History
For some 8,000 years, the people of the Norte Grande lived in highly mobile hunter-gatherer groups in a region of low population density. Their comprehensive knowledge of the camelids they hunted on the Puna allowed these groups to domesticate these animals, a process that eventually led to a completely new and distinct way of life: pastoralism. Over time, the settlement patterns and economies of these Archaic populations underwent a process of growing social complexity that forever changed their ancient way of life.