early prehistoric sedentism and seasonal animal exploitation in the

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 26 (2007) 329–349

www.elsevier.com/locate/jaa

Early prehistoric sedentism and seasonal animal exploitationin the Caribbean lowlands of Colombia

Peter W. Stahl a,*, Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo b

a Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, P.O. Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, USAb Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, 1112 Turlington Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA

Received 20 October 2006; revision received 13 February 2007Available online 23 April 2007

Abstract

San Jacinto 1 represents a special-purpose settlement that was used by late Archaic foraging groups who logisticallymoved from base camps to special-purpose camps in order to collect and process subsistence resources at the onset ofthe dry season in the Caribbean savannas of northern Colombia. Situated in an optimal location for permanent waterand seasonal concentrations of dry season subsistence items, the site’s location was part of a logistic strategy in which spe-cific task groups were moved to resources during a short season of availability. Preserved vertebrate and invertebrate fau-nas at San Jacinto conform to expectations about assemblage ubiquity, richness, and evenness or equitability within theearly occupational strata at the site. Specific animals including turtles and fish were pursued, and may have been processedwith C3 plants and grasses in ubiquitous earth ovens. Certain local aquatic invertebrates were also procured along with thecollection of specific extra-local gastropods.� 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Archaic foraging; Logistic mobility; Sedentism; Seasonality; Zooarchaeology; Neotropical savannas; Colombia; Diversityindices

Our earliest evidence for fiber-tempered potteryin the western hemisphere is found at the site ofSan Jacinto 1 in the savannas of northern Colombia(Oyuela-Caycedo and Bonzani, 2005). We considerit likely that other pottery-bearing sites in thisregion may yield earlier dates because the end ofthe area’s preceramic sequence remains unknown(Raymond et al., 1998; Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1986);however, San Jacinto’s early pottery is importantas it appears in association with evidence for sea-

0278-4165/$ - see front matter � 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserveddoi:10.1016/j.jaa.2007.02.004

* Corresponding author. Fax: +1 607 777 2477.E-mail addresses: [email protected] (P.W. Stahl),

[email protected] (A. Oyuela-Caycedo).

sonal subsistence rounds, social mobility, intensiveplant processing, and the scheduled procurementof animal resources. Its high resolution contextsprovide us with a unique opportunity to study earlyhuman subsistence in an inland savanna and to ana-lyze the circumstances surrounding early sedentismand the origins of pottery and food production.

In particular, it is suggested that San Jacinto 1was a special-purpose settlement for foraginggroups that logistically moved from base camps tospecial-purpose camps as they collected and pro-cessed plants and animals at the onset of the dryperiod in a highly seasonal tropical savanna whichwas probably drier than today (Oyuela-Caycedo

.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

330 P.W. Stahl, A. Oyuela-Caycedo / Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 26 (2007) 329–349

and Bonzani, 2005:2). Evidence suggests that SanJacinto 1’s inhabitants focused on the availabilityof starchy seeds and other resources concentratedalong a small stream during the driest months ofthe year from November through January, and pos-sibly into March. Previous analyses of the site havefocused on plant and invertebrate exploitationwithin the context of seasonal mobility (Bonzani,1995,1997; Oyuela-Caycedo, 1993,1996,1998; Oyu-ela-Caycedo and Bonzani, 2005), and here we incor-porate information from analyses of all associatedarchaeofaunas. We begin with a brief summary ofsome important theoretical implications for under-standing the early onset of sedentism and its rela-tionship to early pottery and food production in ahighly seasonal savanna and active flood plain envi-ronment, and identify possible material correlates oflogistic mobility. We then introduce San Jacinto 1within its temporal and environmental setting. Theremainder of the paper considers associated verte-brate and invertebrate archaeofaunal evidence atthe site within the context of hypothetical expecta-tions of early logistic mobility during the dry seasonin the northern Colombian savannas.

Theoretical expectations: sedentism, early pottery,

food production, and seasonality

San Jacinto 1 is an important and high resolutionarchaeological context for investigating the relation-ship between sedentism, early pottery, the origin offood production, and group territoriality in a mark-edly seasonal environment. Here, we use a generalconcept of sedentism which considers reducedmobility and increased territorial control throughthe constant presence of one group in the same loca-tion (Oyuela-Caycedo and Bonzani, 2005:34). Weare interested in why these Archaic inhabitants ofthe seasonal savannas in northern Colombia mighthave changed mobility strategies to become increas-ingly sedentary. We pay particularly close attentionto variations in mobility as cultural strategies whichcan be employed in fluctuating environments andthat are closely related to temporal and spatial vari-ations in resources (see Steward, 1938; Thomas,1983; Bettinger, 1991; Kelly, 1995:116–120; Binford,1978,1980,2001).

Mobility is one of several buffering mechanismsor cultural responses to variations in the timing,spatial structure, relative intensity, and predictabil-ity of subsistence resources (Halstead and O’Shea,1989; O’Shea, 1981). In heuristic fashion, Binford

(1978,1980,2001:256–257) distinguishes betweensubsistence foraging and collecting strategies thatcorrelate with mobility strategies along a gradedcontinuum at whose extremes lie residential andlogistic mobility (see discussions in Bettinger,1991:100–103; Ebert, 1992; Humphreys, 1987;Kelly, 1995; Oyuela-Caycedo and Bonzani,2005:175; Preucel, 1990:12–13; Price and Brown,1985; Thomas, 1983). Foraging strategies ‘‘map’’consumers on to critical resources through frequentmovement of residential bases from and to whichforagers leave and return on a daily basis in orderto exploit resources in the locations where they areencountered. Collecting strategies use logisticallyorganized task groups to procure critical resourcesat temporary field camps or special-purpose loca-tions which supply a larger group of consumerslocated at residential bases (Binford, 1980).

Under what conditions do populations becomesedentary? Reduced mobility is a common denomi-nator between the origins of pottery, an increase insedentism, and the beginnings of food productionin tropical America (Piperno and Pearsall, 1998;Raymond, 1998). A strategy of reduced mobilitycan occur during environmental changes, whichleads to social intensification (‘‘social storage’’ asdefined in Binford, 2001:370–371) and/or economicintensification (Testart, 1982). Social and economicintensifications are strategies selected to averageout resources in space and time by reducing the riskof unpredictability (Cashden, 1992; Kelly, 1995:144–152). Intensification of social activities wouldinclude means to maintain conflict resolution asnumerous groups are usually attracted to the sameresources found in patchy and seasonal environ-ments. Social mechanisms for conflict resolutionmight include activities that involve the developmentof reciprocal exchange networks often labeled underthe term of ‘‘feasting’’ (Hayden, 1990,1995, 2001).Economic intensification could be expressed in activ-ities related to the processing of food resources(Stahl, 1989), with expected increases in the diversityof artifacts used in processing (i.e., groundstoneand/or pottery), and the recovery of subsistenceremains suggesting a focus on only a few species atspecific site locations. This economic intensificationis also interpreted as an initial stage in the processesleading toward full time food production (Bar-Yosefand Belfer-Cohen, 1992; Bonzani, 1995:1–53, 1997;Flannery, 1986; MacNeish, 1992; Piperno andPearsall, 1998), division of labor and hierarchy(Binford, 2001:424–433), and ideological changes

P.W. Stahl, A. Oyuela-Caycedo / Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 26 (2007) 329–349 331

(Cauvin, 2000a; Hastorf, 1994,1999), or what Has-torf (2006:99) refers to as creating identity and terri-toriality with plants and trees.

What conditions might favor a strategy in whichconsumers ‘‘map on’’ to critical resources and whichmight favor a logistically organized strategy? Basedon ethnographic estimates of residential mobilityfor hunter-gatherer populations, Binford (1980:14;2001:269–276) has suggested that the highest inci-dences of mobility are found in extremely produc-tive equatorial environments and less productivearctic environments, while reduced mobility prevailsin temperate and boreal zones. Labor is reorganizedin logistical strategies where consumer or residentialmobility is restricted, and where critical resourcesare incongruent. Logistic mobility is favored whencritical resources are spatially incongruent as collec-tors move their residential camps closer to theresource with the greatest bulk demand while mak-ing use of special task groups that extract targetedresources in special-purpose locations for consump-tion in the base camp. Temporal incongruence canbe solved through preservation and storage, whichby exacerbating spatial incongruence through theaccumulation of bulk in one place, can furtherincrease the logistical component of the settlementsystem (Binford, 1980:15). Binford (1980:18;2001:260) has also argued that the prevalence ofstorage is correlated with a decrease in the growingseason, and that the expected role of logistic mobil-ity is greater under conditions of increased seasonalvariability.

When the availability of critical wild resources isrelatively predictable yet highly seasonal, mobilitystrategies and territoriality are adjusted to the tim-ing and location of the resource. Mobility decreasesand sedentism increases to coincide with seasonalabundance. (Oyuela-Caycedo and Bonzani,2005:150). We expect to see a strategy of logisticmobility in the strongly seasonal savanna environ-ment as organized task groups spatially and tempo-rally focused their extractive efforts on specificcritical resources in order to ensure availability intimes of scarcity. It is important to consider the pat-terned variability in archaeological assemblageproperties that might be expected between special-purpose sites located where resources are extracted,and residential locations to where extractedresources are relocated for consumption by the lar-ger group. In markedly seasonal settings, variabilityin the content of assemblages between different sitesis expected to increase as these assemblages are

associated with particular procurement strategiesundertaken at special-purpose extraction sites.Greater content redundancy is also expected inthese assemblages, due to very high re-use of thesame special-purpose location (Binford, 1978:482–497).

Oyuela-Caycedo and Bonzani (2005:48–49) pre-sented a number of related hypothetical expecta-tions associated with early logistic mobility in thehighly seasonal savannas of northern Colombia.They explored material patterning in the preservedassemblage of San Jacinto 1, which was consideredas a special-purpose extraction site occupied duringthe dry seasons. These included: increased assem-blage redundancy and feature clustering as specifictasks were repeatedly undertaken at the same loca-tion in serial fashion during dry season occupations;intensification in food processing and the presenceof large quantities of associated artifacts; and, theadoption of specialized pottery to assist in socialand economic intensification. They further pre-sented evidence of critical subsistence resources inthe form of preserved botanical remains that weredominated by seasonally abundant plants whichcould be processed into storable subsistence itemsfor potential consumption at an associated residen-tial site. In this paper, we add to the case for earlylogistic mobility at San Jacinto 1 by exploring thelikelihood that the site’s associated faunal assem-blage is similarly dominated by seasonally available,concentrated, and easily captured species that mightalso have served as potentially storable resources.

San Jacinto 1

San Jacinto 1 is the older of two sites found nearthe modern town of the same name, in the Depart-ment of Bolıvar approximately 85 km to the south-east of the city of Cartagena (Fig. 1). The site lies at210 m asl on the edge of the Serranıa de San Jacinto,a series of foothills that rise to an elevation of 700 masl. The surrounding Sabanas de Bolıvar experiencemean annual temperatures of 27.5 �C and strongannual contrasts between a protracted dry seasonfrom December to April/May with another shortdry period in July/August, and the wettest monthin October with a shorter rainy period in May/June(Oyuela-Caycedo, 1993:24–36).

Cultural strata at the site had originally beenexposed through stream cutting by the adjacentquebrada San Jacinto, revealing a profile of anthro-pic occupation layers under 4 m of overburden

Fig. 1. Location of San Jacinto 1 and later formative sites in the area.


(Fig. 2). Initial auger testing confirmed a total of 26strata, with strata 9 through 20 yielding the Archaicmaterials. Excavation of a 5 m by 15 m area con-sisted of removing overburden (strata 1 through 8)followed by the detailed stratigraphic excavationof strata 9 through 26. The stratigraphy in strata 9through 20 was clearly defined by darker anthropicsoils separated by lighter colored sterile alluviumwhich had been deposited through the accretion ofa point bar during the rainy seasons. Some 75 m2

of an estimated 346 m2 of site deposits were exca-vated, with 875.66 kg of flotation samples takenfrom floors and features.

Fig. 2. Profile of site stratigraphy in wes

Evidence for the earliest human activity at SanJacinto 1 was recovered in strata 9, 10, 12, 14, 16,18, and 20 (Fig. 2). Thirteen uncalibrated radiocar-bon dates bracket these occupation layers between5940 ± 60 BP (Pitt, 0155) and 5190 ± 40 BP (Beta183291). Wet season flooding was defined by sepa-rate layers of yellowish alluvium in Strata 11, 13,15 17, and 19. From stratigraphic and geoarchaeo-logical perspectives, migration of the stream channelaffected the development of the living floors andproduced cross-bedding stratigraphy as San Jacinto1’s inhabitants had settled in a point bar environ-ment which was abandoned during the rainy season

tern and northern excavation walls.


from April to November when the possibility offlooding was highest (Oyuela-Caycedo and Bonzani,2005:52). During the dry season, the site would havebeen an optimal location as a persistent source ofpermanent water and for the seasonal concentrationof subsistence resources.

Archaeological excavations uncovered 174 fea-tures, of which 112 were defined as clay-lined earthovens or fire pits (Fig. 3). As the most abundant fea-tures at the site, these ovens or pits reveal a highredundancy of cooking activities typical of Archaicfood processing in the Americas during the transitionfrom foraging to part-time cultivation (Wandsnider,1997). Sixty-eight pits were defined as cooking ovens,characterized by shallow to deep pits with carbonized

Fig. 3. Aerial perspective of redundant cooking fea

layers at their bottom levels, and medium amounts offire-cracked rocks used in boiling, cooking, andsteaming. Forty-four fire pits used for direct and opencooking were identified by small to medium pits withcarbonized layers at their bottom levels, and lowamounts of fire-cracked rock.

A total of 78,697 g of plant fiber-tempered pot-tery, mostly fragments of semi-globular and globu-lar pots, was recovered from all the cultural strata.Pottery fragments were relatively rare and foundin a restricted spatial distribution which neverincluded contexts of abandonment, caches for lateruse, nor associations with cooking features or arti-facts. Pottery was likely not used in cooking, butrather performed a social role for fermented drinks

tures revealed in excavations at San Jacinto 1.


and serving. Vessels may have been curated andtransported in periodic seasonal moves to a basecamp. In addition to over two tons of recoveredfire-cracked rock, lithic artifacts included slab,block, and basin-shaped metates, manos, very smallmortars likely used as nutcrackers, and hammer-stones, some discarded examples of which were re-used as fire-cracked rock. The abundant grindingand pounding implements were probably used forprocessing wild grasses or rhizomes. Lithic itemswere all manufactured from local sources and typi-cal of an expedient technology expected for groupswith reduced mobility and little need to travel farfor raw materials (Oyuela-Caycedo and Bonzani,2005:106).

The technology suggests that the main cookingactivity was focused on producing a wet mush ordry flour from grass seeds or C3 plants. Macrobo-tanical remains recovered from all the anthropicstrata include: carbonized seeds of Malvastrum sp.,possibly used as cordage or for leaf wraps in cook-ing; Portulaca sp. consumed as a pot vegetable;Eupatorium sp. and Polygonum sp., both weedysemi-aquatic succulent herbs; Cyperaceae, (cf. Cype-

rus sp. and Eleocharis sp.) found in swampy dis-turbed flooded areas; Leguminosae seeds andfruits; and, carbonized culms, leaves or other mono-cot plant parts identified tentatively as Poaceae orgrass. One seed identified as belonging to the familySapotaceae was recovered from a posthole. Otherbotanical remains that were initially thought to besmall seeds of grasses (Bonzani, 1995:152–154,1997) have undergone further analysis and are iden-tified as spores of fungi, some of which were proba-bly a wood-rotting type (i.e., Polyporous spp.) thatwould have originated in dead branches collectedfrom the ground and used for firewood (Lee New-som, personal communication, 2003). Microbotani-cal evidence includes indeterminate grass andarrowroot (Maranta arundinacea) phytoliths thatwere identified in a sample collected from under acached block metate (Dolores Piperno, personalcommunication, 1995). The recovered botanicalremains indicate that the site was utilized at thebeginning of the dry season in this area of the sav-annas when these plants are in the process of fruit-ing and seed dispersal (Bonzani, 1998).

Faunal exploitation at San Jacinto 1

We are interested in how inferences derived fromthe preserved archaeofaunal assemblage at San Jac-

into 1 conform to hypothetical expectations of earlylogistic mobility for faunal procurement in a highlyseasonal savanna environment. During the recur-ring dry season occupations of the site, we expectthat early foragers focused on the repeated exploita-tion of a restricted set of specific animal resources.These resources became highly predictable subsis-tence items through increased seasonal availability,local abundance, concentration, and/or ease ofcapture during the dry season, when they couldpotentially have been processed into storable food.

We expect specific patterns in the San Jacinto 1archaeofaunal assemblage if prehistoric foragerssystematically and repeatedly exploited a restrictedrange of key animals during each dry season occu-pation. In terms of prey ubiquity, specific animalsshould be consistently present within each of theanthropic strata that comprise the early occupationsof the site. In terms of assemblage richness, thenumber of different kinds of exploited animalsshould be relatively low within each of the earlyanthropic strata, as inhabitants of San Jacinto 1repeatedly focused their primary effort on a fewhighly predictable subsistence items during the dryseason. In terms of assemblage evenness or equita-bility, the faunal component of each prehistoricdry season occupation should be numerically domi-nated by these principal prey resources, alongsidesmaller amounts of less important taxa. In termsof food preservation, these principal dry season ani-mal resources could be processed into potentiallystorable subsistence products.

Assemblage accumulation and preservation

A total of 1647 non-human vertebrate and 24,522invertebrate specimens were recovered in associa-tion with the earliest occupations at San Jacinto 1.Table 1 lists the vertebrate archaeofaunal speci-mens, excluding a small concentration of non-sub-sistence-related human bones in stratum 9. Thevertebrate assemblage is numerically dominated bypoorly preserved specimens that could not be reli-ably identified to zoological class, and a significantamount of reptile fragments (Fig. 4). These latterspecimens comprise over one half of the assemblageby weight (Fig. 5), and consist primarily of frag-mented turtle shell.

Most of the vertebrate specimens in the samplewere fragmented and highly degraded. This was par-ticularly noticeable in the extensive mosaic crackingon broad surface areas of turtle carapace and

Table 1Non-human vertebrate archaeofaunas associated with the earliestanthropic occupation at San Jacinto 1

Taxonomiccategory

Common name NISP MNI

Selachimorpha Sharks, skates, rays 3 3Osteichthyes Indeterminate bony fish 45Siluriformes Catfish 27 11Anura Frogs and toads 1 1Reptilia Indeterminate reptile 6Testudines Indeterminate turtle 408 13Kinosternon Mud turtles 5 3Emydidae Pond turtles 10 3Rhinoclemmys Wood turtle 4 2Trachemys Aquatic turtle 44 8Geochelone

carbonaria

Red-footed tortoise 29 6

Crocodylidae Crocodiles, caiman,alligators

5 2

Iguana iguana Green iguana 4 2Serpentes Indeterminate snake 1Boa constrictor Boa 2 2Aves Indeterminate bird 2Mammalia Indeterminate mammal 235Bradypodidae Sloth 1 1Dasypus

novemcinctus

Nine-banded armadillo 1 1

Procyon Raccoon 1 1Felis Puma, jaguar 2 2Tayassu Peccary 5 2Odocoileus White-tailed deer 8 3Mazama Brocket deer 8 4Rodentia Indeterminate large rodent 4 1Cuniculus paca Paca 2 1Dasyprocta Agouti 7 4Indeterminate Indeterminate 777

Total 1647

NISP refers to the total number of identified species. MNI refersto the minimum number of individual skeletons separated bynatural strata, and estimated for identified taxa at the level oforder or higher.

SJ1 Vertebrate Faunas (Frequency)

Indeterminate(N=777)

Amphibia (N=1)

Reptilia(N=518)

Aves (N=2)

Mammalia (N=274)

Osteichthyes (N=72)Chondrichthyes (N=3)

Fig. 4. Relative frequencies of vertebrate archaeofauna recoveredin association with the earliest occupation of San Jacinto 1.

SJ1 Vertebrate Faunas (Weight in grams)

Indeterminate (wt=602.77)

Amphibia (wt=0.18)

Reptilia (wt=1622.78)

Aves (wt=0.76)

Mammalia (wt=542.89)

Osteichthyes(wt=36.22)

Chondricthyes (wt=7.67)

Fig. 5. Relative weights of vertebrate archaeofauna recovered inassociation with the earliest occupation of San Jacinto 1.


plastron elements. Many specimens were encrustedwith variable amounts of calcrete (or caliche), whichis a material commonly formed through cementa-tion, accumulation, and/or replacement in subsur-face matrices that lie above the level of permanentground water in warm environments with limitedrainfall (Goudie, 1983:93–95). X-ray diffractionanalysis identified the adhering material as a siliclas-tic detritus composed principally of calcite withminor contributions of quartzite and feldspar(David Jenkins, 2004, personal communication).Prior to examination, many vertebrate specimenswere pretreated in alternating baths of dilute aceticacid and water (Stahl and Brinker, 1991). Large

calcrete conglomerates which included minoramounts of hydroxyapatite along with the commonweathering materials of hard rock were also com-pletely disaggregated and examined microscopically.

Fragmented turtle/tortoise specimens dominatethose vertebrate specimens that could be identifiedbeyond the level of zoological class. Most of thesefragments (N = 497, 99.4%) were turtle shell, withonly a negligible fraction (N = 3, 0.6%) of appendic-ular elements. No cranial or mandibular specimenswere identified in the deposits. Moreover, mostspecimens (N = 394, 79%) were highly fragmented;the remainder (N = 106, 21%) were complete oralmost complete elements of the carapace or plas-tron. These patterns of element representation

Table 2Invertebrate archaeofaunas associated with earliest occupation atSan Jacinto 1

Taxon Common name NISP

BivalviaMycetopodidae Freshwater mussels

Anodontites hyrioides 6Hyriidae Freshwater mussels

Diplodon 1007Ecuadorea hylaeus 1Prisodon alatus 1

GastropodaProsobranchia Operculated

gill-bearing snailsAmpullaridae Apple snails

Pomacea cornucopia/elegans 14308Poteriidae Poteria snails

Neocyclotus 9144Thiaridae Marsh snails

Doryssa 3Conidae Marine cones

Conus 1

Pulmonata Non-operculatedlung-bearing snails

Indeterminate 4Bulimulidae Bulimulid land snails

Drymaeus cf. virgulatus 5Orthalicus 25

Total 24505

Decapoda Freshwater crabs 17

Total 24522

NISP refers to the total number of identified specimens.


appear to be consistent with turtle/tortoise assem-blages that were deposited after human consump-tion (Sampson, 1998:992; 2000).

No evidence for carnivore alteration or humanbutchery was observed in the highly degradedassemblage, and only three indeterminate shell frag-ments had any noticeable indication of thermalalteration. Archaeologists have characterized pat-terned burning on the dorsal side of carapace ele-ments, through turning the animal upside downand roasting it in its shell, as a distinguishing featureof human consumption (Flannery and Wheeler,1986:287; Sampson, 1998:998; Speth and Tchernov,2002:473). Werner (1990:149) describes this practicefor the slaughter of tortoises by the Kayapo of Cen-tral Brazil as they ready ingredients for the prepara-tion of meat pies in earth ovens, a culinary practicewhich we explore in greater detail below. The rep-tile’s plastron is broken open with axes in order toexpose edible meat which consists mainly of organs,and leg and neck muscles. The heart is torn out, andthe tortoise is thrown upside down on burning rockswhich are used to heat the oven.

It is probable that the San Jacinto 1 assemblagewas subject to some degree of alluvial sorting, asthe occupied portion of the site was a point bar thatformed through relatively low energy accretion ofdeposits during annual inundation at the height ofthe wet season. The bulk of the vertebrate specimenswas recovered in association with anthropic sedi-ments within each occupation stratum at the site(N = 1569, or 95.3% of the total vertebrate assem-blage), whereas only a minor portion (N = 78,4.7%) was recovered in association with the alluvialstrata. Almost all identifiable turtle/tortoise speci-mens (N = 472, or 94.4% of all turtle/tortoisebones) were recovered in direct association withthe anthropic occupation floors. Element represen-tation suggests minimal hydrodynamic sorting ofdeposited specimens, as the predominant elementsin each stratum include various flat shell bones withlarge surface areas that would be expected to sortearly under low energy current (Shipman,1981:30). However, Blob’s (1997) experimentalstudies, undertaken with anatomically differentsoft-shelled turtle elements, indicate that small orflat bones may resist transport as they becomeentrained in the low velocity viscous sublayer ofthe stream profile. His study predicts variably inter-mediate and late dispersal for different elements ofthe turtle shell. Each anthropic stratum at San Jac-into 1 contains preserved carapace and plastron

specimens; otherwise, skeletal elements potentiallysusceptible to hydrodynamic transport are missing.The absence of free vertebrae, cranial/mandibular,and limb elements might be explained by fluvialwinnowing; however, they might also be absentfor some other reason, including increased fragmen-tation or selective removal during processing byhumans (Sampson, 2000:786).

Table 2 lists the invertebrate archaeofaunas thatwere recovered in association with the late Archaichuman occupations of San Jacinto 1. During siteexcavation, mollusk specimens were separated bytype, after which representative samples were identi-fied by Juan Parodiz (then of the InvertebrateSection, Carnegie Museum of Natural History).Due to errors in the field, variation between twospecies of Pomacea was not identified; therefore,the table presents combined figures for this genus.The invertebrate assemblage is numerically domi-nated by three taxa (Fig. 6).

SJ1 Invertebrate Faunas (Frequency)

Pomacea (N=14308)

Diplodon (N=1007)Other (N=46)

Neocyclotus (N=9144)

Fig. 6. Relative frequencies of invertebrate archaeofauna recov-ered in association with the earliest occupation of San Jacinto 1.


Again, only a minor portion (N = 369, 1.5%) ofthe mollusk specimens was recovered in direct asso-ciation with the alluvial strata. The available evi-dence strongly suggests that the deposition ofPomacea and Neocyclotus can be attributed to cul-tural activity. All of the deposited specimens areof large adults. A similar exploitation of these twospecies, some 1000 years later, is recorded for thedistant site of San Jacinto 2. Clusters of intention-ally discarded adult snails, which seem to be theproduct of singular storage events in perishable con-tainers, are redundant in strata 10, 12, and 14.Moreover, a spatial analysis of the two genera instratum 9 indicates concentrations into separateclusters on the floor, with Neocyclotus being morespatially concentrated than Pomacea. In particular,Neocyclotus is an extra-local snail which is notfound anywhere in the immediate vicinity of the site,but was imported by San Jacinto 1’s humanoccupants.

Dry season vertebrate exploitation

The preserved turtle and tortoise specimens at thesite include at least four identified genera that cur-rently inhabit the area (Table 1). Most are aquaticor semi-aquatic taxa that prefer quiet waters with softbottoms, and that often congregate in pools or bur-row in mud during the dry season. Trachemys scripta,in particular, is known to bask along river margins inlarge numbers and nest during the dry season whenfemales deposit up to 35 large eggs (Ernst and Bar-bour, 1989; Savage, 2002). Turtles, and in particulartheir eggs, are singularly important dry seasonresources for contemporary savanna dwellers of cen-tral Brazil, whose seasonal forays are intended forgathering eggs on exposed beaches, along with inten-sive hunting and fishing (e.g., Coimbra et al.,

2002:161, 167; Cormier, 2003:47; Maybury-Lewis,1974:39; Murphy and Quain, 1955:27; Wagley,1977:52; Werner, 1990:106). Also during the dry sea-son, fishing with traps, poisons, or bow and arrow isgreatly facilitated by receding water levels, decreasedturbulence, and concentration of fish within intermit-tent pools (e.g., Coimbra et al., 2002:166; Cormier,2003:47; Werner, 1990:97).

Other vertebrate prey can persist near rivers andin gallery forests during dry periods, as seasonallydecreasing food resources continue to be availablein these areas. Iguanas can be plentiful, especiallyfemales who annually lay up to 70 eggs in sandybeaches and river terraces during the dry season inorder to ensure that the emergence of hatchlingscoincides with the onset of rains (Muller, 1972).The Miskito of eastern Nicaragua search inlandbeaches, lagoons, and swamps for Trachemys andIguana during the dry season, when both taxaassume dietary importance (Nietschmann, 1973:91,115). Today, in the lower basin of the MagdalenaRiver and the Serrania of San Jacinto, Icoteas (Tra-

chemys) meat and Iguana eggs and meat are col-lected and consumed mainly between March andApril. In the seasonal savanna climate, caiman con-gregate in remnant water bodies during the dry sea-son (Ojasti, 1996). The common large agouti isparticularly susceptible to trapping during periodsof fruit shortage (Smyth, 1978:3), and the largerpaca concentrates in or near forest galleries whereboth food and protection are available throughoutthe dry season (Collett, 1981:555–556, 564). Othermammals like felids, peccary, deer (all presentlyextinct in the region), and raccoons also frequentwater bodies and riverside galleries in savanna areaswhere they find food and cover, particularly at theheight of the dry season.

Vertebrate ubiquity

Table 3 lists the frequency with which recoveredvertebrate specimens are associated within eachearly occupation stratum at San Jacinto 1. Thegrouping of categories includes indeterminatespecimens and corresponds roughly to zoologicalOrder while accommodating some separation forecological purposes. In addition to indeterminatespecimens, two categories of identified vertebratesare found in recurrent association with each of therepeated human occupation floors at the site.Turtle/tortoise specimens are almost as ubiquitousas indeterminate fragments within each of the

Table 3Numerical distribution of non-human vertebrate archaeofaunas associated with the earliest anthropic strata at San Jacinto 1

Identified faunasTaxon

Stratum

9 10 12 14 16 18 20 Total

Shark 1 1 1 3Bony fish 9 5 3 10 15 2 44Catfish 3 5 1 11 5 1 26Frog/toad 1 1Turtle/tortoise 55 108 103 27 135 44 472Crocodile 1 4 5Iguana 3 1 4Snake 1 2 3Reptile indet. 1 1 2 2 6Bird 1 1 2Edentate 1 1 2Raccoon 1 1Large cat 1 1 2Peccary 1 3 1 5Deer 5 7 2 1 15Large rodent 2 4 1 4 1 12Mammal indet. 62 76 12 2 36 11 199Indeterminate 141 176 56 16 117 248 13 767

Total 280 395 181 57 317 324 15 1569


occupational strata, and we strongly suspect thatmany of these indeterminate fragments likelyinclude unidentifiable carapace or plastron frag-ments. Bony fish, particularly catfish, are alsoubiquitous within the human occupation levels atSan Jacinto 1. To a lesser extent, deer and largerodents are also recurrently associated with therepeated occupations, whereas most other verte-brate categories are only intermittently associated.

Vertebrate richness

We expect that the numbers of different kinds ofvertebrate prey items found in association with eachoccupation stratum should be relatively low if theearly human occupants of San Jacinto 1 wererepeatedly pursuing a restricted set of resources dur-ing their dry season occupations of the site. Usingthe data in Table 3, we plot the values of commondiversity measures for each occupation stratum.Each maintains a somewhat consistent relationshipuntil the largest subsample (stratum 18) and small-est subsample (stratum 20) are encountered(Fig. 7). However, interpretation of these indices isnot at all clear because richness values are stronglyand significantly correlated to sample size differ-ences between the different strata (Grayson, 1981).When corresponding numbers of vertebrate speci-mens within each occupation stratum are used as

cumulative increments toward sampling to redun-dancy (e.g., Lepofsky and Lertzman, 2005; Lymanand Ames, 2004), asymptote is not reached until700 to 800 specimens are recorded, which farexceeds the totals for any of the recovered stratumsamples.

We next explored rarefaction (e.g., Gotelli andColwell, 2001; Raup, 1975; Tipper, 1979) in orderto compare vertebrate richness between the occupa-tion strata. A rarefaction curve for vertebrateremains at San Jacinto 1 was generated, using Ana-lytical Rarefaction Ver. 1.3, created by Steven Hol-land and available on the University of GeorgiaStratigraphy Lab web page (http://www.uga.edu/strata/software/Software.html). The overall curveshape does not rise steeply, suggesting that the sam-ples are numerically dominated by a few items(Gotelli and Colwell, 2001:382), which we examinein the following section. Fig. 8 illustrates the rela-tionship between assemblage richness (Sample S)and estimated richness based on rarefaction (Esti-mated S) for each stratum at its respective samplesize, along with upper and lower 95% confidenceintervals. The richness figures suggest some variabil-ity between the occupation strata: strata 18 and 20fall below the lower 95% confidence interval, strata12 and 16 are comparable to estimated values, strata14 and 9 fall below the estimate but within the lowerconfidence interval, and stratum 10 exceeds the

http://www.uga.edu/strata/software/Software.html

http://www.uga.edu/strata/software/Software.html

2018161412109Stratum

1.50

1.25

1.00

0.75

0.50

0.25

0.00

Inde

x Va

lue

Shannon's H

Shannon's E

Simpson's D

Fig. 7. Diversity indices for vertebrate archaeofaunas arranged by stratum.


upper 95% confidence value. We compare these val-ues with Kintigh’s (1984,1989,1992) widely usedsimulation which tests the null hypothesis that sep-arate assemblages are random samples drawn froma parent population. Fig. 9 plots the relationshipbetween richness (ordinate) and sample size(abscissa) along with mean values and 90% confi-dence intervals for each early occupation stratum.The results are somewhat comparable, as only therichness value in stratum 10 exceeds the upper90% confidence interval and strata 12 and 16 aresimilar to estimated values; however, strata 9 and14 clearly join strata 18 and 20 below the 90% con-fidence interval. It appears that the richness valuesfor vertebrate faunas in many of the earliest occupa-tion levels tend to be depressed, suggesting that arelatively narrow range of different faunas was accu-mulated and deposited at San Jacinto 1. We suspectthis outcome may in part be due to late Archaic for-agers repeatedly pursuing the same restricted set of

prey items in each of the dry season occupations atthe site.

Vertebrate evenness

This interpretation is supported by the gradualslope of the rarefaction curve, and a comparableexamination of evenness values for vertebrate taxain the occupation strata, each of which is stronglydominated by a restricted set of categories. UsingKintigh’s technique, Fig. 10 plots the relationshipbetween evenness (ordinate) and sample size(abscissa) along with mean values and 90% confi-dence intervals for vertebrate categories associatedwith each of the early strata. The analysis clearlyreveals the repeatedly uneven distribution of speci-mens within the represented categories. Each stra-tum is disproportionately dominated by certainvertebrate categories, principally turtles, fish, andindeterminate fragments (Table 3).

395.00324.00317.00280.00181.0057.0015.00

SampleSize

16.00

14.00

12.00

10.00

8.00

6.00

4.00

2.00

Ric

hnes

s95%

95%

Estimated S

Sample S

Stratum20 14 12 9 16 18 10

Fig. 8. Rarefaction curves plotting estimated richness (Estimated S) and 95% confidence intervals with sample richness (Sample S) alongsampling sizes by stratum for vertebrate archaeofaunas.


Dry season invertebrate expolitation

The preserved invertebrate specimens at the siteare dominated by three identified genera (Table 2).Diplodon is a freshwater mussel that was depositedin appreciable quantities on the occupation floors,and which would have been locally available inthe stream that runs past the site. The bulk of theinvertebrate assemblage is comprised of two differ-ent genera of operculated snails. Pomacea elegans

and P. cornucopia are today the only mollusksfound in the river during the driest point of the sea-son. Pomacea are amphibious snails that possess amantle cavity with both lung and gill, enabling themto respire terrestrially or while submerged at thewater surface where they lay their egg masses. Neo-

cyclotus, on the other hand, is extra local. Thisgenus is found in very humid subandean cloud for-est environments with large amounts of palms, suchas in the Cerro Maco which is located in the upperpart of the Serranıa de San Jacinto, less than 10 kmdistant. It is also important to mention the presence

of two tree snails, Drymaeus cf. virgulatus (Ferussac)and Orthalicus cf. maracaibensis (Pfeiffer, 1856),also reported as undatus (Bruguiere). Ecologicaldata for these genera from the Sierra Nevada deSanta Marta (Breure, 1984) and from the Cordillerade la Costa National Park ‘‘Henry Pittier’’ in Vene-zuela, confirm an association with dry xerophyticcommunities or arid thorn woodlands with annualprecipitation below 500 mm. This corroboratesinterpretations based on column analyses and shellmidden formation (Oyuela-Caycedo, 1996) thatthe environment was more arid than today, with aprolonged dry season.

Invertebrate ubiquity

Table 4 lists the frequency of invertebrate speci-mens associated with the early occupation strataat San Jacinto 1. Both Pomacea and Neocyclotus

are found in recurrent association with eachrepeated human occupation at the site; otherwise,

Fig. 9. Relationship between richness (ordinate) and sample size (abscissa) for vertebrate archaeofaunas in each early occupation stratumat San Jacinto 1, with mean and 90% confidence intervals plotted.

Fig. 10. Relationship between evenness (ordinate) and sample size (abscissa) for vertebrate archaeofaunas in each early occupationstratum at San Jacinto 1, with mean and 90% confidence intervals plotted.


only Diplodon appears in any appreciable quantityin most of the occupation strata.

Invertebrate richness

The data in Table 4 suggest that the early occu-pants of San Jacinto 1 were repeatedly pursuing arestricted set of invertebrate resources during their

dry season occupations of the site. Using thesefigures, we plot the values of different diversitymeasures for each occupation stratum which main-tain a highly consistent relationship until the largestsubsample (stratum 18) and smallest subsample(stratum 20) are encountered (Fig. 11). Unlike thevertebrate samples, the richness values are notcorrelated to differences in subsample sizes between

Table 4Numerical distribution of identified invertebrate archaeofaunas in the lowest anthropic strata at San Jacinto 1

Identified FaunasTaxon

Stratum

9 10 12 14 16 18 20 Total

Anodontites 1 1 1 3 6Diplodon 275 646 78 2 1 1002Ecuadorea 1 1Prisodon 1 1Pomacea 1940 7044 2319 773 1733 266 2 14077Neocyclotus 402 2185 1885 1270 2649 614 6 9011Doryssa 1 2 3Drymaeus 5 5Orthalicus 14 6 4 1 25Pulmonates Indet. 3 1 4Decapoda 1 14 1 16

Total 2635 9887 4289 2048 4403 881 8 24151

2018161412109

Stratum

1.50

1.25

1.00

0.75

0.50

0.25

0.00

Inde

x Va

lue

Shannon's H

Simpson's D

Shannon's E

Fig. 11. Diversity indices for invertebrate archaeofaunas arranged by stratum.


the different strata, certainly as the invertebratesample has quickly reached asymptote by the thirdlowest subsample at roughly 2000 specimens.

An exploration of the relationship of richnesswithin each occupation stratum using rarefaction,again reveals a gently upcurving slope which


may suggest uneven distribution of plotted catego-ries. Fig. 12 illustrates the relationship betweenassemblage richness (Sample S) and estimatedrichness based on rarefaction (Estimated S) foreach stratum at its respective sample size, alongwith upper and lower 95% confidence intervals.The richness figures also suggest some variabilitywithin the site: strata 18 and 10 fall below thelower 95% confidence interval, strata 9, 12, 16,and 20 fall below estimated values yet lie withinthe lower 95% confidence interval, and only stra-tum 14 lies slightly above the estimated richnessfigure, but well within the upper 95% confidencevalue. Fig. 13 uses the Kintigh simulation to plotthe relationship between richness (ordinate) andsample size (abscissa) along with mean valuesand 90% confidence intervals for invertebrate cat-egories associated with each early occupation.With the exception of strata 18, and perhaps 10,the relationship between richness and respectivesample sizes is difficult to separate.

2635.002048.00881.008.00SampleSi

12.00

10.00

8.00

6.00

4.00

2.00

0.00

Ric

hnes

s

Estimated S

Sample S

95%

95%

20 18 14 9

Fig. 12. Rarefaction curves plotting estimated richness (Estimated S) ansampling sizes by stratum for invertebrate archaeofaunas.

Invertebrate evenness

Using Kintigh’s simulation, evenness values forinvertebrate taxa within the occupational strataclearly indicate that, with the exception of stratum20, each is dominated by a restricted set of catego-ries (Fig. 14). Stratum 20, the earliest of the occupa-tional strata at San Jacinto 1 has a relatively smallsample size (N = 8) with both Pomacea and Neocy-

clotus present. These two genera are disproportion-ately dominant in all the other strata (Table 4).

Discussion

San Jacinto 1 is the first high resolution Archaicarchaeological site with fiber-tempered pottery inLatin America that illustrates the complexity ofvariation in site formation, features, and materialculture associated with the complex circuit of mobil-ity and territorial resource use in highly seasonaltropical environments. Contextual and associational

9887.004403.004289.00ze

12 16 10 Stratum

d 95% confidence intervals with sample richness (Sample S) along

Fig. 13. Relationship between richness (ordinate) and sample size (abscissa) for invertebrate archaeofaunas in each early occupationstratum at San Jacinto 1, with mean and 90% confidence intervals plotted.

Fig. 14. Relationship between evenness (ordinate) and sample size (abscissa) for invertebrate archaeofaunas in each early occupationstratum at San Jacinto 1, with mean and 90% confidence intervals plotted.


data suggest that Archaic foragers of northernColombia were repeatedly occupying San Jacinto1 in the fourth millennium before the Christian eraand using it as a preferred logistic camp duringwhich they assumed particular tasks and procuredspecific game at the height of the savanna dry sea-son. The spatial distribution of features suggeststhat the site had been utilized annually on aseasonal basis at the beginning of the dry season,

and all strata except stratum 9 correspond to expec-tations for special-purpose sites of logisticallymobile populations (Oyuela-Caycedo, 1993:112–124, 1998). Feature density is high, use is redundantand there is a near random distribution of features.These results are expected with seasonal re-occupa-tions of a site. In this case, the degree of redundancyfollows the expectations of a pattern that is verylikely the product of a logistically mobile group that


used the site as a seasonal special-purpose camp(O’Connell, 1987; Binford, 1978:495–497). Further,it is very likely that the site was occupied for afew days at a time during each season.

A restricted range of redundant and primarilysmall prey dominates the faunal profile of the occu-pation strata at San Jacinto 1. Lupo and Schmitt(2005) demonstrate how behavioral variation, alongwith other factors like length of site occupation andseasonal precipitation can obscure assemblage inter-pretation and lead to erroneous conclusions if theresults of focused foraging choices are consideredas representative of the entire prehistoric diet. SanJacinto 1 is an archaeological context with relativelyunambiguous patterning that resulted from shortterm and redundant occupations. Only when con-sidered together with contemporaneous sites thatreflect a variety of different seasonal and task foci,might we begin to understand the entire diet of lateArchaic Colombian savanna foragers (Lupo andSchmitt, 2005:350).

It is difficult to identify specific preservation tech-nologies from the recovered sample of vertebrateremains. Certainly, the capture and subsequent pen-ning of live turtles is feasible, as is the collection ofturtle eggs on nearby beaches. Smoking, salting,sun-drying, or parboiling surplus turtle, fish, andsundry meats are also possibilities (e.g., Coimbraet al., 2002:167; Nietschmann, 1973:211–212). How-ever, the relatively large amount of turtle shell deb-ris, in frequent association with thermally alteredsoil and fire-cracked rock, reminds us of the well-documented accounts of meat pies produced inearth ovens by various Brazilian savanna dwellers,for whom turtle collection is an essential feature ofseasonal life. In general, the earth oven consists ofa pile of firewood topped by large rocks. After thefuel is ignited and while the pile is burning, the meatpies are prepared. Banana or Heliconia leaves arecovered with a manioc paste, to which lumps ofmeat are added, often topped by another layer ofpaste, after which the leaves are folded over and tiedto form a large wrapped pie. After the fuel has beenburned, the oven’s contents are swept out, the piesare laid in the center, and the rocks are piled ontop. A final, heavy pile of dirt is placed over the con-tents in order to insulate the oven. After cooking,the oven is dug up, and the pies are removed for dis-tribution and consumption (cf. Nimuendaju,1967:34–35; Maybury-Lewis, 1974:45; Werner,1990:72). Vegetable foods cooked in the numerousearth ovens could have included tubers or a mash

made of seed flour which was wrapped in the leavesof either grass or species of Marantaceae. The cook-ing process was completed by sealing the pit, eitherwith a cover or with earth. Once the food wascooked, the oven had cooled, and the food wasextracted, the pit was refilled with earth.

We suspect that the species of Pomacea wereexploited for food in the adjacent San Jacintostream when they were easier to locate during thedry season. Neocyclotus, on the other hand, wouldhave been gathered in the humid forest of the Serra-nıa de San Jacinto, perhaps by a task-specific groupthat journeyed there and back in the same day. Con-sidering that the amount of meat that can beextracted from either snail is not high, it is conceiv-able that they were perhaps an occasional or second-ary source of protein. Oyuela-Caycedo and Bonzani(2005) have suggested the use of their opercula in themanufacture of beads. Juan Parodiz (1993, personalcommunication) identified the calcified opercula ofNeocyclotus snails which had not been recorded pre-viously for Colombia or the neotropics. The opercu-lum is a dorsal plate on the posterior portion of thesnail’s foot that seals the aperture when the bodyretracts into the shell. It serves to protect the snailfrom predators as well as to maintain interiorhumidity during the dry season. The complex struc-ture of the operculum is formed by calcareous layers(Hunt, 1976) and may, therefore, be a good markerof growth and seasonality of deposition. All speci-mens represent adults between four and six yearsof age, based on the uniform size of shells and oper-cula within the assemblage, and assuming that theirdark markings correspond to halted growth periodsduring yearly dry season.

The most probable season of occupation for allstrata was the dry season when flooding did notendanger or affect the activities of the occupants.The collection of mollusks of the genus Pomacea

in streams close to the site is easiest in this seasonwhen they were most likely utilized as an occasionalfood source. The recovered botanical specimens alsoindicate site utilization at the beginning of the dryseason from November through January. Duringthis period, plants such as grasses and species ofMalvaceae and Sapotaceae are in the process offruiting and seed dispersal in this region of the sav-annas of Bolıvar (Bonzani, 1998). The climate alsoappears to have been much drier than it currentlyis in this area, potentially extending the dry seasonby one or more months. The abundant availabilityof seeds from grasses and certain trees, and


potentially other plant food sources during only afew months of the year may help to explain the needto intensify activities around the collection and pro-cessing of these resources. These collection and pro-cessing activities occurred independent of whetheror not the plants were cultivated or wild (Hastorf,1994:139–154, 1999:35–58). Intensification of pro-cessing is clearly evident in the lithic artifacts thatinclude 145 complete and fragmented metates and101 manos, ethnographically known to be used toprocess seeds, often those of maize, into flour (Stahl,1989).

Given the dry season occupations of San Jacinto1 over hundreds of years, the inhabitants appear tohave moved to the site seasonally to collect and pro-cess abundant recurrent resources which werepotentially stored at a base camp to which theyreturned for the duration of the dry season. Thestrategy most likely used is one associated with themonitoring of resources and a spatial–temporal orcircumscribed territoriality whereby resources werewatched for and utilized in the landscape andthroughout the year (Dillehay et al., 2003; Flannery,1986; Oyuela-Caycedo, 1993:137–142, 1995, 1996;Raymond, 1998).

The collection of Neocyclotus also suggests alogistic mobility strategy in that these mollusksgrow only in the humid tropical forest, the closestof which is located approximately 10 km from thesite. The inhabitants of San Jacinto 1 would havehad to send special task groups to collect the mol-lusks and return to the site. The lack of other exoticmaterials at the site, such as those used to make thelithic artifacts and fire-cracked rocks, also points torestricted territoriality of the groups occupying SanJacinto 1. This restricted territoriality can be consid-ered as evidence of ‘‘demographic packing’’ in theregion (Binford, 2001:363–399). However, differentecological settings were utilized which points tothe likelihood that a centralized base camp wasoccupied at various times of the year from whichtask groups would have left to visit these other eco-logical settings in order to collect resources.

In this context, the function of pottery appears tobe associated more with social behavior than witheconomic process (Oyuela-Caycedo, 1993:101–108). No evidence was found of burned surfaceson the pottery or of indirect cooking by rock boil-ing. The pottery was also not associated directlywith the fire-pits or fire-cracked rocks (Oyuela-Cay-cedo, 1995). This lack of association with cookingactivities, however, does not mean that pottery

was not used for other purposes in food processingsuch as fermentation. In this case, pottery at SanJacinto 1 would have been used in the process ofintensifying social interactions for reasons thatmay relate to increased contacts with other groups,in social storage in the form of gift exchanges (i.e.,food or drink), and in the demand for labor (Bonza-ni and Oyuela-Caycedo, 2006:345). The need forincreased labor was most likely tied to the seasonalnature of the utilized resources while the increase incontact between groups would have resulted fromoverlapping territories in which different groupswere attracted to similar seasonal resources.

Social and ritualistic behaviors may have beenoccurring as a means to alleviate conflict or compe-tition in areas where the territories of adjacentgroups overlapped (Bonzani, 1992; Cashden, 1983;Peterson, 1972:49; Rowley-Conwy, 2001). Suchactivities can be seen as a means of social intensifi-cation or the beginnings of ritualized behavior(Aldenderfer, 1998:303–305; Cauvin, 2000a,b; Has-torf, 1994,1999), which allow different groups toco-interact together and avoid conflict. This activ-ity, related to a spatial–temporal territoriality, couldthen have developed into extended social networksand alliances (MacDonald and Hewlett, 1999) withthe necessity of symbolically marking the groupthrough various means including highly stylizedceramic vessels. The development of new technolo-gies, such as pottery, could have played an impor-tant role in this process. In this context, theorigins of pottery are better understood as socialobligations described very well by Mauss (1967) interms of gift giving. The data do indicate that theearly pottery at San Jacinto 1 was not associatedwith economic cooking functions but was probablyinvolved in social functions such as serving vesselsof fermented drinks or hallucinogens (Oyuela-Cay-cedo, 1993:101–108, 169–173, 1995; see also Pratt,1999; Hastorf, 2006:102–104)). The use of potteryand other resources at the site, that would have beena minor component of the inhabitants’ yearly diet,probably helped to relieve stress more on a sociallevel and by social means than by economic ones.

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