Death seasonality determination in pinnipeds teeth: the case of the Cueva del Negro site (Argentine Patagonia)

PABLO AMBRÚSTOLO; MIGUEL A. ZUBIMENDI; ENRIQUE A. CRESPO

ARQUEOLOGÍA (Buenos Aires)

Universidad de Buenos Aires - FFyL

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2019 vol. 25 p. 247 - 262

0327-5159

We present the first results on age and season of death of South American sea lions (Otaria flavescens) hunted by hunter-gatherers at Cueva del Negro site (northern coast of Santa Cruz Province, Patagonia, Argentina). Age and season of death was determined by layers? growth analysis in sea lion teeth. The aforementioned analysis allowed us to evaluate potential aboriginal hunting strategies regarding the capture of these pinnipeds. Our results suggest that sea lions were hunted between summer and early fall, more precisely between January and April. This would reflect a marked seasonality in relation to sea lion availability, which could be explained in terms of mobility and subsistence strategies of the human groups that inhabited the area. In this sense, the results are discussed according to paleodietary information and the available archaeological background.