Prospección arqueológica en el sector septentrional del Valle de Ambato, Catamarca: Observaciones preliminares

This paper presents the results from surveys in 2017 and 2018 of the northern Ambato Valley, Catamarca, Argentina, an area that had not been systematically studied. The main objective was to investigate the timing, intensity and characteristics of this area’s occupation. Surveys were carried out with different techniques: systematic randomization, selective windowing, and with an UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). Various types of structures as well as ceramic and lithic material were documented and the settlement pattern is similar to that of the southern valley. This allows us to tentatively suggest that at some point between the 6th and 11th centuries AD the valley may have been occupied by a population that shared the same way of doing things materially, socially, and religiously.