Lama guanicoe and humans: 12,000 years of coevolution. The morphological consequences of the interaction between guanacos and modern human populations in Patagonia

L'HEUREUX G. L

San Rafael

Congreso; 12th INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF ARCHAEOZOOLOGY; 2014

Conicet - Museo de Historia Natural de San Rafael

A coevolutionary study between humans and guanaco populations, from the 12,000 to 500 14C years BP, was performed for continental Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego using morphological data from archaeological and paleontological guanacos remains. Two different morphological trends were observed in body size of guanacos whenassessed the temporal and spatial variation of the limbs bone size: in Tierra del Fuego, there were no significant morphological changes through time, but in continental Patagonia there was a marked reduction in body size of the guanacosbetween Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene due to climatic improvements in Early Holocene, and a further decreasing in size during the Late Holocene (2,000-500 years BP) caused for selective aboriginal hunting and/or the intensification of predation that came along with the demographic raise of hunter-gatherer populations. However, the interaction with modern human populations had not been analyzed. For that,this study present a coevolutionary perspective of the interaction betweenmodern human and guanaco populations in Patagonia using an osteometricapproach. The sample analyzed is composed by 121 modern adult individuals collectedin surface. Five long bones were measured and the modern guanacos´s sizes were compared with the morphological patterns observed at 2,000-500 years BP. Biogeographical and ecological conditions, competition for interference with sheeps, poaching,and others variables were analized in order to discuss the results.