Cueva del Negro site, Argentine Patagonia: death seasonality determination in pinnipeds teeth

AMBRUSTOLO, PABLO; MIGUEL A. ZUBIMENDI; ENRIQUE A. CRESPO

The Society for Archaeological Sciences Bulletin

Society for Archaeological Sciences

Año: 2018 vol. 41 p. 10 - 11

0899-8922

The initial results on age and season of death of South American sea lions (Otaria flavescens) captured by hunter-gatherer groups at Cueva del Negro site (northern coast of Santa Cruz Province, Patagonia, Argentina) are presented in this note.The teeth of pinnipeds, as well as other marine or terrestrial mammals, are useful for determining the age of an individual under study. Depending on the quality of the tooth section, the last group of layers close to the pulp cavity may indicate the precise moment of the animal?s death (Crespo et al. 1994; Grandi et al. 2010). From an archaeological perspective, it constitutes an important inferential tool in terms of the discussions about the predator-prey relationship and the capture strategies followed by human populations.