Llama as pack animal (Andean caravans)
Llama como animal de carga (caravanas andinas)
- Date
- c. 4000 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Junín Puna, Junín, Peru
- Credited to
- Herders of the central Andes
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Domesticated from the guanaco in the Andean puna, the llama is the only large pack animal of the New World before 1492. It carries about 25-30 kg and crosses high terrain, which sustained exchange between coast, highlands and forest.
The date and place of domestication are uncertain: data from Telarmachay (Junín) suggest management around 4000 BC, but there are other Andean centres (Lauricocha, Pachamachay) and it is unclear when pack use began.
What it led to
- llama caravans that tied together vertical territories and barter networks
- transport of salt, maize, chuño and metals between ecological tiers
- the logistics of the Inca state and the Qhapaq Ñan