In the high Andes, much of the traditional knowledge related to natural resource utilization and agricultural practices was lost with the arrival of the Spaniards. That which has survived has been transformed, together with the landscape. Based upon ongoing research on the paleoecology and archaeology of the central high Andes, this paper presents the first results of pollen analysis from late-Pleistocene/early Holocene Laguna Seca in the Chungara-Cotacotani lake district of Lauca National Park. The Laguna Seca record covers two crucial events in the evolution of high Andean puna ecosystems: the period preceding the earliest human occupation, and the period of change from a food-gathering to a food-producing economy. The results, though preliminary, indicate the contribution that these studies can make to the management and preservation of fragile mountain acosystems. -Authors