Diet, Mobility, Technology, and Lithics: Neolithization on the Andean Altiplano, 7.0-3.5 ka

Neolithization was a complex, protracted process of domestication, sedentarization, and technology change that occurred in various combinations in various times and places around the world. Understanding the causal relationships among those and other important human behaviors remains an analytical challenge. This study examines Neolithization through the lens of lithic artifact variation in the Lake Titicaca Basin, Peru. Drawing on previous lithics research, we outline a synthetic model linking changing diet, mobility, and projectile technology to predicted trends in lithic assemblages. The expectations are then compared to two large, well-dated lithic assemblages from the Titicaca Basin-one from the Middle/Late Archaic forager site of Soro Mik'aya Patjxa (8.0-6.5 cal. ka) and the other from the Terminal Archaic horticultural site of Jiskairumoko (5.2-3.4 cal. ka). We find that the strongest signal in lithic technology change is related to the introduction of archery technology. Signals for subsistence change and declining mobility are relatively weak. The results suggest an early but unconfirmed adoption of archery technology in the Terminal Archaic Period with major transitions in mobility and diet likely to have occurred subsequently in the Terminal Archaic or Formative periods. The findings are consistent with a behavioral model in which changes in projectile technology played a prominent role in the evolution of resource intensification and residential sedentism as well as resource privatization and sexual division of labor in the high Andes.

Automated summary

The process of Neolithization involved domestication, sedentarization, and technology change, occurring in various combinations at different times and places globally. A study in the Lake Titicaca Basin in Peru suggests that the strongest signal in lithic technology change is related to the introduction of archery technology, with signals for subsistence change and declining mobility being relatively weak. The findings indicate an early adoption of archery technology in the Terminal Archaic Period, with major transitions in mobility and diet likely occurring subsequently.