LATE HOLOCENE PLANT USE IN LOWLAND CENTRAL ARGENTINA: MICROFOSSIL EVIDENCE FROM DENTAL CALCULUS

TAVARONE, ALDANA; COLOBIG, MARÍA DE LOS MILAGROS; FABRA, MARIANA

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

Elsevier Ltd.

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2019 vol. 26 p. 1 - 12

2352-409X

The central region of Argentina, especially Córdoba province, has been the subject of numerous bioarchaeological and archaeobotanical studies over recent years. However, the available information related to plant use has been mainly obtained in populations that inhabited the Central Highlands, while for the Eastern Lowlands little information is known, with various aspects related to the consumption and/or manipulation of the various plant resources present in the area still needing elucidation. In this context, the objective of this work was to address for the first time the consumption and management of plant resources by the populations that inhabited the southern coast of the Mar Chiquita lake of the Eastern Lowlands in the late Holocene, through the analysis of vegetable microremains contained in dental calculus. The dental calculus present in 11 individuals from El Diquecito archaeological site was analyzed and dated by AMS at between 2562±47 and 537±57 14C years BP, of which isotopic data (δ13C col) are also available. Our results revealed that the consumption and/or manipulation of wild plant resources, such as Geoffroea decorticans and Prosopis sp., and for the first time, of Trithrinax campestris, took place throughout the late Holocene. Related to this, there is no previous evidence of its management in either the Central Highlands or Eastern lowlands. The incorporation of cultivated plants was shown to have occurred at around 1200 years BP with the presence of Phaseolus sp. and Zea mays (Poaceae), which was followed later by Cucurbita sp. However, the practice of horticulture did not replace the hunting and gathering strategies previously identified.