Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wg55d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-01T01:17:16.877Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On Ch'arki Consumption in the Ancient Central Andes: A Cautionary Note

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Lidio M. Valdez
Lidio M. Valdez*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Trent University, P.O Box 4800, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8 Canadalvaldez@trentu.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recently, Andeanist zooarchaeologists have introduced the so-called "ch'arki effect": a taphonomic factor to explain the disproportional occurrence of some camelid skeletal parts at archaeological sites. Briefly, it has been argued that the lower frequency of head and foot bones is the by-product of ch'arki (dried meat) exchange and therefore indicative of ch'arki consumption. This generalization, however, is problematic. When fresh meat is distributed (by trade) and consumed, exactly the same pattern as with ch'arki distribution is produced. To infer ch'arki consumption on the basis of the absence of head and lower limb bones is therefore misleading.

Resumen

Resumen

Recientemente, los zooarqueólogos andinistas han iniciado a utilizar la categoría del "factor ch'arki" para explicar la presencia desproporcionada de algunas partes del esqueleto en los sitios arqueológicos. Se sostiene que la menorpresencia de algunos huesos, tal es el caso de aquellos de la cabeza y los pies, es producto del intercambio y consumo del ch'arki. Esta generalización, sin embargo, es problematico. Con la distribución (trueque) y consumo de carne fresca, se produce exactamente el mismo patron que se plantea existir con el consumo de ch'arki. Por lo tanto, asumir el consumo del ch'arki en base a la ausencia de los huesos de la cabeza y las patas puede ser totalmente engañoso.

Type
Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 65 , Issue 3 , July 2000 , pp. 567 - 572
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Brain, C. K. 1981 The Hunters or the Hunted? University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Browman, D. L. 1989 Origins and Development of Andean Pastoralism: An Overview of the Past 6000 Years. In The Walker Larder: Patterns of Domestication, Pastoralism, and Predation, edited by Clutton-Brock, J., pp. 256–268. Unwin Hyman, London.Google Scholar
Burger, R. L. 1992 Chavin and the Origins of Andean Civilization. Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
Burger, R. L., and Van Der Merwe, N. J. 1990 Maize and the Origins of Highland Chavin Civilization: An Isotopic Perspective. American Anthwpologist 92: 85–95.Google Scholar
Casaverde, J. 1977 El trueque en la economia pastoril. In Pastores de Puna: Uywamichiq Punarunakuna, edited by Flores Ochoa, J., pp. 171–191. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima.Google Scholar
Elkin, D. C. 1995 Volume Density of South American Camelid Skeletal Parts. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 5: 29–37.Google Scholar
Flores Ochoa, J. 1977 Pastores, tejido e intercambio. In Pastores de Puna: Uywamichiq Punarunakuna, edited by Flores Ochoa, J., pp. 133–154. Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima.Google Scholar
Gifford, D. P. 1981 Taphonomy and Paleoecology: A Critical Review of Archaeology's Sister Disciplines. Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory 4: 365–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gifford-Gonzalez, D. 1991 Bones Are Not Enough: Analogues, Knowledge, and Interpretative Strategies in Zooarchaeology. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 10: 215–254.Google Scholar
Gifford-Gonzalez, D. 1993 Gaps in Zooarchaeological Analyses: Is Gender An Issue? In From Bones to Behavior: Ethnoarchaeological and Experimental Contributions to the Interpretation ofFaunal Remains, edited by Hudson, J., pp. 181–199. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Grayson, D. K. 1979 On the Quantification of Vertebrate Archaeofaunas. Advances in ArchaeologicalMethodand Theory 2: 199–237.Google Scholar
Grayson, D. K. 1989 Bone Transport, Bone Destruction, and Reverse Utility Curves. Journal of Archaeological Science 16: 647–652.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kent, J. D. 1982 The Domestication and Exploitation of the South American Camelids: Method of Analysis and their Application to Circum-Lacustrine Archaeological Sites in Bolivia and Peru. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis.Google Scholar
Kent, S. 1981 The Dog: An Archaeologist's Best Friend or Worst Enemy—The Spatial Distribution of Faunal Remains. Journal of Field Archaeology 8: 367–372.Google Scholar
Kent, S. 1993 Variability in Faunal Assemblages: The Influence of Hunting Skill, Sharing, Dogs, and Mode of Cooking on Faunal Remains at a Sedentary Kalahari Community. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 12: 323–385.Google Scholar
Kroeber, A. L. 1998 Excavations. In The Archaeology and Pottery ofNazca, Peru, edited by Carmichael, P. H., pp. 39–83. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek.Google Scholar
Lupo, K. D. and Schmitt, D. N. 1997 Experiments in Bone Boiling: Nutritional Returns and Archaeological Reflections. Anthropozoologica 25-26: 137–144.Google Scholar
Lyman, R. L. 1984 Bone Density and Differential Survivorship of Fossil Classes. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 3: 259–299.Google Scholar
Lyman, R. L. 1985 Bone Frequencies: Differential Transport, In Situ Destruction, and the MGUI. Journal of Archaeological Science 12: 221–236.Google Scholar
Lyman, R. L. 1992 Anatomical Considerations of Utility Curves in Zooarchaeology. Journal of Archaeological Science 19: 7–22.Google Scholar
Lyman, R. L. 1994 Quantitative Units and Terminology in Zooarchaeology. American Antiquity 59: 36–71.Google Scholar
Mengoni Gonalons, G. L. 1991 La llama y sus productos primaries. Arqueologia 1: 179–196. Revista de la Section Prehistoria, Instituto de Ciencias Antropologicas, Facultad de Filosofia y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires.Google Scholar
Miller, G. R. 1979 An Introduction to the Ethnoarchaeology of the Andean Camelids. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Miller, G. R., and Burger, R. L. 1995 Our Father the Cayman, Our Dinner the Llama: Animal Utilization at Chavin de Huantar, Peru. American Antiquity 60: 421–458.Google Scholar
O'Connell, J. F., Hawkes, K., and Jones, N. B. 1990 Reanalysis of Large Mammal Body Part Transport among the Hadza. Journal of Archaeological Science 17: 301–316.Google Scholar
Oliver, J. 1993 Carcass Processing By The Hadza: Bone Breakage from Butchery to Consumption. In From Bones to Behavior: Ethnoarchaeological and Experimental Contributions to the Interpretation ofFaunal Remains, edited by Hudson, J., pp. 200–227. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Perkins, D. and Daly, P. 1968 A Hunter's Village in Neolithic Turkey. Scientific American 219 (5): 96–106.Google Scholar
Shimada, M. 1982 Zooarchaeology of Huacaloma: Behavioral and Cultural Implications. In Excavations at Huacaloma in the Cajamarca Valley, Peru, 1979, edited by Terada, K. and Onuki, Y., pp. 303–336. University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Shimada, M. 1985 Continuities and Changes in Patterns ofFaunal Resource Utilization: Formative through Cajamarca Periods. In The Formative Period in the Cajamarca Basin, Peru, 1982, edited by Terada, K. and Onuki, Y., pp. 289–310. University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Valdez, L. M. 1988 Los camelidos en la subsistencia Nasca: el caso de Kawachi. Boletin de Lima 57: 31–35.Google Scholar
Valdez, L. M. 1990 Formas de complementariedad en la economia de los campesinos del valle de Huanta. Wamani 5: 53–75. Revista del Colegio de Antropologos de Ayacucho, Peru.Google Scholar
Valdez, L. M. 1997 Ecology and Ceramic Production in an Andean Community: A Reconsideration of the Evidence. Journal of Anthropological Research 53: 65–85.Google Scholar
Wandsnider, L. 1997 The Roasted and the Boiled: Food Composition and Heat Treatment with Special Emphasis on Pit-Hearth Cooking. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 16: 1–48.Google Scholar
Wing, E. S. 1972 Utilization of Animal Resources in the Peruvian Andes. In Excavations at Kotosh, Peru: A Report on the Third and Fourth Expeditions, edited by Izumi, S. and Terada, K., pp. 327–351. University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo. Google Scholar