Diagnostic morphological traits in post-cranial skeleton for the identification of otariids in the zooarchaeological record

BORELLA, FLORENCIA; VALES, DAMIÁN GUSTAVO; GRANDI, FLORENCIA; GARCÍA, NÉSTOR ANÍBAL; CRESPO, ENRIQUE ALBERTO

San Rafael

Congreso; 12th International Conference of Archaeozoology; 2014

MUSEO DE HISTORIA NATURAL DE SAN RAFAEL

Eared seals, Arctocephalus australis (Aa) and Otaria flavescens (Of), are frequently represented in many assemblages from Patagonia and others areas in southern South American coastal archaeological sites. However, the similarity between the postcranial elements of these species has limited the taxonomic identification to the level of Otariidae and thus, has precluded obtain an accurate representation of these animals in the zooarchaeological record. The aim of this study is to submit clear criteria that can be used in the identification of Aa and Of in otariid zooarchaeological remains as part of the existing approaches (comparative collections and osteometric studies) to investigate particular aspects involving the fossil record of these animals. For this, morphological characteristics were explored in several bones of the skeleton of 25 adult individuals, namely: 3 females and 9 males of Aa, and 10 females and 3 males of Of. Taking into account that the use of a set of traits for each bone is a better indicator for species identification, the results indicate that scapula, humerus, ulna, femur, tibia-fibula, talus and calcaneum are the elements with the highest number of traits to distinguish between the species involved. On the other hand, radius, scapholunate, sacrum and the innominate bone have less number of discriminant traits, while vertebrae (axis and atlas) and ribs seem to be useless to distinguish between species.