Late Holocene armadillos (Mammalia, Dasypodidae) of the Sierras of Córdoba, Argentina: Zooarchaeology, diagnostic characters and their paleozoological relevance

SOIBELZON E.; MEDINA, M.; ABBA, A.

QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2013 vol. 299 p. 72 - 79

1040-6182

The results of zooarchaeological study carried out on the bone remains of armadillos (Mammalia,Dasypodidae) from four Sierras of Córdoba (Argentina) archaeological sites were presented. The radiocarbondates place chronologically their occupation at the last millennium of the Late Holocene (ca.970
110 and 290
37 14C BP). Four taxa were identified: Chaetophractus villosus, Chaetophractus vellerosus,Euphractus sp. and Dasypus sp. The diagnostic characters of their bony dermal scutes or osteodermswere described in order to facilitate their taxonomical identification in other modern collectionand/or fossil assemblages. C. villosus and C. vellerosus show a current distribution in the study area, whileEuphractus sp. and Dasypus sp. are absent in the Sierras of Córdoba. Euphractus was determined on thebasis of a fragmented movable osteoderm in C.Pun.39. Their presence may be a response to an increase ofprecipitation and temperature associated with the ?Medieval Warm Period?. The record of Dasypus sp.during the ?Little Ice Age? contrasts negatively with its potential as an indicator of warm and humidcondition, showing either their adaptive plasticity or the biological fragmentation of the mountainenvironment under paleoclimatic conditions. Finally, the possibility that the presence of Euphractus andDasypus is due to anthropogenic transport was considered.