CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Armadillos constitute a recurrent taphonomic agent in the disturbance of archaeological sites in the Pampasregion of Argentina. Their burrows generate vertical and horizontal movement of archeological and modernmaterials, creating anomalous associations, both on the surface, as well as at the deep levels of a site. Measuringthe potential impact of armadillo burrows on a local environment in direct proximity with an archaeological sitemay help to reconstruct its taphonomic history. The objective of this work is to evaluate the impact of armadilloburrows on the formation processes of the Hangar site. Point provenience and morphometric measurements wererecorded on 169 armadillo burrows located in direct proximity to the Hangar site archaeological excavation. Themean length of the burrow entrances was 70.7 cm, and the mean slope was 40.4°. The armadillos excavated anaverage of 0.036 m3 from each burrow. Approximately 59% of the burrows surveyed presented material re-exposed by armadillos, including lithic, ceramic artifacts, prehistoric and modern faunal remains, and humanbones. For the Hangar site, burrowing animals were signficant agents in the formation processes of the as-semblage. Our results help explain the mixing of materials in the Hangar site, and could be used in the inter-pretation of other sites affected by armadillos in similar habitats.