Long-Term Camelid Husbandry and Agricultural Intensification in the Southern Nasca Region, Peru: Insight from Faunal Isotopes

We examined stable isotopes (delta C-13, delta N-15, and delta S-34) of camelid, cavid, and cervid remains from Upanca, an archaeological site located in the Southern Nasca Region on the south coast of Peru. Occupation at the site began in the Middle Archaic (around 3200-3000 BC) and continued through the Nasca period (AD 100-650). Remains predating 2500 BC show low delta C-13 and delta N-15 values, whereas remains after this time show increasing and especially more variable isotopic values. We interpret this pattern as marking both a process of agricultural intensification and camelid husbandry diversification. Agricultural intensification began first with C-3 plants in fertilized fields, beginning around 2200 cal BC, followed by an increasing use of C-4 plants (maize, kiwicha, or both), particularly after 800 cal BC. By the beginning of the first millennium, people were using a diverse range of strategies to raise llamas and alpacas, including feeding them wild or cultivated C-3 plants, feeding them cultivated C-4 plant foods, mixing C-3 and C-4 plant foods, foddering some in natural coastal environments, and acquiring still other camelids by hunting wild stocks (guanaco, vicuna). Data also suggest that cavids were consuming at least some C-4 products after 1000 cal BC and that the use of C-4 plants increased over time.