MAN's presence in the Cuyo region goes back to 6,500 years B.C.; according to the Radiocarbon data obtained by Professor ALBERTO REX GONZALEZ in the INTI HUASI caves in the province of San Luis.
The INTI HUASI name comes from "Quechua" and means SUN HOUSE.
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1. Inside of the caves |
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2. Entrance to the caves |
A wide arcade protected its inhabitants from the summer sun and winter rains. Due to the fact that this arcade was the driest place in the cave as well as the one with most light, it probably was the meeting place of the people who occupied it throughout the centuries.
Men occupied this region when the temperature had reached such extremes that a desertification process had been generated and the LAKES BASIN was enormously diminished.
The INTI HUASI disappeared from this region, appearing again 300 years later, in the year 5,900 B.C., when the region had acquired its current physiognomy, and started dedicating themselves to hunting as well as to the recollection of fruits, such as those from the carob tree. From that moment onwards, life in San Luis’ territory was transformed and was reduced to the margins of San Luis’ mountain ranges. The higher areas favoured hunting during the summer, while the recollection of fruits was performed on the coast of the big rivers and the lower areas, particularly in the CONLARA VALLEY.
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3. Region of the valley employed for agriculture and livestock breeding |
In the year 2,000 B.C. groups from South Peru arrived in the region bringing with them the foundations for agriculture exploitation and livestock breeding. After this, men in the region would no longer move from one place to another following the weather, and would start looking for intermediate areas to settle themselves.
From the year 700 A.C. onwards, villages start forming in the small-protected valleys that allowed cultivation in their lower and most humid areas. On the other hand, the walls of the funnel which formed those valleys where used for livestock breeding. The high pampas and the uncultivated places were still used for hunting as well as for the recollection of diverse fruits.
The conditions of the mountain ranges never allowed for a settling pattern different from that of the scattered villages. Nowadays, several of those villages have turned into the settlements of different sizes located in the Conlara Valley.
