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A Comment on the Breeding and Herding of Llamas and Alpacas on the North Coast of Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Theresa Lange Topic ,
Thomas H. McGreevy  and
John R. Topic
Theresa Lange Topic
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada K9J 7B8
Thomas H. McGreevy
Affiliation:
404 Palmerston Blvd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6G 2N8
John R. Topic
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada K9J 7B8
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Abstract

In presenting a case for the viability of llamas on the desert coast of northern Peru in prehispanic times, Shimada and Shimada (1985) suggest that alpacas might also have been adapted to the coastal environment. Alpacas are primarily wool producers however, best adapted to the high altitude pasturelands of central and southern Peru. Wool yarn used in coastal textiles, it is argued, was imported from the highlands. While coastal llama herding is an aspect of regional self-sufficiency, alpaca wool yarn was important in the long distance exchange networks which, in later Andean prehistory, distributed rare materials and products for elite consumption.

Type
Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , October 1987 , pp. 832 - 835
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1987

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References

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