W J Pestle
Biographic Data
| ID | 30218 |
|---|---|
| NAME | W J Pestle |
| GIVEN NAMES | W J |
| FAMILY NAME | Pestle |
| SIGNATURE | PESTLE W J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Miami |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6257-7900 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 41 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 226 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 41 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Refining near-infrared spectroscopy for collagen quantification: A new predictive model for archaeological bone
Collagen is a vital archaeological material, preserving biochemical signatures that provide insights into past environments, diets, and human-animal interactions. However, diagenesis can lead to rapid and inconspicuous collagen degradation. Given the variability in collagen preservation and its significance for analyses such as radiocarbon dating, stable isotope analysis, and ZooMS, researchers have developed prescreening techniques to assess col…
Building belonging and evoking identity through bodily adornment: Pendants from the Ortiz site, south-western Puerto Rico
As a means for both the construction and communication of social identity in diverse human groups worldwide, objects of personal adornment can help to explain some prehistoric lifeways and beliefs. This study examines the materials and manufacture traces of whole and fragmentary pendants found in association with human burials at the Early Period (c. 4200 cal BC-cal AD 250) Ortiz site in south-western Puerto Rico. Using data from microscopy, elem…
Animales e intercambio: Análisis arqueofaunístico de la Aldea San Salvador, período formativo (3000-1000 ap), región de Antofagasta, norte de Chile
Este trabajo se centra en los conjuntos arqueofaunísticos del sitio Aldea San Salvador, adscrito al Período Formativo Medio (ca 2300-2200 cal AP) y ubicado en la terraza sur del río San Salvador, un afluente del río Loa, a unos 1.300 msnm y a más de 100 km de la costa. La muestra de vertebrados se encuentra dominada por peces marinos (principalmente lenguado y jurel), en comparación a camélidos (fundamentalmente guanaco), roedores y aves. El conj…
On the pathways. Inter-nodal archaeology in the Atacama desert Pampa (c. 7000 BP-400 BP)
Emerging inequality in the San Pedro de Atacama oases (Chile): An investigation of entheseal patterns using Ancova and factorial Anova
Bioarcheologists have focused extensively over the past few decades on how to best investigate past activity, often concentrating on data collection protocols and more recently focusing on statistical approaches. Here, we complement ongoing studies focusing on emerging inequality during the Middle Period (AD 400-1000) in the San Pedro de Atacama oases (Chile) by investigating entheseal patterns among individuals (n = 210) interred in four cemeter…
Use of thermogravimetric analysis to estimate collagen and hydroxyapatite contents in archaeological bone
The Life and Death of a Child: Mortuary and Bodily Manifestations of Coast-Interior Interactions during the Late Formative Period (AD 100-400), Northern Chile
Camelid pastoralism, agriculture, sedentism, surplus production, increasing cultural complexity, and interregional interaction during northern Chile's Late Formative period (AD 100-400) are seen in the flow of goods and people over expanses of desert. Consolidating evidence of material culture from these interactions with a bioarchaeological dimension allows us to provide details about individual lives and patterns in the Late Formative more gene…
Bounding Middle Period Cemetery Use in San Pedro De Atacama, Chile
The San Pedro de Atacama oases, located in northern Chile’s hyperarid Atacama Desert, have been occupied for at least 3000 years. Here, we examine cemetery use in the oases, with emphasis on the Middle Period (ca. AD 400–1000). By modeling of a large corpus (n=243) of radiocarbon dates, over 90% of which are direct AMS assays of human bone collagen, we attempt to establish a temporal framework by which to explore the establishment of formalized s…
Shellfish Collection Practices of the First Inhabitants of Southwestern Puerto Rico: The Effects of Site Type and Paleoenvironment on Habitat Choice
After decades of study, much remains unknown about the foraging practices of the earliest inhabitants of Puerto Rico. Here, we present an analysis of the malacological assemblages of two neighboring and (partially) contemporary early sites from the island's southwest, finding intriguing intersite differences in shellfish collection practices. We attribute this diversity to differences in site type, chronology, or changes in local coastal configur…
Particle size matters: The effect of particle size on carbon and oxygen isotope composition of bone hydroxyapatite
Objectives Stable isotope studies often focus on hydroxyapatite (bioapatite) to answer questions of paleodiet, paleomobility, and paeloenvironment. This study seeks to determine the effect that sample particle size (in particular SA:V, or surface area to volume ratios) has on measured carbon and oxygen stable isotope values (δ 13 C and δ 18 O) in bone hydroxyapatite. Materials and methods Previously ground Homo sapiens sapiens cortical bone sampl…
The interior frontier: Exchange and interculturation in the Formative period (1000 B.C.-A.D. 400) of Quillagua, Antofagasta region, northern Chile
Geochemical analysis of Tequesta calcretes
An isotopic study of dietary diversity in formative period Ancachi/Quillagua, Atacama Desert, northern Chile
OBJECTIVES: To characterize the paleodiet of individuals from Formative Period (1500 B.C.-A.D. 400) Atacama Desert sites of Ancachi and Quillagua as a means of understanding the dietary and cultural impacts of regional systems of exchange. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-one bone samples recovered from the cemetery of Ancachi (02QU175) and in/around the nearby town of Quillagua were the subject of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of bone…
The ways of fish beyond the sea: Fish circulation and consumption in the Atacama desert, northern Chile, during the Formative period (500 cal B.C.-700 cal A.D.)
Along the Atacama Desert coast, fish has always been a staple food and by the Formative period (500 cal B.C.-700 cal A.D.) it had become a product in high demand by the inhabitants of the inland valleys, oases and ravines of the desert. In this paper we explore the technologies used in coastal fishing activities, the diverse species caught, and fish processing and preserving techniques. We further examine the circulation routes of the product thr…
Wearing the marks of violence: Unusual trauma patterning at Coyo Oriental, Northern Chile
OBJECTIVES: In this article, we present analyses of traumatic injury data from the Middle Period Coyo Oriental cemetery in northern Chile. We test a series of hypotheses about the role of sex, foreign contact, ritual access, and temporal shifts, in the patterning of cranial trauma in this cemetery. METHODS: Two hundred and twenty-seven crania from Coyo Oriental were analyzed using standard bioarcheological methods to determine sex and age as well…
Comparison of two ancient DNA extraction protocols for skeletal remains from tropical environments
OBJECTIVES: The tropics harbor a large part of the world's biodiversity and have a long history of human habitation. However, paleogenomics research in these climates has been constrained so far by poor ancient DNA yields. Here we compare the performance of two DNA extraction methods on ancient samples of teeth and petrous portions excavated from tropical and semi-tropical sites in Tanzania, Mexico, and Puerto Rico (N = 12). MATERIALS AND METHODS…
Assessing the association between subsistence strategies and the timing of weaning among indigenous archaeological populations of the Caribbean
Human breastfeeding is a biocultural process shaped by the interaction of numerous biological, cultural, economic, and social factors. Although previous studies have found that a society's subsistence economy alone does not determine weaning timing, subsistence may still have a profound effect on weaning food choices. This paper analyses nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes in bone collagen and apatite of individuals from six precolonial Caribbean…
Quantitative paleodietary reconstruction with complex foodwebs: An isotopic case study from the Caribbean
Eating out or dining in: Modeling diverse dietary strategies in the Middle Period, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
The Middle Period of the Atacama oases, North Chile, has been characterized as a time of peace, uniform abundance, and widespread access to exotic materials. In the present work, we test this notion through a comparison of Middle Period human isotopic data (δ13Cco, δ15Nco, and δ13Cap) representing two distinct ayllus, Solcor and Tchecar, in the San Pedro de Atacama oases. We employ Bayesian mixture modeling of individual-level isotopic data to qu…
Calate: De Lugar Desnudo a Laboratorio Arqueológico De La Movilidad Y El Tráfico Intercultural Prehispánico en El Desierto De Atacama (Ca. 7ooo Ap-55o Ap)
6 La voz quechua Q'ala se traduce por "desnudo, pelado, sin nada" (AMLQ 2005: 159), en tanto, en aymara, la raz Cala es "piedra" Nuestro caso debe ser una espaolizacin, pues estas lenguas no admiten el sufijo "-te", o siquiera la vocal "e". Es extrao, sin embargo, que se agregase esta partcula hispana pronominalizadora. Ambos significados de las lenguas indgenas pueden relacionarse filosficamente como una evocacin a la desnudez de carcter ltico: …
Modeling diet in times of change: The case of Quitor, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
Modeling Breastfeeding and Weaning Practices (BWP) on the Coast of Northern Chile's Atacama Desert During the Formative Period
Stable isotope analysis of bone collagen is frequently employed as a means of studying the breastfeeding and weaning practices (BWP) of archaeological populations. Such studies are strengthened greatly through the application of statistical models that permit precise and model-bound estimates of weaning age, duration, trophic enrichment, and the isotopic characterization of supplementary foods. Here we present the result of a stable isotope (δ15N…
Hand-held Raman spectroscopy as a pre-screening tool for archaeological bone
Technical note: A linear model for predicting δ 13 C protein
Objective : Development of a model for the prediction of δ 13 C protein from δ 13 C collagen and Δ 13 C ap‐co . Model‐generated values could, in turn, serve as “consumer” inputs for multisource mixture modeling of paleodiet. Methods : Linear regression analysis of previously published controlled diet data facilitated the development of a mathematical model for predicting δ 13 C protein (and an experimentally generated error term) from isotopic da…
Tiwanaku influence and social inequality: A bioarchaeological, biogeochemical, and contextual analysis of the Larache cemetery, San Pedro de Atacama, Northern Chile
OBJECTIVES: To assess the relationship between the Tiwanaku polity and the individuals buried at the Middle Horizon (∼AD500-1000) cemetery of Larache in northern Chile, a site that has been singled out as a potential elite foreign enclave. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We explore this association through the skeletal remains of 48 individuals interred at the cemetery of Larache using bioarchaeological, biogeochemical, and artifactual evidence. Data from…
Mobility and Exchange among Marine Hunter-Gatherer and Agropastoralist Communities in the Formative Period Atacama Desert
Northern Chile's Atacama Desert is one of the most unforgiving landscapes on the planet; however, a variety of complex risk-mitigation strategies facilitated long-term human occupation of the region. Using a burgeoning corpus of human, floral, and faunal
Bone collagen preservation in the tropics: A case study from ancient Puerto Rico
Assessing the life history of an andean traveller through biogeochemistry: Stable and radiogenic isotope analyses of archaeological human remains from Northern Chile
Bioarchaeology and biogeochemistry can elucidate aspects of individual life histories that are often lost in the archaeological record. Here, we use stable and radiogenic isotope analyses of enamel, bone and hair to reconstruct paleodiet and paleomobility in an adult male interred along a pre-Columbian route connecting the northern Chilean coast to the inland Loa River Valley. Although this well-preserved burial included mortuary goods typical of…
Eating Fish in the Driest Desert in the World: Osteological and Biogeochemical Analyses of Human Skeletal Remains from the San Salvador Cemetery, North Chile
The San Salvador River in northern Chile is a tributary of the Loa, the only river that traverses the Atacama Desert from the mountains to the Pacific. Recent investigations along the San Salvador River revealed the presence of a Formative period village site and associated cemetery approximately 110 km inland from the Pacific Ocean. Bioarchaeological and biogeochemical analyses conducted on human skeletal remains recovered from the San Salvador …
Chemical, elemental, and isotopic effects of acid concentration and treatment duration on ancient bone collagen: An exploratory study
Assessing the association between subsistence strategies and the timing of weaning among indigenous archaeological populations of the Caribbean
Human breastfeeding is a biocultural process shaped by the interaction of numerous biological, cultural, economic, and social factors. Although previous studies have found that a society's subsistence economy alone does not determine weaning timing, subsistence may still have a profound effect on weaning food choices. This paper analyses nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes in bone collagen and apatite of individuals from six precolonial Caribbean…
Eating out or dining in: Modeling diverse dietary strategies in the Middle Period, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
The Middle Period of the Atacama oases, North Chile, has been characterized as a time of peace, uniform abundance, and widespread access to exotic materials. In the present work, we test this notion through a comparison of Middle Period human isotopic data (δ13Cco, δ15Nco, and δ13Cap) representing two distinct ayllus, Solcor and Tchecar, in the San Pedro de Atacama oases. We employ Bayesian mixture modeling of individual-level isotopic data to qu…
Modeling diet in times of change: The case of Quitor, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
Tiwanaku influence and social inequality: A bioarchaeological, biogeochemical, and contextual analysis of the Larache cemetery, San Pedro de Atacama, Northern Chile
OBJECTIVES: To assess the relationship between the Tiwanaku polity and the individuals buried at the Middle Horizon (∼AD500-1000) cemetery of Larache in northern Chile, a site that has been singled out as a potential elite foreign enclave. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We explore this association through the skeletal remains of 48 individuals interred at the cemetery of Larache using bioarchaeological, biogeochemical, and artifactual evidence. Data from…
New Questions and Old Paradigms: Reexamining Caribbean Culture History
One of the central goals of archaeology is the definition of regional cultural succession. Since at least the 1960s, archaeology has purported to have moved beyond the strictures of Culture History, and yet the constructs of that paradigm (styles, periods, cultures) continue to be used routinely. This work aims to show that by doing so, one is still implicitly subscribing to that theoretical perspective"s assumptions and biases. In the end, this …
The ways of fish beyond the sea: Fish circulation and consumption in the Atacama desert, northern Chile, during the Formative period (500 cal B.C.-700 cal A.D.)
Along the Atacama Desert coast, fish has always been a staple food and by the Formative period (500 cal B.C.-700 cal A.D.) it had become a product in high demand by the inhabitants of the inland valleys, oases and ravines of the desert. In this paper we explore the technologies used in coastal fishing activities, the diverse species caught, and fish processing and preserving techniques. We further examine the circulation routes of the product thr…
Quantitative paleodietary reconstruction with complex foodwebs: An isotopic case study from the Caribbean
Hand-held Raman spectroscopy as a pre-screening tool for archaeological bone
Technical note: A linear model for predicting δ 13 C protein
Objective : Development of a model for the prediction of δ 13 C protein from δ 13 C collagen and Δ 13 C ap‐co . Model‐generated values could, in turn, serve as “consumer” inputs for multisource mixture modeling of paleodiet. Methods : Linear regression analysis of previously published controlled diet data facilitated the development of a mathematical model for predicting δ 13 C protein (and an experimentally generated error term) from isotopic da…
Wearing the marks of violence: Unusual trauma patterning at Coyo Oriental, Northern Chile
OBJECTIVES: In this article, we present analyses of traumatic injury data from the Middle Period Coyo Oriental cemetery in northern Chile. We test a series of hypotheses about the role of sex, foreign contact, ritual access, and temporal shifts, in the patterning of cranial trauma in this cemetery. METHODS: Two hundred and twenty-seven crania from Coyo Oriental were analyzed using standard bioarcheological methods to determine sex and age as well…
Modeling Breastfeeding and Weaning Practices (BWP) on the Coast of Northern Chile's Atacama Desert During the Formative Period
Stable isotope analysis of bone collagen is frequently employed as a means of studying the breastfeeding and weaning practices (BWP) of archaeological populations. Such studies are strengthened greatly through the application of statistical models that permit precise and model-bound estimates of weaning age, duration, trophic enrichment, and the isotopic characterization of supplementary foods. Here we present the result of a stable isotope (δ15N…
Fishing Down a Prehistoric Caribbean Marine Food Web: Isotopic Evidence From Punta Candelero, Puerto Rico
In recent years, a debate about the degree to which prehistoric fishing practices may, or may not, have adversely impacted local fish communities has re-emerged in the Caribbean archaeological and fisheries literature. Through carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses of radiocarbon dated human skeletal remains from southeastern Puerto Rico, the present work identifies a significant (one to two trophic level) decline in the mean trophic level o…
Ancient bone collagen assessment by hand-held vibrational spectroscopy
Sr/86Sr variability in Puerto Rico: Geological complexity and the study of paleomobility
Bounding Middle Period Cemetery Use in San Pedro De Atacama, Chile
The San Pedro de Atacama oases, located in northern Chile’s hyperarid Atacama Desert, have been occupied for at least 3000 years. Here, we examine cemetery use in the oases, with emphasis on the Middle Period (ca. AD 400–1000). By modeling of a large corpus (n=243) of radiocarbon dates, over 90% of which are direct AMS assays of human bone collagen, we attempt to establish a temporal framework by which to explore the establishment of formalized s…
Calate: De Lugar Desnudo a Laboratorio Arqueológico De La Movilidad Y El Tráfico Intercultural Prehispánico en El Desierto De Atacama (Ca. 7ooo Ap-55o Ap)
6 La voz quechua Q'ala se traduce por "desnudo, pelado, sin nada" (AMLQ 2005: 159), en tanto, en aymara, la raz Cala es "piedra" Nuestro caso debe ser una espaolizacin, pues estas lenguas no admiten el sufijo "-te", o siquiera la vocal "e". Es extrao, sin embargo, que se agregase esta partcula hispana pronominalizadora. Ambos significados de las lenguas indgenas pueden relacionarse filosficamente como una evocacin a la desnudez de carcter ltico: …
Use of thermogravimetric analysis to estimate collagen and hydroxyapatite contents in archaeological bone
Shellfish Collection Practices of the First Inhabitants of Southwestern Puerto Rico: The Effects of Site Type and Paleoenvironment on Habitat Choice
After decades of study, much remains unknown about the foraging practices of the earliest inhabitants of Puerto Rico. Here, we present an analysis of the malacological assemblages of two neighboring and (partially) contemporary early sites from the island's southwest, finding intriguing intersite differences in shellfish collection practices. We attribute this diversity to differences in site type, chronology, or changes in local coastal configur…
An isotopic study of dietary diversity in formative period Ancachi/Quillagua, Atacama Desert, northern Chile
OBJECTIVES: To characterize the paleodiet of individuals from Formative Period (1500 B.C.-A.D. 400) Atacama Desert sites of Ancachi and Quillagua as a means of understanding the dietary and cultural impacts of regional systems of exchange. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-one bone samples recovered from the cemetery of Ancachi (02QU175) and in/around the nearby town of Quillagua were the subject of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of bone…
Emerging inequality in the San Pedro de Atacama oases (Chile): An investigation of entheseal patterns using Ancova and factorial Anova
Bioarcheologists have focused extensively over the past few decades on how to best investigate past activity, often concentrating on data collection protocols and more recently focusing on statistical approaches. Here, we complement ongoing studies focusing on emerging inequality during the Middle Period (AD 400-1000) in the San Pedro de Atacama oases (Chile) by investigating entheseal patterns among individuals (n = 210) interred in four cemeter…
AMS dating of a recently rediscovered juvenile human mandible from Solutré (Saône-et-Loire, France)
Nearly 150 years of excavation at the Upper Paleolithic type-site of Solutré has yielded substantial evidence for Late Pleistocene human occupation, food procurement, and tool manufacture in the Mâconnais. To date, however, no human skeletal material from the Solutrean phase of this eponymous site has been discovered. Among the finds curated by the Field Museum of Natural History resulting from a relatively obscure and poorly documented excavatio…
Survey of medical ethnobotanicals for dental and oral medicine conditions and pathologies
Identifying high-status foods in the archeological record
Chemical, elemental, and isotopic effects of acid concentration and treatment duration on ancient bone collagen: An exploratory study
Bone collagen preservation in the tropics: A case study from ancient Puerto Rico
Assessing the life history of an andean traveller through biogeochemistry: Stable and radiogenic isotope analyses of archaeological human remains from Northern Chile
Bioarchaeology and biogeochemistry can elucidate aspects of individual life histories that are often lost in the archaeological record. Here, we use stable and radiogenic isotope analyses of enamel, bone and hair to reconstruct paleodiet and paleomobility in an adult male interred along a pre-Columbian route connecting the northern Chilean coast to the inland Loa River Valley. Although this well-preserved burial included mortuary goods typical of…
Eating Fish in the Driest Desert in the World: Osteological and Biogeochemical Analyses of Human Skeletal Remains from the San Salvador Cemetery, North Chile
The San Salvador River in northern Chile is a tributary of the Loa, the only river that traverses the Atacama Desert from the mountains to the Pacific. Recent investigations along the San Salvador River revealed the presence of a Formative period village site and associated cemetery approximately 110 km inland from the Pacific Ocean. Bioarchaeological and biogeochemical analyses conducted on human skeletal remains recovered from the San Salvador …
Commemorating bodies and lives at Kish's 'A Cemetery: (Re)presenting social memory
Over the course of a decade, the Joint Oxford-Field Museum Expedition to Kish recovered artifacts and skeletal remains from one of the most influential city-states in ancient Mesopotamia. We focus here on the process of commemoration of the dead as evidenced in the graves excavated from Kish's 'A Cemetery'. We use skeletal remains, fieldnotes, and artifactual evidence to situate these individuals within their biological and mortuary contexts and …
Fishing Down a Prehistoric Caribbean Marine Food Web: Isotopic Evidence From Punta Candelero, Puerto Rico
In recent years, a debate about the degree to which prehistoric fishing practices may, or may not, have adversely impacted local fish communities has re-emerged in the Caribbean archaeological and fisheries literature. Through carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses of radiocarbon dated human skeletal remains from southeastern Puerto Rico, the present work identifies a significant (one to two trophic level) decline in the mean trophic level o…
Ancient bone collagen assessment by hand-held vibrational spectroscopy
Sr/86Sr variability in Puerto Rico: Geological complexity and the study of paleomobility
New Questions and Old Paradigms: Reexamining Caribbean Culture History
One of the central goals of archaeology is the definition of regional cultural succession. Since at least the 1960s, archaeology has purported to have moved beyond the strictures of Culture History, and yet the constructs of that paradigm (styles, periods, cultures) continue to be used routinely. This work aims to show that by doing so, one is still implicitly subscribing to that theoretical perspective"s assumptions and biases. In the end, this …
Quantifying Inter-Laboratory Variability in Stable Isotope Analysis of Ancient Skeletal Remains
Over the past forty years, stable isotope analysis of bone (and tooth) collagen and hydroxyapatite has become a mainstay of archaeological and paleoanthropological reconstructions of paleodiet and paleoenvironment. Despite this method's frequent use across anthropological subdisciplines (and beyond), the present work represents the first attempt at gauging the effects of inter-laboratory variability engendered by differences in a) sample preparat…
Ancestral Appetites: Food in Prehistory
Hand-held Raman spectroscopy as a pre-screening tool for archaeological bone
Technical note: A linear model for predicting δ 13 C protein
Objective : Development of a model for the prediction of δ 13 C protein from δ 13 C collagen and Δ 13 C ap‐co . Model‐generated values could, in turn, serve as “consumer” inputs for multisource mixture modeling of paleodiet. Methods : Linear regression analysis of previously published controlled diet data facilitated the development of a mathematical model for predicting δ 13 C protein (and an experimentally generated error term) from isotopic da…
Tiwanaku influence and social inequality: A bioarchaeological, biogeochemical, and contextual analysis of the Larache cemetery, San Pedro de Atacama, Northern Chile
OBJECTIVES: To assess the relationship between the Tiwanaku polity and the individuals buried at the Middle Horizon (∼AD500-1000) cemetery of Larache in northern Chile, a site that has been singled out as a potential elite foreign enclave. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We explore this association through the skeletal remains of 48 individuals interred at the cemetery of Larache using bioarchaeological, biogeochemical, and artifactual evidence. Data from…
Explorando La Diversidad Dietética en La Prehistoria Del Desierto De Atacama: Un Acercamiento a Los Patrones Regionales
A lo largo de su prehistoria, el norte rido de Chile fue ocupado por una gran diversidad de culturas dispersas por todos los pisos ecolgicos de la regin. Sin embargo, desde el Arcaico Tardo se encuentran evidencias de intercambio de recursos y elementos culturales entre estas zonas, prctica que se intensific durante los Periodos Medio e Intermedio Tardo. En este trabajo se evalu la composicin de la dieta de las poblaciones locales, por medio del …
Mobility and Exchange among Marine Hunter-Gatherer and Agropastoralist Communities in the Formative Period Atacama Desert
Northern Chile's Atacama Desert is one of the most unforgiving landscapes on the planet; however, a variety of complex risk-mitigation strategies facilitated long-term human occupation of the region. Using a burgeoning corpus of human, floral, and faunal
Modeling diet in times of change: The case of Quitor, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
Modeling Breastfeeding and Weaning Practices (BWP) on the Coast of Northern Chile's Atacama Desert During the Formative Period
Stable isotope analysis of bone collagen is frequently employed as a means of studying the breastfeeding and weaning practices (BWP) of archaeological populations. Such studies are strengthened greatly through the application of statistical models that permit precise and model-bound estimates of weaning age, duration, trophic enrichment, and the isotopic characterization of supplementary foods. Here we present the result of a stable isotope (δ15N…
Quantitative paleodietary reconstruction with complex foodwebs: An isotopic case study from the Caribbean
Eating out or dining in: Modeling diverse dietary strategies in the Middle Period, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
The Middle Period of the Atacama oases, North Chile, has been characterized as a time of peace, uniform abundance, and widespread access to exotic materials. In the present work, we test this notion through a comparison of Middle Period human isotopic data (δ13Cco, δ15Nco, and δ13Cap) representing two distinct ayllus, Solcor and Tchecar, in the San Pedro de Atacama oases. We employ Bayesian mixture modeling of individual-level isotopic data to qu…
Calate: De Lugar Desnudo a Laboratorio Arqueológico De La Movilidad Y El Tráfico Intercultural Prehispánico en El Desierto De Atacama (Ca. 7ooo Ap-55o Ap)
6 La voz quechua Q'ala se traduce por "desnudo, pelado, sin nada" (AMLQ 2005: 159), en tanto, en aymara, la raz Cala es "piedra" Nuestro caso debe ser una espaolizacin, pues estas lenguas no admiten el sufijo "-te", o siquiera la vocal "e". Es extrao, sin embargo, que se agregase esta partcula hispana pronominalizadora. Ambos significados de las lenguas indgenas pueden relacionarse filosficamente como una evocacin a la desnudez de carcter ltico: …
Wearing the marks of violence: Unusual trauma patterning at Coyo Oriental, Northern Chile
OBJECTIVES: In this article, we present analyses of traumatic injury data from the Middle Period Coyo Oriental cemetery in northern Chile. We test a series of hypotheses about the role of sex, foreign contact, ritual access, and temporal shifts, in the patterning of cranial trauma in this cemetery. METHODS: Two hundred and twenty-seven crania from Coyo Oriental were analyzed using standard bioarcheological methods to determine sex and age as well…
Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (36 works) · Geography (29 works) · Archaeology (25 works) · Biology (19 works) · Ecology (17 works) · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies (16 works) · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies (16 works) · Isotope Analysis in Ecology (14 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Isotope analysis (10 works)