Artiodactyl prey transport by foxes in Puna rock shelters.

MARIANA MONDINI

Current Anthropology

Año: 1995 vol. 36 p. 520 - 524

0011-3204

Taphonomic processes not only bias the properties of the faunal assemblages we study but also structure them in such a way as to provide us with important information about the ecological context in which they were formed (Behrensmeyer et al. 1992, Cruz, Mondini, and Muñoz 1994). My study of the taphonomy of caves and rock shelters in the Argentinian Puna of Atacama is aimed at generating tools for identifying the effects of the action of foxes on these faunal assemblages and understanding the factors conditioning the characteristics of this action. These aims are embedded in a general concern for understanding the processes of formation of the zooarchaeological record in rock shelters.