PALYNOLOGYCAL AND PALAEOPARASITOLOGICAL STUDY OF HOLOCENE CAMELID COPROLITES FROM THE SITE CASA DE PIEDRA 7, SANTA CRUZ

VELÁZQUEZ NADIA JIMENA; FUGASSA MARTÍN; LIDIA SUSANA BURRY

Necochea, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Congreso; III Paleopathology Association Meeting in South América; 2009

Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires

The copropalynology is a branch that studies pollen and spore grains in animal feces; it offers information for the reconstruction of palaeodiets, palaeoenvironments and seasonality in the use of resources. The association with palaeoparasitological studies increases the resolution of these ecological aspects and of those referred to health related to the availability of plant resources and to the enteroparasites found in the same coprolites. The aim of this study is to evaluate the conservation of parasitic remains after the processing of coprolites with techniques of pollen extraction in order to standardize a unique protocol for the recovery of inclusions. In order to accomplish the study, palynologycal and palaeoparasitological analyses of coprolites from the site Cerro Casa de Piedra 7 (CCP7), located at 47°57'S, 72°05'W, province of Santa Cruz were carried out. Fifteen coprolites compatible with those of camelids, belonging to seven archaeological layers dated by C14 between 5610±110 and 9640±190 years BP were studied. The external part (sub-sample E) of every coprolite was separated from the internal one (sub-sample I), and the extraction of pollen grains and parasites by means of acetolysis was performed. Pollen and parasites from every sub-sample were identified and the total number was determined. The most abundantly found pollen types were shrubby taxa: Empetrum, Asteraceae y Nassauvia; herbaceous: Caryophyllaceae and Poaceae, and arboreal: Nothofagus. As for the palaeoparasitological study the results showed a good conservation state of the parasitic remains, and the presence of eggs of tricostrongilid nematodes like Nematodirus sp., eggs of nematodes of the genus Calodium and Eucoleus; and oocysts of Eimeria macusaniensis was observed.