Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jasrep Human paleodiet studies between ca. 3300–1500 years BP in Quebrada de Los Corrales (Tucumán, Argentina) Nurit Oliszewski a, ⁎ , Violeta Killian Galván b , Gabriela Srur c , Daniel E. Olivera d , Jorge G. Martínez e a Instituto Superior de Estudios Sociales (ISES) – CONICET – Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, San Lorenzo 429, 4000 Tucumán, Argentina b Instituto Interdisciplinario Tilcara (FFyL-UBA) – CONICET, Belgrano 445, 4624 Tilcara, Jujuy, Argentina c IDACOR – Museo de Antropología, FFyH, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Av. H. Irigoyen 174, 5000 Córdoba, Argentina d Universidad de Buenos Aires-CONICET-INAPL, 3 de Febrero 1370/78, 1426, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina e Instituto Superior de Estudios Sociales (ISES)-CONICET – Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, San Lorenzo 429, 4000 Tucumán, Argentina ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Northwest Argentina Hunter-gatherers Agro-pastoral village Stable isotopes Human paleodiet ABSTRACT In Quebrada de Los Corrales, located in northwestern Argentina, a local economic transitional process took place between ca. 3800 and 2000 BP, during which groups of hunter-gatherers incorporated agriculture and pastor- alism. In this paper, we characterize the human diet in the period between 3300 and 1500 years BP using stable carbon isotope analysis on collagen and apatite as well as nitrogen. The application of a Bayesian mixing model allowed us to establish the dominant consumption of game meat and C 3 plants. These results are the first ob- tained for the area and form an independent line of evidence for the process of socioeconomic change from societies of nomadic hunters towards societies of agro-pastoral villages. Thus, even when the number of in- dividuals analyzed is low, they are archaeologically relevant as they represented the only pre-Hispanic funerary contexts detected in the study area so far. 1. Introduction Food consumption habits have been fundamental in characterizing transitional economies, such as the movement from extractive sub- sistence towards the so-called productive systems. The individual scale resolution provided by a methodology based on stable isotope analysis would indicate the relative relevance of new resources incorporated in the diet, like the ones derived from agricultural and herding activities. In this paper we evaluate how this economic shift is reflected in the diet of Quebrada de Los Corrales (QDLC) inhabitants, who occupied an area located in northwest Tucumán province (Argentina), during the period between 3000 and 1500 years BP. In QDLC a local transition process took place between ca. 3800 and 2000 BP, during which hunter-gath- erers groups gradually incorporated agriculture and pastoralism, two practices which were fully established by the beginning of the 1st millennium AD (Oliszewski et al., 2018). The isotopic analysis of food consumption renders it possible to consider additional elements that would account for continuities and discontinuities in the economic practices of the pre-Hispanic societies who lived there. 2. Study area and research background QDLC is located more than 3000 masl in the area known as El Infiernillo pass, centre-west of Tucumán province (Argentina). Our re- search has revealed a sequence of human occupations of more than 7000 years (between ca. 7800 and 600 years BP). The study area has a total area of 28 km 2 and includes the lower, middle and upper basins of Los Corrales River, which defines the ravine. Cueva de Los Corrales 1 (ca. 3040–650 BP) is located in the lower basin, extensive areas with agricultural and pastoral structures are recorded in the middle/upper basin and on both banks of the upper course, in the archaeological lo- cality of Puesto Viejo (PV), forty-seven residential units are con- centrated forming a large village nucleus (ca. 1850–1550 BP). Towards the south of PV is Taller Puesto Viejo 1 site, which has the particularity of having a long occupational persistence (ca.7800–1750 years BP). Modern climate is dry, with annual precipitation below 400 mm, con- centrated in the summer (Cabrera, 1976). However, between ca. 3000 and 1000 years BP environmental conditions seem to have been more humid and the river had a permanent regime; consequently, a larger https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102429 Received 3 January 2020; Received in revised form 15 May 2020; Accepted 8 June 2020 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: nuritoli@yahoo.com.ar (N. Oliszewski). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 32 (2020) 102429 2352-409X/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T