Herding Somewhere? Examining the Role of Agropastoralism in the Spread of Andean Languages

Abstract

Much has been made of agriculture, especially maize, as a motor for the spread of languages in the New World. Yet, within South America, this predominantly coastal and agro-centric approach risks neglecting another important Andean social and economic package: that of camelid agropastoralism. In this paper I suggest that Andean language spread, particularly in the highlands, cannot be fully explained without properly considering the role pastoralism might have played. Camelid pastoralism was a deeptime, highly specialized and successful adaptation that combined herding and guano production with the cultivation of high altitude crops such as kañiwa, quinoa, maca, oca, olluco and especially the potato. I posit that, through mechanisms such as trade, colonization and war, this suite of animals and cultigens permitted the expansion of particular Andean cultures and their languages across swathes of the highlands. Thematically this paper focuses primarily on the emergence of complex agro-pastoralism dating from at least the Middle Horizon (AD 600-1000) through to the Late Horizon (AD 1480-1532) in the Central Andean highlands, especially the Áncash region.