The Late Period in the Puna of Jujuy: Settlements, Ethnic Groups, and Territories

Abstract

This paper reviews the archaeological, ethnohistorical, and colonial information concerning the peoples who inhabited what is known in the archaeological literature as the Puna of Jujuy. It presents the evidence corresponding to the pre-Hispanic societies that occupied this area, with special reference to settlement patterns, movable goods, funerary practices, and rock art. Within this context, the organization and location of archaeological settlements are discussed, as well as their most significant construction techniques.

The paper also reviews the information provided by different researchers who have addressed the ethnic affiliation of the ancient inhabitants of the Jujuy Puna, together with the limited ethnohistorical information available. The different positions are discussed and contrasted with archaeological data, which are in turn compared with the existing colonial documentation for the same area.

The information obtained makes it possible to propose, as a hypothesis, a more precise territorial attribution for the different ethnic groups of the Puna of Jujuy before the arrival of the Europeans. This use and control of the territory was later subject to severe changes as a consequence of colonial administration, although an important part of it continued to be occupied by its former pre-Hispanic inhabitants.