Abstract

Social worlds are constituted by movement. Mobility entails not only the circulation of people but also material goods, imaginaries, experiences, flows of information, and knowledge. In this paper, we examine different forms of movement in the Atacama Desert during the Formative Period (ca. 2500—1500 cal BP), including pedestrian travels, llama caravans, and navigation on sea lion-skin vessels along the Pacific coast, incorporating different material means and encompassing a wide array of incentives. We present different case studies that challenge monolithic assumptions about mobility in the South-Central Andes, commonly understood through the lens of ecological complementarity and primarily driven by economic exchange. Using Binford's classic distinction between residential and logistical mobility in combination with the territorial categories of local and extralocal, we interrogate the spatial and temporal scale of these journeys—from daily to seasonal, from short to long-distance. Through these examples, we approach movement and travel as a way of life, exploring the varied ways in which it was integrated into the social lives of desert dwellers.