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Agro-pastoralism and social change in the Cuzco heartland of Peru: a brief history using environmental proxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Alex Chepstow-Lusty
Alex Chepstow-Lusty*
Affiliation:
Institut Français d'Etudes Andines (IFEA), Av. Arequipa 4500, Lima 18, Peru; Centre for Bio-Archaeology and Ecology, Université Montpellier 2, Montpellier, France (Email: [email protected])
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Extract

The author shows how pollen and oribatid mites recovered from the small lake of Marcacocha provide a detailed proxy record of agro-pastoralism over the last 4200 years in the central Andes. The introduction of highland maize and weeding practices 2700 years ago corresponds with major settlement development, as well as evidence for large herds of llamas not only facilitating trade but supplying abundant fertilizer and fuel in the form of excrement. Prolonged droughts and pre-Colombian epidemics probably influenced many of the social changes observed.

Keywords

CuzcoMarcacochacamelid pastoralismoribatid mitesllama caravansearly high-altitude maizepre-Conquest diseases
Type
Method
Information
Antiquity , Volume 85 , Issue 328 , June 2011 , pp. 570 - 582
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2011

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