Agricultura y potencial productivo en el Valle de Ambato, Catamarca, Argentina (siglos VI a XI d.C)

he control and accumulation of economic resources in the Ambato Valley between VI and XI centuries AD has been considered a key factor in the maintenance and reproduction of social differences between people. It is believed that the use of selected sectors of the landscape as agricultural production areas was functional and organizational associated with villages located in the valley bottom. In these sectors, and more precisely on the slopes of Graciana and Ambato mountain ranges, the presence of agricultural infrastructure was registered, such as farming terraces, dams and channels. In this paper, we analyze the farming systems and their productive potential in relation to the human groups that inhabited the valley. In order to accomplish these objectives we carry out a characterization of the hydro-agricultural system and an analysis of its carrying capacity based on archaeological records and our own ethnographic observations. The obtained results will allow discussing about possible existence of an economic surplus, used by a particular sector of the population with the purpose of usufruct benefits derived from it.