Changing patterns of marine resource exploitation by hunter-gatherers throughout the late Holocene of Argentina are uncorrelated to sea surface temperature.

SAPORITI, F.; BALA, L.O.; CRESPO, E.A.; GOMEZ-OTERO, J.; AGUILAR, A.; CARDONA, L.

QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2013 vol. 299 p. 108 - 115

1040-6182

During the late Holocene in southern South America there was one proper maritime culture, the hunter-gatherers of the Beagle Channel, but some other people exploited marine resources along the Argentine coast from about 6000 years ago. Even if both cultures differed in technology and in historical exploitation patterns, they have used pinnipeds as source of food and raw material for centuries until, long before the Europeans arrival, the use of this resource declined strongly in both regions. As in other zones, like in north Pacific, these changes were linked with the increment of the sea temperature, our aim is to test this hypothesis in our study area. Using the ä18O in chaeological shells as paleotemperature proxy, we reconstruct two comparable data sets from the Beagle Channel and northern Patagonia and we compare em with the patterns of exploitation of marine resources reported by previous zooarchaeological researches. ä18O in chaeological shells as paleotemperature proxy, we reconstruct two comparable data sets from the Beagle Channel and northern Patagonia and we compare em with the patterns of exploitation of marine resources reported by previous zooarchaeological researches.