Chorology of Patagonian microfauna: its meaning on the taphonomy and paleoenvironmental recosntruction of archaeological sites

SALEMME, MÓNICA; MIOTTI, LAURA; MOREIRA, GERMÁN

México, D.F.

Congreso; 10th Conference of International Council for Archaeozoology (ICAZ); 2006

International Council for Archaeozoology

Microvertebrates have been recurrently used in paleoenvironmental reconstruction of archaeological sites, assuming that they are better indicators than macrovertebrates to infer environmental changes along extended time scales.             The microfauna from archaeological information presently available for Patagonian steppe sites does not show high sensitivity for a sequence ranging from Late Pleistocene to the Late Holocene. This has been corroborated both in open air sites and in caves, though proxy data (pollen, sediments, paleosoils, sea-level changes) indicate strong environmental changes since the beginning of the human occupation in this region.             The actualistic analysis of Strigiform (owl) pellets, recovered both in stratigraphy as in the proximities of archaeological sites, shows that in the Southern Patagonian steppe (lat. 47º to 48º S) microfauna has not changed at least in the last 12 kyr. In this paper, data of certain microenvironments in caves and rock shelters in wetlands (“mallines”) of La Primavera locality and rock shelters near a salt lake at Piedra Museo Locality will be summarized. Key Words: Chorology, Patagonian microfauna, paleoenvironments, archaeological sites