Procesos tafonómicos y aprovechamiento faunístico en un cañadón basáltico: El sitio Yaten Guajen 12 (Patagonia, Argentina)

Abstract

Evidence of human occupation dating at least ca. 7700 years BP has been found in the canyons on the northern margin of the Santa Cruz River. The results of previous investigations carried out in this area have suggested that hunter-gatherers would have used this space due to the presence of reliable water sources for humans and animals. However, the archaeological stratigraphic evidence is poor and discontinuous until the period dated between ca. 2970 and 1100 years BP. The goal of this paper is to characterize the archaeofaunistic record from the Yaten Guajen 12 site located in the homonymous canyon. Yaten Guajen 12 is the only site in this sector with dates corresponding to the Middle Holocene (ca. 7700 years BP) and also Late Holocene (ca. 1300 years BP). For this purpose, we carried out anatomical, taxonomic and age identifications, as well as an analysis of the natural and cultural modifications of the faunal assemblage. The results obtained suggest that the zooarchaeological assemblages would have been exposed to medium- to high - level weathering, as well as to other taphonomic processes, mainly due to the presence of water. Although evidence of butchering by humans is scarce, it indicates that Lama guanicoe would have only been processed at the earliest period, while in later periods, anthropic evidence is related to fire exposure exclusively for medium-sized and large mammals.