Zooarchaeology of Contemporary Goat Ranching Among Puesteros of Western Argentina

The puesteros of western Argentina are traditional ranchers who live in the plains and foothills of the Andes.  In Mendoza province, puesteros live in areas that cross several environmental gradients and subcultural groups, such as differences in residential mobility related to elevation, plant phenology, and livestock range condition as well as varying degrees of interaction with urban economies.  Puestero herding practices vary from sedentary small ranches (with large ranges for mobility of grazing goat and cattle herds) to seasonal transhumance (to take advantage of shifting plant phenology from low to high elevation).  Puesteros also hunt, gather, and cultivate home gardens.  Puestero settements are often occupied for decades and have primary and secondary midden deposits surrounding ranch houses.  Analysis of faunal remains from these deposits can provide spatial and temporal records of puestero diets, herd composition, and game species dynamics. Here we present findings from a preliminary study of puestero zooarchaeology.