Lama guanicoe Bone Collagen Stable Isotope (C and N) Indicate Climatic and Ecological Variation During Holocene in Northwest Patagonia

GIL, ADOLFO F.; OTAOLA, CLARA; NEME, GUSTAVO A.; PERALTA, EVA A.; ABBONA, CINTHIA CAROLINA; QUIROGA, GISELA; DAUVERNÉ, ARMANDO; SEITZ, VIVIANA P.

QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Año: 2020 vol. 548 p. 27 - 40

1040-6182

This paper explores how significant are the ecological and climatic variables to influence the stable isotope of guanacos. Lama guanicoe bone collagen carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios are assumed as a macro regional average value in west Argentina, mostly as a baseline to model archaeological human diet. If stable isotope on mammals reflex ecology and climate, we need to know how these variable influence in mammals bone stable isotope ratio. This paper analyses the 13C/12C and 15N/14N ratio on bone collagen on 122 guanacos from Northwest Patagonia during the Holocene. The results confirm significant variation in both isotopes between Monte and Andean-Patagonian specimens. Guanacos from Monte shows higher 13C and 15N than those from Andean-Patagonian. Temporal trends indicate variation through Holocene but this variation is not spatially homogeneous. In this paper we suggest that Medieval Climatic Anomaly had stronger effect in Monte desert than in Patagonia desert, generating driest and/or hottest conditions between 1250 to 600 years BP. These variations need to be considered to reconstruct human diet at least during the second part of the Holocene.