Stable isotope analysis on human remains from the final Early Holocene in the southern Puna of Argentina: The case of Peñas de las Trampas 1.1

KILLIAN GALVÁN, VIOLETA ; MARTÍNEZ, J. G.; CHERKINSKY, ALEXANDER ; MARIANA MONDINI; PANARELLO, H.

Environmental Archaeology

Association for Environmental Archaeology - Maney Publishing

Año: 2016 vol. 26 p. 1 - 10

In this work are presented the results of isotopic analyses made on bone remains of human individuals (n= 6)from the southern Puna of Argentina dated to the final Early Holocene (ca. 8230?8000 BP). They were found instructures located in Peñas de las Trampas 1.1, a rockshelter at 3582 m.a.s.l. in Antofagasta de la Sierra, inthe southern Argentinian Puna. They contain multiple secondary burials. Bone fragments were recoveredfrom at least six individuals, three in each structure. Stable isotopes of Carbon (δ13C) and Nitrogen (δ15N)analysis were aimed at defining aspects related to the palaeodiet of the six individuals within the palaeoeconomicsubsistence spectrum typical of hunter?gatherers. It is worth noting that these human remainsare among the earliest from North-Western Argentina, where funeral practices are related with thetransportation of certain anatomical parts. The palaeodietary inference considers, on the one hand, theextreme aridity of this geographical area and its impact on the isotopic ecology. And, on the other, it takesinto account the fact that four of the six individuals under study were breastfed infants. The results are inagreement with the expected values of the period, which has been characterized as the beginning of thearid Altithermal.