Cultural transformations were key to long-term resilience of hunter-gatherer societies in the coastal Atacama Desert

Abstract

Hunter-gatherers thrived for millennia along the coastal Atacama Desert of northern Chile, often hailed as a prime example of resilience. In this paper, we examine which cultural strategies were preserved or evolved in response to significant environmental changes over the past 10,000 years, focusing on well-documented shell midden sites in coastal northern Chile (Caleta Vitor, ∼18°S). Our findings reveal that different social groups not only restructured the extraction and consumption of marine resources, by diversifying their fishing tools but also innovated their worldview through funerary practices. These cultural shifts coincided with periods of variable marine productivity and major demographic transitions. We argue that these economic adaptations acted as strategies that enabled hunter-gatherers and fishermen to persist and thrive over time. Moreover, despite increasing environmental pressures and the growing influence of inland agriculture social systems, these communities maintained their traditional ways of life.