CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN NORTHWESTERN 
ARGENTINA 
By ALBERTO REX GONZALEZ 
Instituto de Antropologia, Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, 
Cordoba, Argentina 
Northwestern Argentina includes the mountainous portions of the 
provinces of Jujuy, Salta, and Tucuman, all of the provinces of Cata- 
marca and La Rioja, and parts of San Juan and Santiago del Estero. 
Some authors also include the region of the Sierras Centrales, in the 
vicinity of Cordoba and San Luis (fig. 13). This was the area occupied 
by the most highly developed indigenous cultures, characterized by 
relatively advanced technology in metallurgy, pottery making, and 
textile arts, built upon ideas diffused from the Central Andean Area. 
It was also the only portion of Argentina to be extensively occupied 
by Inca troops. 
Traditionally, northwestern Argentina has been divided into sev- 
eral subareas on the basis of physiographic and cultural criteria. The 
Puna, geographically a southern continuation of the Bolivian alti- 
plano, exhibits cultural connections not only with the north but also 
with the Chilean Puna or Puna de Atacama, which appears in the lit- 
erature under the name "Atacamenan region." To the south of the 
Puna is the Valliserrana area, misnamed the Diaguita region. Cul- 
turally and geographically, this area is closely allied to the Valles 
Transversales of Chile, often referred to as the Chilean Diaguita re- 
gion. Other important subareas are the Selvas Occidentales and the 
Quebrada de Humahuaca, both of which present a number of dis- 
tinctive cultural features.^ 
Ecological conditions within northwestern Argentina vary accord- 
ing to the subareas into which it is divided. The Puna is dry and cold, 
with an elevation of more than 3,200 meters above sea level. Agricul- 
ture is difficult. Maize can be grown only in exceptional locations, 
and potatoes and quinoa are the principal crops. Llama herding was 
^ We wish to express our appreciation to the following Chilean colleagues who 
kindly supplied information on recent archeological work in their areas of spe- 
cialization : Crete Mostny, B. Berdicheswky, J. Montane, J. Iribarren, M. Orel- 
lana, and the Rev. G. Le Paige. Special thanks are due Percy Dauelsberg, who 
provided a copy of the chronological chart compiled during the Arica conference 
of 1961, which forms the basis for our correlation chart. 
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