The Peruvian south coast between the Tambo and Ilo rivers is a deserted wasteland. Yet tracts of abandoned farmland and expanses of desiccated lomas vegetation indicate that it was once vibrant and productive. Scattered habitations and cemeteries also indicate a pronounced resident Chiribaya population between A.D. 1200 and 1400. While river drainages of the western Andes and their canalized extensions are often treated as primary analytical units of study, our investigation of so-called peripheral intervalley regions points to a highly engineered and intensively managed landscape. When compared to the Ilo Valley, intervalley Chiribaya were organized into smaller communities and managed smaller spring-fed irrigation systems but were also heavily invested in adjacent maritime and lomas resource bases. Utilizing a mixed economic strategy, we argue, these intervalley populations were anything but marginal to the Chiribaya señorío of the Ilo region; rather, they were fully engaged in the social, political, and economic spheres of the late Intermediate period Peruvian south coast and formed a significant component of the Chiribaya cultural landscape. Our results hold implications for other similarly marginalized areas of the Andean coast, where distinct microenvironmental parameters and human ingenuity intersected to significantly transform the western Andes.

Analyses of skeletal phenotypic traits have the potential to yield information pertaining to social organization, such as kinship and residence patterns. In this research, we examine sex-specific phenotypic variability of craniofacial and mandibular metric traits in eight skeletal samples from four sites (San Gerónimo, Chiribaya Alta, Chiribaya Baja, and El Yaral) attributed to the Chiribaya polity (A.D. 772–1350) and a contemporary Ilo-Tumilaca/Cabuza group (El Algodonal) from southern Peru. Through this data set we investigate various aspects of social organization (e.g., postmarital residence patterns) within the Chiribaya polity. We also examine Chiribaya interactions with the contemporaneous, yet culturally distinct, Tumilaca cultural group. The pattern of between-group bias-corrected estimates of biological distances points toward a more distant biological relationship between the two cultures than has previously been reported. Among the Chiribaya groups considered, determinant ratio analyses indicate that males from two cemeteries (Chiribaya Alta Cemetery 4 and Chiribaya Alta Cemetery 7) were significantly more variable than females, suggesting that males were the more mobile sex. Several explanatory models are considered, including a matrilocal residence pattern and the in-migration of males. We also examine the unique nature of results from within Chiribaya Alta, which support the argument made by previous researchers that this site represents a regional political center.

In the last 25 years, materials from some human sacrifices that the Inkas carried out on high mountains (e.g., Aconcagua and Llullaillaco) have been thoroughly analyzed and adequately interpreted. Remains from immolations that took place in other contexts, however, which tend to be poorly preserved and incompletely studied, are not as well understood. In this article, I begin to remedy this imbalance in our knowledge by discussing the sacrifice from Salinas Grandes, which is a salt flat situated in northwestern Argentina. I describe the body of the victim—who was very likely a qhapaq hucha, a specially chosen child—and his clothing, accouterments, and hairstyle. I offer hypotheses on where he came from and on the reasons behind his ritual dispatch. I demonstrate how the different items that were buried with him all contributed to the meaning of his immolation. I also show how the lords of Cuzco may have employed the sacrifice to tie the region where the salt flat is located to the empire.

Indicators of oral health were recorded in a sample of 200 Formative period (1500 B.C.–A.D. 500) skeletons from archaeological sites located in the Lower Azapa Valley of northwest Chile. This period represents a major shift in subsistence strategies in the Atacama Desert, as coastal groups adopted agriculture and moved deeper into the valley. Frequencies of caries and antemortem tooth loss were compared between site locations (coast vs. valley) and by archaeological phase (early vs. late) to interpret the degree to which these incipient agriculturalists were reliant on domesticated resources. Overall, frequencies of caries (11.9 percent) and tooth loss (11.6 percent) are somewhat higher than for other prehistoric groups practicing a mixed subsistence strategy. However, residents of the interior valley exhibited significantly more dental decay and tooth loss than those along the coast. Our results identify that although the Formative period residents of the Lower Azapa Valley practiced a mixed subsistence strategy, the degree of reliance on agricultural production differed between the coast and the valley. We propose that these differential patterns in oral health are tied to local investment, adaptive cycles, and niche construction.

Este trabajo discute el uso de plantas psicoactivas en el Valle de Azapa del norte de Chile. Al respecto, en el norte de Chile existen evidencias arqueológicas materiales tempranas e ininterrumpidas relacionadas con prácticas psicoactivas en torno a la Anadenanthera, acompañadas de evidencia química que consigna el consumo de Erythroxylum. En este contexto, se evalúa el consumo de Anadenanthera y Banisteriopsis en el cabello de treinta y dos momias del período Medio (ca. 500–1000 d.C.) del Valle de Azapa, mediante cromatografía gaseosa y espectrometría de masa. De los casos analizados ninguno resultó positivo para el consumo de Anadenanthera, pero dos resultaron positivos para la ingesta de Banisteriopsis, planta psicoactiva preparada como infusión denominada generalmente Ayahuasca. Se postula que el consumo de Banisteriopsis en el Valle de Azapa estaría relacionado con prácticas curativas y medicinales como por ejemplo en el parto y/o puerperio, más que una práctica alucinógena.