The underlying spatial structure of a guanaco (Lama guanicoe) bonebed assemblage in the Fuegian region, subantarctic insular Argentina

NEGRE JOAN; SANTIAGO FERNANDO; SALEMME MÓNICA

Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory

Springer

Lugar: Berlín; Año: 2019 vol. 26 p. 3 - 24

1072-5369

Several recent papers have focused on new evidence pointing to the possibility of the mass procurement of guanacosin Fuegian pedestrian hunter-gatherer groups. These works are linked to the excavation of Las Vueltas 1 (northernTierra del Fuego, Argentina), an archaeological site mainly characterised by a vast guanaco bonebed. This paper ispart of that discussion, adding a new line of evidence over the zooarchaeological record using spatial statistics. Ourhypothesis considers the formation processes of LV1 were caused by a communal hunting party, which implies thesynchronous deposition of the guanaco assemblage in a single event. Consequently, the underlying spatial structureof the bonebed should be clearly identifiable, since neither superposition of events nor cleaning patterns areexpected. Our proposal embraces an interdisciplinary approach and offers a practical methodology to address thegeneral problem of analysing the spatial structure of an archaeological site, without additional, time-consuminganalysis. The results of the different statistical tests have proved to be insightful about the formation processes of theLV1 bonebed and they are consistent with the initial hypothesis regarding the functionality of the site as a guanacomass hunting site.