Working paper
Domestication of Animals in Prehistoric South America
02/1968
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000006413
Abstract
Few domestic animals were found in South America at the time of the Spanish conquest. There were basically only three species domesticated. These were (a) dogs, (b) a group of Andean cameloids: the llama and alpaca, and (c) the Andean guinea pig. The early migrants into South America either brought these domestic animals along with them or domesticated them in South America. The dog appears to have been already domesticated and accompanied the early hunters and gatherers who first entered South America. The dog was almost certainly domesticated some time before man ever migrated across the Bering Straits. The domestic dog and man undoubtedly spread together over the Americas. The Andean cameloids or their progenitors were in South America long before man ever came onto the continent. For this reason the tamed llama and alpaca had to be domesticated independently in South America sometime between man's arrival there and the conquest. Archaeological evidence suggests that the domestication took place after the beginning of intensive sedentary agriculture. The center of domestication appears to be the Peruvian Andes. The third domesticated animal species in South America is the Guinea Pig. These rodents or their progenitors were also a native of South America long before man's arrival and therefore was domesticated there independently. Their center of domestication was in Peru and corresponds with that of the llama and alpacas.
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Details
- Title
- Domestication of Animals in Prehistoric South America
- Creators
- Dale R. Croes (Author) - Washington State University, Anthropology, Department of
- Contributors
- Alex D. Krieger (Supervisor)
- Academic Unit
- Anthropology, Department of
- Identifiers
- 99901096728201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Working paper
- Course Name
- ANTH 474