This article presents the results of contextual research and archaeological experimentation carried out in relation to the social and ritual role played by the manufacture of copper ore objects (beads, pendants and plaques, mainly), and their various
contexts of use in the Atacama salt flat for the Middle Horizon (ca. 400-1000 AD). Our analysis - focused on the comprehensive observation of the elements that made up the burial offerings of Quitor 6 cemetery in San Pedro de Atacama - throws light
on the renewed importance gained by this industry during the Middle Horizon. At the same time, it reveals hitherto unknown details about the specialization and differential distribution of lapidary manufacture within the Atacamenian society. Through the application of archaeological experimentation, the original function of a wooden artifact has been established, which turns out to be the base or support used specifically for the drilling of beads. New information is also presented about certain funerary ritual gestures associated with copper ore, data that reinforce the special bond that existed for thousands of years between the mineral, the Atacamenian communities (ayllus) and the objects offered to their ancestors or deities. We consider that this set of evidence strongly suggests that the population buried in Quitor 6 cemetery could correspond to a group specialized in copper ore lapidary manufacture.

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During the Middle period (400-1000 AD), metal objects increased significantly in the cemeteries of San Pedro de Atacama, suggesting the centrality of metals in the structuring of relations between local leaders and Tiwanaku. This paper presents
the metal objects that circulated in the Atacamenian space during this period through their typological identification, the determination of the alloys in which they were manufactured and their productive evidence. From these results, we discuss the presence of a local metallurgical production and its coexistence with other technological traditions in the South Central Andes. We conclude by evaluating aspects of the social production and use of metals during the Middle Horizon in San Pedro de Atacama.

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The purpose of this work is to characterize the bioarchaeological record and the contexts (stratigraphy and chronology) of recently recorded Middle and initial Late Holocene archaeological sites located in the eastern Pampa-Patagonia transition.
The aims are to evaluate and discuss the variations in mortuary practices and in the use of space (coast-inland) by huntergatherers during ca. 6,000-1,000 years BP. Quantitative, taphonomic, sex and age-at-death as well as burial modalities data
are presented. The obtained chronology indicates systematic reoccupation during the Middle and initial Late Holocene of coastal and inland sectors. While in inland sites human bone remains are highly fragmented and affected by important postdepositional factors (e.g., weathering, abrasion), in the coastal sector anatomical integrity is greater and taphonomy indicates stability in the depositional history. During the Middle Holocene, while burial modality at coastal sites would have been primary, it could not be determined in inland sectors. For the initial Late Holocene, while on the Atlantic coast primary burials were recorded, secondary modalities were detected in inland sectors. Finally, the results are integrated with the chronological information obtained on human skeletal remains and burial modalities defined for Southeastern Pampa and Northpatagonia in order to discuss the contribution of the case study presented here to the bioarchaeology of these regions.

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Our research seeks to complement existing information on the mechanisms of production and commercialization of saltpeter in the period preceding the year 1830. Starting in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, this activity faced the increasing demand (as a consequence of the diversification of the use of nitrate) with a low level of technical development, a model that remained unchanged for decades. During the period under study, since there was no technological or scientific investment aimed at an efficient exploitation of nitrate, the industry replaced innovation with an expansion of labor supply, which had an impact on
the quality and final value of the product.

The precariousness of an initiative that favored manual labor over technological innovation should be understood in the context of its time, where the net profitability margin of the business was low, to which must be added an uncertain future, the early consolidation of oligopolies and the political instability of Peru in the years after its independence.

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