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From owl prey to human food: taphonomy of archaeological small mammal remains from the late Holocene wetlands of arid environments in Central Western Argentina

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Abstract

The present study analyses small mammal bone and tooth accumulations recovered in three open-air archaeological sites from northern Mendoza (Argentina) in the central Monte Desert, one of the most arid rangelands of South America. The sites, with radiocarbon dates between ca. 2100 and 400 years BP, are located on the margins of a now-extinct swamp that formed a more widespread wetland environment in the past. In order to recognize the agents responsible for such bone and tooth accumulations, a taphonomic analysis was conducted evaluating relative abundances of skeletal elements, breakage patterns, digestive corrosion, signs of anthropic activity and post-depositional processes. The taphonomic analysis allowed the detection of owls and humans as the agents responsible for small mammal accumulations. On the one hand, the low proportion and degree of digested diagnostic elements, among other taphonomic processes, suggest owl pellet-derived small mammal assemblages. On the other hand, the thermo-altered elements detected, some showing a differential burning pattern, the abundance of large-sized and gregarious small mammals and the identification of cut-marks on a caviid femur shaft are possibly due to human exploitation/consumption of small mammals.

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Data availability

Material is stored in the Laboratorio de Arqueología Histórica y Etnohistoria (Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Argentina) and in the Centro de Investigaciones Ruinas de San Francisco (Área Fundacional de Mendoza, Argentina). Data available on request from the authors.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Fernando J. Fernández for his help and advices. Clara Otaola and J. Tyler Faith provided valuable comments on an early version of the manuscript. Comments and suggestions made by Juan Manuel López-García and one anonymous reviewer improved the first version of the manuscript. This work was made in the framework of the following projects: 06/G710, 06/G653, 06/G805, 06/G792 (Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Argentina), PICT 2013/0190 (Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, Argentina) and 05G (Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, Argentina). Juan Pablo Aguilar helped us with the map used in Fig. 1. We thank Silvia Barbuzza (CETI, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo) for her English editing and proofreading work.

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  1. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas (IADIZA-CONICET); Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Instituto de Arqueología y Etnología; CCT CONICET Mendoza, Av. Ruíz Leal s/n. Parque General San Martín. CP, 5500, Mendoza, Argentina

    José Manuel López

  2. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Instituto de Arqueología y Etnología; Centro de Investigaciones Ruinas de San Francisco, Museo del Área Fundacional de Mendoza, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, CP, 5500, Mendoza, Argentina

    Horacio Chiavazza

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Correspondence to José Manuel López.

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López, J.M., Chiavazza, H. From owl prey to human food: taphonomy of archaeological small mammal remains from the late Holocene wetlands of arid environments in Central Western Argentina. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 12, 276 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01213-z

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