International team studying ancient human settlements in Andes

A group of researchers from the University of Wyoming led an international team that suggests humans lived permanently in high-elevation areas in the Andes Mountains more than 7,000 years ago.

The team, led by UW Department of Anthropology’s Randy Haas, authored a report that studied the living situations of humans in the Andes more than 7,000 years ago. The research found evidence that these ancient peoples lived in those areas year-round, rather than on a seasonal basis, according to a university news release. The team studied remains and evidence from a site in Peru that’s nearly 12,500 feet above sea level.

The researchers, which included academics from the University of California-Davis, the University of California-Merced, the University of Arizona and institutions in Peru, excavated the remains of 16 people and discovered more than 80,000 artifacts at the site. The material dated back to as early as 8,000 years ago, according to the release.

To study whether ancient peoples lived in those locations permanently, researchers studied the bones for oxygen and carbon isotopes. They also examined the distance traveled from the higher-elevation site to lower areas, the demographic mixture of the remains and the types of tools and materials found.

“This gives us a very strong baseline to help understand the rates of cultural and genetic change in the Andean highlands, a region known for the domestication of alpaca, potatoes and other plants; emergence of state-level political and economic complexity; and rapid human adaption to high-elevation life,” Haas said, according to the release.

The examination of the bones revealed the “distinct signature of permanent high-elevation occupation,” according to the release. The researchers also determined that that travel distances “were too long for seasonal human migration” and that presence of children and women suggested such migration was unlikely. Additionally, most of the tools used by the ancient peoples were crafted from “high elevation stone material.”

source

http://trib.com