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Khonkho Wankane is a ceremonial center located in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin, Bolivia. During the Late Formative period (AD 1-500), its residents practiced agropastoral lifeways and participated in the rise of the state at Tiwanaku. Like at many Andean sites, bones from the family Camelidae are the most abundant large mammal in domestic contexts. Identifying camelid morphotypes represented by these bones carries far-reaching implications for understanding past hunting, herding, and caravanning practices, and their roles in larger social and economic webs. Identifications were based on a locally focused reference collection, including llamas ( Lama glama) from the immediate vicinity of the site, as well as Andean guanacos ( Lama guanicoe), a much smaller morphotype than the Patagonian guanacos used in many osteometric studies. Multivariate statistical analyses and incisor morphology identified all four camelid. Different analyses suggest that the crux of osteometry lies in the reference collection, not the statistical test. An additional, very large morphotype likely corresponds to a castrated llama, the preferred cargo animal among modern drovers. The presence of these animals is interpreted as evidence that groups hunted vicuña ( Vicugna vicugna) and guanaco, which are not currently present around the site, herded llamas and alpacas ( Vicugna pacos), and perhaps organized caravans with castrated llamas. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analysed bone remains of camelids from the Maquijata site, assigned to the late pottery-making and farming stage ( ca. 800-400 BP), in order to differentiate between domestic and wild species in the Chaco-Santiago archaeological region. This region is considered marginal to the Argentine Northwest regarding its cultural development and has received less attention than other regions. South American camelids have been one of the major resources in this continent, with domestication recorded in the South Central Andes at around 4400-3000 BP. We applied osteometric techniques and multivariate statistical analyses to proximal phalanges; the results showed interspecific differentiation of archaeological specimens, though with some methodological application issues. These results are the first contribution regarding the presence of domesticated animals in the study area. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Middle Formative Cemetery of Topater 1 (ca. 500 bc-100 ad), located in the oasis of Calama, Northern Chile, presents an unusually diverse array and quantity of funerary offerings, distributed among the graves of more than 200 individuals. Among the offerings are the remains of several mummified camelids and camelid skeletal elements, primarily distal extremities and artefacts made from the bones of these animals. Taking only the first skeletonised anterior and posterior phalanges of Topater 1 camelids, we conducted univariate and multivariate osteometric analyses in order to assign the sample to the appropriate taxonomic groups. At the same time, we described all osteopathologies registered for the extremities in the collection. Of the 45 phalanges measured, 30 were of similar or greater size than contemporary reference llamas. Fourteen of the 164 samples of bone extremities presented pathologies, most of them first phalanges. These abnormalities included different degrees of exostosis and, less commonly, eburnation and lipping. Considering both lines of evidence, we conclude that the llamas sacrificed at the Topater 1 cemetery correspond to, at least, two very large and robust cargo llama morphotypes. When living, these animals would have transported goods as part of the intense exchange activity that was taking place during this period in the region extending from the Pacific coast to Northwest Argentina and perhaps even beyond. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Approaching the study of camelid bone size change in the meridional portion of the South Central Andes is a significant subject especially when the assemblages are associated to radiocarbon dates placed at a time of social transition from an extractive to a producer economy. In this sense, this paper presents the results of applying osteometric techniques on a set of 10 elements from the Peñas Chicas 1.5 site dated around 3800 BP. The analysis shows the presence of at least three individuals, one of which corresponds to an Andean guanaco ( Lama guanicoe) morphotype. The second and the third are similar in size to a modern llama ( Lama glama) in their 'intermediate' and 'cargo' morphotypes. This is consistent with patterns already seen for sites from the Argentinian and Chilean Puna where the identification of larger individuals than the Andean guanaco modern standard shows the early stages of an increasingly bone size variability of South American camelids. This paper contributes with new data to understand the complex processes that occurred in the South Central Andes that led to the domestication of one of the most conspicuous animals in the archaeological record of the Argentinian Northwest. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT We report a study of the organisation of camelid production at the Ambato Valley, northern Argentine Andes, between the 6th and 11th centuries ad. We aim to contribute to the understanding of the different modes of economic production adopted in the past within non-egalitarian social contexts. In view of this, information collected from previous studies is analysed from multiple perspectives, centering on the application of different analytical techniques to the assemblage of camelid bones (anatomical and taxonomical identification, osteometry and stable isotopes), to their diverse archaeological contexts and architectural and agricultural units, together with the implementation of frames of reference and ethnoarchaeological models. The results support the presence of an organisational mode for the production of plants and animals on the basis of a combination of different agrarian and livestock productive strategies under a unique new integrated agro-pastoral practice, differing from both previous ones. This new practice combined, in the very same land, the use of pens and agriculture terraces in an annual productive cycle adjusted to the seasonal calendar, where maize production was used as stubble for llamas during the dry season, at the same time those fertilised corn fields during fallow. Although this new practice suggests an intensification in production, the bond and synergy of animal and plant productive strategies in a single practice could be considered risky because it decreases the range of possible responses to external fluctuation, to the extent that these could have influenced simultaneously or indirectly on both resources. This might have implied an extra factor contributing to the destructuration of the Ambato societies around 1000 ad. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]