RESOURCE EXLPOITATION AND HUMAN MOBILITY: TRENDS IN THE ARCHAEOFAUNAL AND ISOTOPIC RECORD FROM CENTRAL WESTERN ARGENTINA

GUSTAVO A. NEME; ADOLFO F. GIL; CLARA OTAOLA; MIGUEL A. GIARDINA

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology

Jon Willey & Sons

Año: 2015 vol. 25 p. 866 - 876

1099-1212

Previous researchs have examined the zooarchaeological record to understand changes in human diet in Central western Argentina through time. This research has focused onvariations in the relative abundance of large prey in archaeofaunal contexts. The observed changes were explained by a decrease in residential mobility, forced by boththe intensification in the use of resources and the introduction of the first domesticatedplants ca. 2000 years BP.In this paper we revised archaeofaunal interpretations by taking into accountzooarchaeological assemblages and human isotope records within the biogeographicaldistributions of prey in the region. Our results demonstrate that faunal diversity inzooarchaeological assemblages has a stronger correlation with the natural distribution ofresources (especially with altitude) than with chronology, as was proposed previously.However, archaeofaunal information, including human isotopic data, suggests that adecrease in residential mobility, postulated in a previous paper, took place, modifyingthe expected diversity distribution throughout the landscape.