Subsistence strategies in Argentina during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene

GUTIÉRREZ, M. A.; MESSINEO, P. G.; RAFUSE, D. J.; MARTÍNEZ, G.; KAUFMANN, C. A.

Quaternary Science Reviews

Elsevier

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016 vol. 141 p. 51 - 65

0277-3791

This paper highlights regional and temporal variation in the presence and exploitation of faunal resourcesfrom different regions of Argentina during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. Specifically,the faunal analysis considered here includes the zooarchaeological remains from all sites older than 750014C years BP. We include quantitative information for each reported species (genus, family, or order) andwe use the number of identified specimens (NISP per taxon and the NISPtotal by sites) as the quantitativemeasure of taxonomic abundance. The taxonomic richness (Ntaxatotal and Ntaxaexploited) and the taxonomicheterogeneity or Shannon-Wiener index are estimated in order to consider dietary generalizationor specialization, and ternary diagrams are used to categorize subsistence patterns of particular sites andregions. The archaeological database is composed of 78 sites which are represented by 110 stratigraphiccontexts. Our results demonstrate that although some quantitative differences between regions areobserved, artiodactyls (camelids and deer) were the most frequently consumed animal resource inArgentina. Early hunter-gatherers did not follow a specialized predation strategy in megamammals. Avariety in subsistence systems, operating in parallel with a strong regional emphasis is shown, accordingto specific environmental conditions and cultural trajectories