Abstract

In this article we carry out a zooarchaeological analysis of human-camelid relationships during the Holocene in the Puna de Atacama through the study of rock paintings that depict scenes of hunting and protection during the period of time between 9000 and 2500 BP. These representations, which are part of a visual imaginary that links camelids and humans in the same event, allude to social interactions. We propose that these representations were part of the learning process of young hunters and that their study provides substantial evidence of the characteristics of communal hunting, the demography of hunter-gatherers, and the first herders of the Southern Andes. Through the analysis of this rock art, we have been able to identify hunting events carried out by local groups, as well as collective or communal hunts carried out by aggregate population groups within an annual cycle and extraordinary population aggregations-the first time that population has been calculated using hunting scenes in rock art.