Alpine Artiodactyl Hunting and Selective Transportation: A Comparative Analysis of Artiodactyl Assemblages of the White Mountains, California and Andes Mountains, Argentina

SHANNON GOSHEN; GUSTAVO NEME; JACOB L. FISHER; CLARA OTAOLA

Reno

Congreso; Great Basin Anthropological Conference; 2016

Abstract: The shifting use of the alpine zone from logistical to residential occupation during the late Holocene has long been a topic of discussion in Great Basin archaeology. It is expected that the ways in which foragers map themselves onto the landscape will be reflected in the faunal record. Central-place foragers minimize the costs of transporting large game by increasing in-field processing to reduce transport weight. Greater selective transportation of high utility skeletal parts to lower elevations is expected for logistical large game hunters in the alpine zone, in contrast to greater skeletal part representation for residential foragers. Results of a comprehensive analysis of skeletal part completeness and taphonomy of artiodactyl assemblages from high-elevation sites in the White Mountains of the western Great Basin and the Andes of central-western Argentina are used to test predictions of selective transportation to lowland sites versus residential occupation in the alpine zone.