Taphonomic patterns in coastal Patagonia surface bone assemblages: a case study.

A. SEBASTIÁN MUÑOZ

Congreso; 12th Conference of the International Council for Archaeozoology (ICAZ); 2014

Surface bone assemblages are key sources of information for understanding the regional properties of the zooarchaeological record in Patagonian coastal landscapes. The number of archaeological deposits that are exposed every year as consequence of erosion is noticeable, and by applying different research tools, they may help improve our knowledge of the formation of these assemblages. In this presentation, we analyze archaeological site p37,in order to understand bone modification patterns displayed on three bone samples which were exposed on surface and recovered successively in 2008, 2010 and 2011. p37 is located close to the Santa Cruz estuary hide tide line. Bones and stone artifacts were lying on a sandy substrate along with few mollusk shells. Weathering profiles, fracture and abrasion patterns, and root edging marks are considered to discuss the consequences of varying exposure time on the bone materials recovered. Results show that the assemblages recovered at a 16-18 months interval do not display diagnostic features that can be linked to assessing different time exposure, although weathering profiles are a relatively more sensitive line of evidence to differentiate the samples.