INCUAPA   23990
INVESTIGACIONES ARQUEOLOGICAS Y PALEONTOLOGICAS DEL CUATERNARIO PAMPEANO
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Age estimation on Patagonian penguins (Spheniscus Magellanicus) modern skeletal remains
Autor/es:
ALVAREZ, M; CRUZ, I; GUTIERREZ, M. A.; KAUFMANN, C.
Lugar:
Ankara
Reunión:
Congreso; 13th ICAZ (International Council of ArchaeoZoology) International Conference; 2018
Institución organizadora:
Middle East Technical University
Resumen:
The Spheniscidae are pelagic birds that represent up to 80% of the bird biomass in the Southern Hemisphere oceans. In continental Patagonia, the nesting areas of the Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus) include hundreds of thousands of individuals. After reproduction on the Patagonian coast during the southern spring-summer, these birds migrate to the north, reaching littoral areas of Buenos Aires province (Argentina), Uruguay, and southern Brazil. Even though their remains have been recovered in archaeological sites in Chile, Argentina and Brazil, there are no bone indicators to estimate the age structure represented in the fossil assemblages. For this reason, we developed a project to establish these indicators from penguin modern samples recovered from the coast of Argentina, both in nesting and resting areas along their winter migration route. The samples analyzed include individuals characterized as chicks, juveniles, adults, depending on the characteristics of the plumage. Preliminary results obtained on five elements (humerus, coracoid, femur, tibiotarsus and tarsometatarsus) allow to clearly differentiate these age classes. These studies contribute to discussing issues such as the seasonality of human occupations and exploitation strategies of the species throughout its range of geographical distribution. Moreover, as this species is anatomically similar to the Humboldt penguin (S. humboldti) and the South African penguin (S. demersus) we believe that our results will be also applicable to the zooarchaeological analysis of these species.