The barn owl as an accumulator of bone remains in central western Argentina: multi-taxa neo-taphonomic approach and implications for Holocene contexts

SESTO RUBINI, FACUNDO; MIGNINO, JULIÁN; GUARDIA, NICOLÁS M.; ZARCO, AGUSTÍN; OJEDA, AGUSTINA A.; TETA, PABLO; LÓPEZ, JOSÉ MANUEL

HOLOCENE (SEVENOAKS)

SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD

Lugar: London; Año: 2024

0959-6836

Barn owls are the most widely distributed group of owls in the world and are among themost common accumulators of small vertebrate remains at archaeological andpaleontological sites. Despite its importance as a bone remains accumulator and predictorof paleoenvironmental conditions due to its generalist habits, the vertebrate prey of thisraptor has been scarcely studied from an ecological community perspective, especiallyconsidering the diverse range of prey it captures. Archaeological, paleontological, andtaphonomic studies typically reveal taxon-specific patterns, focusing primarily on smallrodents. In order to overcome this problem, we studied an assemblage of vertebrate bonesfrom barn owl pellets in the central Monte Desert of Argentina. Our analysis included thefull range of prey taxa, including rodents, marsupials, birds, and reptiles, addressed fromboth an ecological and neo-taphonomic perspective. We compare the taxonomic andtaphonomic findings with those from regional small vertebrate records obtained fromvarious sampling types over the past 50 years to explore recent environmental changeswithin the Anthropocene. The assemblage of small vertebrate prey presented herecomprises five species of cricetids, one species from the Caviidae family, and at least onectenomyid rodent species. Additionally, the assemblage includes one species of didelphidmarsupial, one reptile species, and at least six passeriform bird species that belong toseparate families. The overall taphonomic trends are consistent with the typical barn owlpattern. However, our analysis identified a larger percentage of postcranial elementsexhibiting signs of digestion compared to pellet-derived vertebrate bone assemblagespreviously documented. Furthermore, it is important to note that a significant proportion ofavian bone fragments exhibit distinct signs of digestion.