Assessing strategies for coypu hunting and use in the Salado River Depression (Buenos Aires province),

SALEMME, MÓNICA; VECCHI, RODRIGO; ESCOSTEGUY PAULA; WEITZEL, CELESTE; GONZÁLEZ, MARÍA ISABEL; FRERE, MAGDALENA

ANCIENT HUNTING STRATEGIES IN SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA

Springer

Lugar: Cham; Año: 2021; p. 59 - 81

Coypu (Myocastor coypus) was intensively exploited during the Late Holocene in differentareas of the Pampean Region and the Northeast of Argentina. This species was one of themost important faunal resources for the hunter-gatherer-fishers that inhabited the Salado RiverDepression (Buenos Aires Province). In this area, coypu was exploited for meat and marrowconsumption, and its fur was also well appreciated. As a resource available in lagoons nearthe base camps, organizing special hunting parties to obtain this prey would not have beennecessary.In this contribution, we analyze the capture and hunting strategies, handling, and consumptionof coypu, using data from zooarchaeological studies, experimental archaeology,ethnoarchaeology, lithic weapons, and the pottery employed for its processing. Even thoughthe capture of coypu would have been possible using only a stick, and without othersophisticated tools, evidence from the Salado Depression suggests past hunters would havealso used arrows and/or bola stones.