ASPECTOS ADAPTATIVOS Y MICROEVOLUTIVOS DE LAMA GUANICOE EN LA REGIÓN VOLCÁNICA DE PALI AIKE. UN ESTUDIO MORFOMÉTRICO DE MUESTRAS ARQUEOLÓGICAS Y MODERNAS

L'HEUREUX, G. L.

Arqueología de Patagonia: una mirada desde el último confín

Editorial Utopías

Lugar: Ushuaia; Año: 2008;

The aim of this paper is to analyze and discuss the adaptive and microevolutionary changes of guanaco (Lama guanicoe) populations from the Pali Aike lava field (CVPA). The morphometric data used in this study come from four apendicular bone elements (distal humerus, distal radio-ulna, distal femur and first forelimb phalanx) measured in both archaeological and contemporary samples. The archaeological samples come from six sites of the CVPA: Las Buitreras, Orejas de Burro 1 (Argentina), Fell’s Cave, Pali Aike, Cerro Sota and Cañadón Leona 5 (Chile), covering the temporal lapse between the Late Pleistocene and the Late Holocene. The modern samples, consisting in 10 carcasses, were collected in the Argentine sector of the CVPA in 2003. The obtained results show that there was a significant reduction in corporal size of guanacos at least three points in time: the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, the onset of the Late Holocene, and recent decades. Among the likely causes of such reduction in corporal size are climatic changes, the predation pressure exerted by prehistoric human populations and by contemporary poaching, competition with sheep, and severe habitat modifications related to the petrol industry and desertification.