research for the initial stages of a sedentary and food-producing way of life. These open-air sites may have been used for restricted rainfed agriculture, complementing the herding carried out mainly in the other locality, although herding may also have continued here during the rest of the year. Hunting would have been present in both areas.

Six survey areas were delimited on the basis of their particular interest, derived from previous surveys, the opinions of colleagues who had preceded us in local research, the research problem itself, nearby resources, the presence of antigales that may have had multiple occupations, sites with rock art, and other factors. These areas were located at different altitudes above sea level as we approached Hornaditas, near the Quebrada de Humahuaca. Mapping, surface collection, test pits, and excavations were carried out. Materials collected by local inhabitants and official collections were also incorporated into the record.

Several sites considered “Formative” by the archaeological tradition of Northwestern Argentina were located. Some of them were found near stone-clearing piles and had supposedly “diagnostic” materials on their surface, although such materials had been established as diagnostic for sites located very far from the area under study. The sites were located on both banks of the Sapagua stream, at different altitudes, and appeared to differ from one another.

In order to interpret their function, we sought an approach close to our interests that would consider settlement pattern as indicative of settlement systems. In this way, we combined the Cultural-Historical perspective, which has predominated and continues to predominate in archaeological studies of Northwestern Argentina, with a somewhat more dynamic and modern view of the issue.

Although the data obtained did not provide materials suitable for dating, they may tentatively correspond to what we were seeking. However, the amount of time devoted to the survey was not sufficient to address all these questions. The open-air sites complementary to the Lower Initial Formative sites located in the caves and rock shelters of Inca Cueva have not yet been reliably identified. They can only be considered, for the time being, as a working hypothesis to guide future research.