Abstract

MARTINOLI, María Paz; CRESPO, Enrique A.; DELLABIANCA, Natalia A.  and  ZANGRANDO, Atilio Francisco J.. New data on age and death seasonality estimations of pinnipeds in the Beagle channel, Tierra del Fuego (Argentina). Intersecciones antropol. [online]. 2021, vol.22, n.2, pp.195-207.  Epub Dec 01, 2021. ISSN 1850-373X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.37176/iea.22.2.2021.629.

For decades, studies on past pinniped exploitation in the Beagle Channel were mainly based on the zooarchaeological assemblages in the Second Component of Túnel I, dated to the middle Holocene. In recent years, the systematic analysis of further contexts located at different sectors of the north coast of the Beagle Channel provided new information especially for the late Holocene. While a hunting pattern focused on adult and subadult males of Arctocephalus australis remained in the interpretations of middle Holocene assemblages, age and sex profiles show a more heterogeneity pattern in later moments of the archaeological sequence. In this paper, we present new estimations on the age and season of death of pinniped specimens recovered in archaeological contexts in the Beagle Channel. The results, based on thin sections of canine teeth, indicate variability with the age profiles previously informed from zooarchaeological studies. In turn, the results also indicate a seasonally diverse pattern in the pinniped captures during the late Holocene. We finally argue that pinniped harvesting strategies probably have varied in the Beagle Channel along the Holocene.

Keywords : Death seasonality; Pinnipeds; Zooarchaeology; Beagle Channel.

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