Hunter–Gatherer–Fisher Mining During the Archaic Period in Coastal Northern Chile

In the following chapter, we discuss new data from the San Ramon 15 site, an Archaic Period iron oxide mine located off the coast of Taltal, in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Two periods of mining have been identified from stratigraphic and chronological evidence dating to the Early Archaic and the Late Archaic. In both cases, the miners were hunter–gatherer–fisher groups with residential mobility patterns across the arid coast of northern Chile. This site contains the oldest primary evidence of mining in the New World and regional archaeological information suggests that this early mining activity was primarily driven by social and ceremonial demands. We will review the importance of iron oxides in human prehistory, present the San Ramon 15 site in the context of the few archaeological mining sites known to date, and explore the role of this site within local settlement systems.