Browsing by Author "Standen, Vivien G."

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Continuities and discontinuities in the socio-environmental systems of the Atacama Desert during the last 13,000 years
    (2017) Santoro, Calogero M.; Capriles, José M.; Gayo Hernández, Eugenia Monserrat; De Porras, María Eugenia; Maldonado, Antonio; Standen, Vivien G.; Latorre H., Claudio; Castro, Victoria; Marquet, P. A. (Pablo A.); Mc Rostie Bustamante, Virginia Bernardita; Uribe, Mauricio; Valenzuela, Daniela; Ugalde, Paula C.; Angelo, Dante
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    Loco or no Loco? Holocene Climatic Fluctuations, Human Demography, and Community Based Management of Coastal Resources in Northern Chile
    (2017) Santoro, Calogero M.; Gayo Hernández, Eugenia Monserrat; Carter, Chris; Standen, Vivien G.; Castro, Victoria; Valenzuela, Daniela; De Pol-Holz, Ricardo; Marquet, P. A. (Pablo A.); Latorre H., Claudio
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    RISE AND DECLINE OF CHINCHORRO SACRED LANDSCAPES ALONG THE HYPERARID COAST OF THE ATACAMA DESERT
    (2012) Santoro, Calogero M.; Rivadeneira, Marcelo M.; Latorre, Claudio; Rothhammer, Francisco; Standen, Vivien G.
    The study of complex funerary ritual development among hunters and gatherers societies should take into account how people made up for the continuity of their social system without the support of centralized organizations. This research integrates cultural and natural factors to explore how the Chinchorro carried on with their way of life isolated at geographically restricted perennial river mouths with fresh water along the Atacama Desert in the Pacific coast of South America. Within these rather crowded settlings, they created and maintained a social system catalyzed by a complex funerary tradition, embodied by a unique funerary ideological discourse that resulted in the creation of a sacred landscape or "spiritscape". We argue that the extreme hyperaridity of the coastal Atacama Desert (21 degrees-17.30 degrees S), and the extraordinary biomass production of the marine littoral constituted a fundamental milieu for the maintenance of their long-term social system. The Chinchorro belief system lasted for several millennia (8,000-4,000 BP), but new ways of life and burial practices followed major changes in the coastal ecosystem they relied on, which would have influenced how the "old tradition" was manifested over time. Conversely, we sustain that these natural "constraints" faced by the Chinchorro along the coast of the Atacama Desert, were influential, in the course of their history or the way they socially organized themselves.
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    Violence among the first horticulturists in the atacama desert (1000 BCE-600 CE)
    (2021) Standen, Vivien G.; Santoro, Calogero M.; Arriaza, Bernardo; Verano, John; Monsalve, Susana; Coleman, Drew; Valenzuela, Daniela; Marquet, Pablo A.
    The Neolithic or Formative Period in the New World drastically transformed the mode of production in human societies with the domestication of plants and animals. It impacted the way of life and social relations among individuals in permanent farming villages. Moreover, the emergence of elites and social inequality fostered interpersonal and inter-and intra-group violence associated with the defense of resources, socio-economic investments, and other cultural concerns. This study evaluated violence among the first horticulturalists in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile during the Neolithic transition between 1000 BCE - 600 CE. Furthermore, it analyzed trauma caused by interpersonal violence using a sample of 194 individuals. Strontium isotopic composition was examined to determine whether violence was local or among foreign parties. Settlement patterns, weapons, and rock art also were evaluated to assess expressions of violence. Skeletal and soft tissues presented the most direct evidence for violence. About 21% (n = 40) of adult individuals, particularly men, showed trauma compatible with interpersonal violence, with 50% (n = 20) of trauma appearing fatal. The findings suggested that violence was between local groups and that social and ecological constraints likely triggered violence within local communities.
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    Violence in fishing, hunting, and gathering societies of the Atacama Desert coast: A long-term perspective (10,000 BP-AD 1450)
    (2023) Standen, Vivien G.; Santoro, Calogero M.; Valenzuela, Daniela; Arriaza, Bernardo; Verano, John; Monsalve, Susana; Coleman, Drew; Marquet, Pablo A.
    In this study, we examine the long-term trajectory of violence in societies that inhabited the coast of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile using three lines of evidence: bioarchaeology, geoarchaeology and socio-cultural contexts (rock art, weapons, and settlement patterns). These millennia-old populations adopted a way of life, which they maintained for 10,000 years, based on fishing, hunting, and maritime gathering, complementing this with terrestrial resources. We analyzed 288 adult individuals to search for traumas resulting from interpersonal violence and used strontium isotopes Sr-87/Sr-86 as a proxy to evaluate whether individuals that showed traces of violence were members of local or non-local groups. Moreover, we evaluated settlement patterns, rock art, and weapons. The results show that the violence was invariant during the 10,000 years in which these groups lived without contact with the western world. During the Formative Period (1000 BC-AD 500), however, the type of violence changed, with a substantial increase in lethality. Finally, during the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000-1450), violence and lethality remained similar to that of the Formative Period. The chemical signal of Sr shows a low frequency of individuals who were coastal outsiders, suggesting that violence occurred between local groups. Moreover, the presence of weapons and rock art depicting scenes of combat supports the notion that these groups engaged in violence. By contrast, the settlement pattern shows no defensive features. We consider that the absence of centralized political systems could have been a causal factor in explaining violence, together with the fact that these populations were organized in small-scale grouping. Another factor may have been competition for the same resources in the extreme environments of the Atacama Desert. Finally, from the Formative Period onward, we cannot rule out a certain level of conflict between fishers and their close neighbors, the horticulturalists.