The construction of hunting sceneries: Interactions between humans, animals and landscape in the Antofalla valley, Catamarca, Argentina

Through the history of human occupation in the south-central Andes, the interactions between south-American camelids and human populations were essential in the social reproduction. being hunting one of the appropriation modes of greater long term. In this sense, the way in which encounters between hunters and their preys were materialized becomes a relevant subject in order to understand these interactions. That is why in this paper I pretend to show the way in which the landscape were constructed where the encounters between hunters and their preys were given. For this, I shall focus in the information obtained from the intensive and systematic survey developed in the Antofalla valley, located in the Antofagasta de la Sierra Department, Catamarca Province, Argentina. This information has allowed me to identify a series of structures build with the aim of propitiate the encounter of herds by means of anticipating the movements of the animals, searching to obtain near and fixed targets in order to materialize the attack. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.