CAMELID HERDING AND TERRITORIAL USE DURING THE LATE FORMATIVE PERIOD: A ZOOARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SUBMERGED SITE OF OJJELAYA, BOLIVIA
PASTOREO DE CAMÉLIDOS Y USO TERRITORIAL DURANTE EL PERIODO FORMATIVO TARDÍO: ANÁLISIS ZOOARQUEOLÓGICO DEL SITIO SUMERGIDO DE OJJELAYA, BOLIVIA
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4067/s0717-73562026000100402
Daniela Velasco Arzabe
, José M. Capriles and Christophe Delaere
Key words: Underwater archaeology, economic organization, pastoralism, taphonomy, zooarchaeology.
Resumen
Pre-Hispanic societies that settled along the shores of Lake Titicaca experienced processes of economic growth through strategies of agricultural intensification and camelid herding. Nevertheless, few studies have addressed how these processes accompanied the development of complex sociopolitical organizations such as the Tiwanaku state (AD 550-1100), particularly because lacustrine territories dedicated to pastoralism prior to Tiwanaku were later submerged as a result of fluctuations in Lake Titicaca’s water levels. Underwater archaeological excavations at Ojjelaya—a currently submerged archaeological site located near the northern shore of
the smaller lake or Wiñaymarka—have revealed the remains of an ancient peninsula, now underwater, that preserves archaeological evidence of pastoral activities during the Late Formative period (200 BC – AD 550). This paper aims to identify the local strategies for the management of camelid resources prior to the expansion of Tiwanaku, through the analysis of faunal remains recovered from Ojjelaya. We identify a series of consumption patterns associated with pastoral intensification, alongside clear evidence that the site and its archaeofaunal assemblages were affected by taphonomic processes related to rising water levels and the flooding of the site. Finally, we conclude that palustrine pastoralism was a crucial economic strategy for societies settled on the shores of Lake Titicaca before and during the emergence of Tiwanaku.
