Introduction to the special issue Actualistic Taphonomy in Argentina: Current Status of the Research and Future Perspectives

ALUNNI, DANIELA VERÓNICA; ÁLVAREZ, MARÍA CLARA

Journal of Taphnomy

Prometheus press

Lugar: Madrid; Año: 2017 vol. 15 p. 1 - 9

1696-0815

One of theaims of zooarchaeology is to recreate the relationships between humans andanimals in the past. Most of the time, such interactions are inferred from complexpatterns of multiple agents in bone assemblages... The understanding of these patterns is found inthe modern world, where researchers can observe the processes in action and thenestablish causal relations between them and their effects. This allows inferringsimilar processes for similar effects in fossil contexts, throughout the use ofrelational. Actualistic taphonomy studies search for clues in modern patternsand processes which are helpful in investigating the fossil record. As proposedby Marean (1995), researchers use observations from naturalistic studies to establishrelations between actors and their effects on the bones. Then, experimentalstudies can be conducted to control the link between the actor and the trace. Theresult is a strong deductive interpretation of the archaeological effects. Dueto its geographic variation, both latitudinal and altitudinal, Argentina is a countrywith a high diversity of environments and landscapes. These extreme arid regions, savannas, grasslands, tundra, and rainforests -among manyothers-which define a high number of different ecoregions Each of these environments and faunal communitiesare associated with specific taphonomic processes that shape and configure thefaunal assemblages. Synthetic discussion of the results of research on the moststudies of actualistic taphonomy in Argentina, types of bone assemblages,actualistic approaches, and ecological zones in the region are presented. Whilethe field of actualistic taphonomic research is well-developed in the region,there are several gaps that require more attention for the future investigation.