New Data on Exploited Pleistocene Fauna at Piedra Museo (Central Plateau of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina)

MARCHIONNI LAURA; VAZQUEZ MARTIN

Current Research in the Pleistocene

GoebelCenter for the Studyof the First Americans

Año: 2012 p. 139 - 142

8755?898X

This paper is an update on thearchaeozoological studies of stratigraphic unit (SU) 6 at Piedra Museo; itincludes analysis of the total assemblage from this unit and new evidence aboutexploited Pleistocene fauna. AEP-1 is a multi-component site under therockshelter at Piedra Museo, located in the Central Plateau of Santa CruzProvince (47° 53′ 42″ S and 67° 52′ 04″ W). Previous papers summarized theanalysis of lithic assemblages (Cattáneo 2002), archaeozoological andtaphonomic data (Miotti and Salemme 2005; Miotti et al. 1999), andgeoarchaeological characteristics of the site (Miotti et al. 2003). Twoarchaeological components were initially defined: the upper component, datedtoward the middle Holocene, and the lower component, dating to thePleistocene-Holocene transition. Subsequently the latter was divided into twooccupational phases, the older in SU6 dated to ca. 13,000?10,500 rcybp, the younger in SU5 and SU4 dated to10,400?9200 rcybp (Miotti et al. 2003). SU6registered the greatest taxonomic diversity in the sequence, comprisingspecimens of Hippidion saldiasi, Lama gracilis, Lama guanicoe,Mylodon sp., rheids, and medium-sized birds. Also recovered were 39lithic artifacts, of which 36 are flakes and debris, and 3 are endscrapers(Cattáneo 2002; Miotti et al. 1999). These remains were interpreted as theresult of activities related mainly to obtaining prey and its primarybutchering; previously, cutmarks had been identified on specimens of Hippidionsaldiasi, Lama gracilis, Lama guanicoe, and rheids (Miotti etal. 1995; Miotti and Salemme 2005). This paper presents results fromre-studying the faunal assemblage from SU6, with special emphasis on the evidenceof the human use of extinct fauna. The goal is to integrate all the faunalevidence into one analysis, including specimens from excavation sectors whichwere not included in previous analyses.