Revisiting Cochinoca: results of the analysis of the bone sample from Cochinoca 1, puna of the province of Jujuy, Argentina

Abstract

In this research work we present the results that we obtained as a result of the analysis of an animal bone sample from the Cochinoca 1, archaeological site located in the homonymous town of the puna in Jujuy province, in Argentina. The questions we presented for the research are three: determine the proportion of wild animals in the bone set in order to discuss the importance they had for human communities; the strategy of the herders linked to the management of llama herds and what animal species and parts of the skeleton were used so as to discuss whether there was differential access to them. Using some of the methodological tools that zooarchaeology offers, we were able to obtain results that allowed us to discuss these questions, reaching interpretations that show that: wild animals were not important for the people who inhabited the site, except in the case of wild camelids, which are always represented in smaller quatities than the domesticated ones; and that the shepherds opted for a herd management aimed mainly at raising animals for meat consumption and, in a lesser amount, animals destined for loading tasks.