Farming without famine: Ancient Andean innovation rewrites agricultural origins

The transition from foraging to farming was a major shift in human history that laid the foundations for the expansion of modern civilization. The current prevailing view is that this transition was a time of hardship, with communities forced to rely on crops due to growing human populations and dwindling wild food resources. In this study, Flores-Blanco and colleagues examine the diet of people living in the Andes throughout this transitional period.

The researchers interpreted ancient diets by measuring ratios of Carbon and Nitrogen isotopes from the bones of 16 individuals buried at the sites of Kaillachuro and Jiskairumoko in the Lake Titicaca Basin. Both sites were inhabited from approximately 5,000 to 3,000 years ago, during the transition from foraging to farming. Isotope signatures indicate a high proportion (84%) of plant material in the diet, supplemented by a smaller proportion of meat from large mammals. These proportions are not only consistent throughout this transitional time period at both sites, they are also identical to those of earlier foraging communities and later farming communities.

Altogether, these results contradict the image of an agricultural shift driven by hardship, and instead reveal that food resources remained consistent for thousands of years. Wild foods were increasingly managed and domesticated, creating mixed foraging-farming economies. The authors propose that this economic resilience was likely aided by certain cultural advances happening at this time, including expanding trade networks and innovations in ceramic and archery technologies.

Luis Flores-Blanco adds: “Our research shows that the origin of agriculture in the Titicaca Basin was a resilient process. Ancient Andean peoples relied on their deep knowledge of harvesting wild plants like potatoes and quinoa, as well as hunting camelids. With this understanding of their environment, they effectively managed their resources — domesticating both plants and animals — and gradually incorporated these domesticated species into their diet. So, the first Altiplano farmers continued to rely on the same foods consumed by Archaic foragers. In this research, we show that this Andean economy path made this transition both beneficial and stable.”

“These discoveries come from integrating contributions from different specialized fields, from extracting dietary information from bones, analyzing macrobotanical remains, and running statistical analyses.”

Luisa Hinostroza adds: “This article challenges the traditional idea that the transition to agriculture occurred out of necessity or periods of crisis. Our findings demonstrate, instead, that in the Altiplano, it was a process marked by stability and food sufficiency sustained for thousands of years. These results constitute crucial evidence revealing the capacity of Andean societies to efficiently manage their resources, such as tubers and grains, and maintain long-term stability.”

Funding: National Science Foundation grant (SBR-9816313) awarded to MA. The Rust Family Foundation (RFF-2021-146 and RFF-2023-212), the American Philosophical Society (2021), Carlos Brignardello Grant (IFEA 2020), National Geographic Society (EC-97351R-23), and the University of California, Davis to LFB.