HUMAN DEMOGRAPHY AND ECOSYSTEMS: COMPARATIVE APPROACH OF HUMAN AGE-AT-DEATH PROFILES FROM NORTH PATAGONIA (SOUTHERN MENDOZA, ARGENTINA)

EVA A. PERALTA; LEANDRO H. LUNA; CLAUDIA ARANDA; ADOLFO F. GIL

Washington D.C.

Congreso; SAA 83rd Annual Meeting; 2018

The aim of this presentation is to provide information about human age-at-death profiles in order to understand the environment/demographic dynamics of pre-Hispanic people from Southern Mendoza. Burials from 20 archaeological sites are included in age-at-death profiles, which are compared to discern regional particularities. This is a transitional area between hunter-gatherers groups and farming populations. The presentation evaluates if the introduction of domesticated resources in the diet and the new agricultural subsistence patterns altered the hunter-gatherer demographic dynamics, and specifically if human demography declined during the Little Ice Age (LIA).