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Chungara, Revista de Antropologa Chilena
RESEAS BIBLIOGRFICAS
Historias del Desierto: Arqueologa del Norte de Chile,*
Mario Rivera, Editorial del Norte, 2002, pp. 238, La Serena.
1 Latin American Studies Program, The University of Montana, Missoula, USA, and Instituto de Arqueologa y Museo,
Universidad Nacional de Tucumn, Argentina. cbaied@yahoo.com
* Esta resea fue publicada previamente en Latin American Antiquity, vol. 18, nm. 1, 2007.
136 Reseas Bibliogrficas
missed opportunity to integrate findings and explanations tables and by exceptional color photos such as air-views
beyond borders, even in a book that is per se bounded by of the site and agriculture fields.
its title: The Archaeology of North Chile. Chapters five and sixth address the periphery,
The third chapter deals with Mario Riveras area of specifically the areas of Tiwanaku expansion in the lower
exceptional expertise: the Formative of North Chile. Here valleys of Arica and San Pedro de Atacama. The
is where the author focuses on what appeals most to him chronological sequences developed by M. Uhle, J. Bird,
bringing to the project much of his own experience of and P. Dauelsberg for Arica are discussed and
working along the eastern escarpment and coastal areas reinterpreted by Rivera as he stresses the impact of
of the north. The work he started in the 1970s and has Chiribaya and Tiwanaku on the Azapa sequence. The
continued for more than three decades led him to define periphery role is also addressed, more extensively, when
and characterize the Alto Ramirez Phase, a local looking at the Inka State and its political area of influence.
development neatly tight through exchange and A few sites are discussed and a long list of localities
interaction to Wankarani (early Formative) and Pukara ascribed to this time-period is given.
(full Formative), two contemporaneous upland Chapter seven moves beyond the realm of
developments in the nearby area of Lake Titicaca. archaeology and into the field of ethnohistory as it
Abundant and well-preserved surface evidence of human addresses Colonial north Chile. Trade, exchange, and the
habitation and of highly-developed land use practices - role of ethnic groups in pursuing this practice are at the
that were already in place by approximately 2,800 B.P.- core of this section that also includes the reproduction of
are evident almost everywhere in north Chile. Two coastal old Colonial-era maps that help stress the economic and
localities, Camarones and Pisagua are treated extensively political meaning of this otherwise marginal area of the
and a large number of radiocarbon age determinations Chilean north. Here too, trans-Andean commerce and
are provided. At the core of Riveras argument is the interaction plays a leading role in understanding this time-
existence of a transitional phase in which the Chinchorro period.
Tradition coexists with an emergent Andean Tradition The last chapter of this book provides space for
along the coast. reflection on the legacy and withstanding of adaptive
Chapter four includes the most recent information strategies in this part of the Andes. The archipelago model
available for Ramaditas, a Late-Formative village- is by all means a compelling paradigm for addressing
farming site in the Quebrada de Guatacondo. In many the long occupation sequence that spans for more than
ways, Ramaditas and the group of sites in the Guatacondo 10,000 years. Indeed, following Mario Riveras line of
archaeological district are unique because of excellent thought, the two Traditions, Chinchorro and Andean,
preservation of architectural features, the presence of a trace back their roots to the Amazon lowlands and the
vast network of irrigation canals and agriculture fields, Titicaca uplands respectively. My feeling here is,
fabric, basketry, and macro-botanical remains. The however, that little emphasis is placed in addressing
settlement area -including structures and agricultural alternative explanatory models, such as horizontal-type
fields- has been estimated in approximately 600 hectares. movements along the coast, which could also account
Radiocarbon age determinations place occupation at this for similarity -and divergence- in material culture and
site within the Alto Ramirez II Phase, between 2,500- settlement patterns.
2,000 years B.P., a time span when large village-farming The chronological and geographic focus of this book
communities first appear in this sector of the Andes. provides for both strength and weakness. Strength
Indeed, Ramaditas represented one of the earliest because Mario Rivera fluidly brings to the project much
occupations in the Guatacondo District, a series of six of his own experience of working along the eastern
roughly contemporaneous village-farming sites and escarpment and coastal areas of north Chile, a work that
associated structures arranged along the present-day in the 1970s took him to define and characterize the local
Guatacondo gully. Archaeobotanical samples from Alto Ramirez Phase. Weaknesses because of the major
Ramaditas provide evidence of Prosopis, Zea, and task of producing a synthesis that starts more than 10,000
Chenopodium among the edible plants and the analysis years ago and ends with the Colonial history of the region,
of human feces suggests that wild algarrobo pods may an endeavor that, although magnificently done by Rivera,
have been at the core of the community diet. In addition, does not allow for the discussion of specific site
the combined study of pollen, starch, and phytoliths characteristics, site formation processes, and for addressing
shows a diet that included Chenopodium, potato, thoroughly the enormous amount of data that each
algarrobo pods, and maize. Protein residue analysis of locality provides to the archaeologist. Because of this, it
feces also suggests reliance on small mammals and fish is a short book, but, by no means, a book short of ideas.
for meat. In all, this chapter wraps up a little more than For those with specialized interest either in the
ten years of work by Mario Rivera at this site and lays prehistory of South America or the archaeology of the
the groundwork for the years to come in which remaining Atacama Desert, Historias del Desierto is unavoidable.
questions on water availability, irrigation, cultigens, and Beyond a few production flaws in editing, Mario Rivera
agriculture practices are certainly going to be addressed. succeeds quite nicely in achieving a well thought
The text in this chapter is supported by useful in-text synthesis of the archaeology of north Chile.